Savior Gaming

Bus Bound is the newest bus driving simulator sent my way by Saber Interactive, a company that if you love driving simulator you undoubtably have played one of their games. This time around they are tackling driving city busses. What you may not know about good ole Savior is I spent some time a a school bus driver at one point. So if this game is bad, or these buses don’t feel like busses, I will know quickly.

The first thing you do is get a tutorial, and they quickly explain you won’t be dealing with ticket fairs. Great move Saber, I hated this in other bus simulators. There is just no way to do this without greatly slowing down the flow of the game, and having rode many busses most people pay with exact change anyway and the few buttons I have seen drivers hit require next to no time. Saber chose to explain it as the company gets paid through grants or taxes or something.

Graphically the game is beautiful. A couple times I almost hit a few things because as you reach milestones the city will upgrade and I was taking in the sights and forgot to hit the breaks. This brings me to how you are rated, in real time, by passengers. If you drive well, slow down for speed bumps ( keep it under 10 MPH ladies and gents) and stop at stop signs and don’t speed they will make positive comments, give you a thumbs up, give you multipliers and stops will upgrade faster and even help you get new busses. Slamming on the breaks, speeding, hitting speed bumps hard and other assorted violations will do the opposite.

This was always going to be the big selling or killing point for me however. Does it feel like driving a bus, and how is traffic? Well I am going to let you in on a secret, when you are driving a bus other drivers always seem like idiots, because they don’t realize how big a bus actually is an how hard it is to see them sometimes. They also don’t realize those things don’t stop or really turn a fast as their smaller cars, so when they whip in front of you or cut you off, it gets stressful because if there is an accident, the other person will die, and you in the bus will be fine. And we will have to live with that knowledge. The traffic in this game basically acts like real traffic does, and I like that. As for how the bus controls, it isn’t perfect but damn is it close. Busses need wide turns, but they are modern so they don’t feel heavy and clunky, just like modern busses. They don’t stop fast, but they jolt a bit, just like modern busses. My only complaint every bus feels similar, and that isn’t realistic. Even two of the same model school bus feels a bit different. The game is still a 8/10 title. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

• Bus Bound PlayStation 5 Review
• R-Type Dimensions III – 7 day countdown
• Sudden Strike 5 PlayStation Review
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 trailer
• Evil Dead Burn trailer

Sudden Strike 5 was sent my way by Kalypso Media, a company I always enjoy working with. If you are unfamiliar with this series, Sudden Strike 5 is a real-time strategy game that will allow you to fight through various battles from different sides of World War 2.

For example, the first battle as the Nazi’s will see you sending paratroopers down in an attempt to take over certain spots on a map where you can resupply before taking over the cities on the map. This will require some strategy on your part, as you will be outnumbered and outgunned. You can take over some abandoned equipment and call in air support when needed, admittedly, only a limited number of times.

While moving your troops will march in formation if you tell them to, which is a very nice touch that even today many of these types of games are missing. I really only have one major complaint about the game, and it isn’t the sound, which is great. It also isn’t the visuals, which, while I feel the infantry characters could pop out a little better, so they would be easier to pick out, this isn’t a huge issue. No, the game is visually great.

My biggest issue is that what passes as a tutorial is just horrible. This takes what should be an enjoyable, difficult real-time strategy game and creates an unapproachable nightmare for many. Don’t get me wrong, the game is great if you are a veteran of these types of games because you will be able to work it out, but that shouldn’t be a prerequisite to playing it. No, I am not saying make the game easier; I am saying teach people how to play your game. This is a 7/10 title that probably should have been much better. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

• Bus Bound PlayStation 5 Review
• R-Type Dimensions III – 7 day countdown
• Sudden Strike 5 PlayStation Review
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 trailer
• Evil Dead Burn trailer

Ash & Adam’s Existential Treads was sent my way by the people over at Game Taste. I always appreciate working with new people and companies.

To start, I don’t truly know how to explain this game. You start by building a small settlement, then building towers to defend it. You do this in a sort of post-apocalyptic world filled with old buildings. This is how you gather resources: you destroy these with your tank.

After they fall, your little helpers will run and grab parts to build new buildings, which can be used to upgrade things like your ammo or your defensive towers. Work fast because every so often, you will be attacked by waves of enemies. In between these waves, and while building your settlement, you will need to find the towers they come from so you can destroy those towers.

This is the game loop in a nutshell. Once you destroy all the towers, you are given a cannon to launch yourself to the next island. You can keep a helper permanently, which gives you a bonus to things like how fast your tank moves or how fast the first 6 people will move to collect things.

This is around the time I would tell you the graphics are nice, and it sounds good, which is all true. Then I would tell you the problems with the game. Then I ran into a problem. I couldn’t find any outside of one. The game is just a little too short. I’ve never given a perfect score, and I have only given out a handful of near-perfect scores. This is a 9/10 game. I can’t give you a single reason you won’t love this game, except I feel like they should have added a few more islands. Go pick this one up. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

• Bus Bound PlayStation 5 Review
• R-Type Dimensions III – 7 day countdown
• Sudden Strike 5 PlayStation Review
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 trailer
• Evil Dead Burn trailer

City State: Medieval is one of those games I am glad to have been sent by Indie Io. I would also like to say I spent dozens of hours mastering its systems, conquering the three different lords you can play as, and being a badass at City States Medieval.

If I were the type of person to lie to you, I would say these things. The truth is, I spent hours playing a game I enjoyed, and that rightfully sits at positive reviews on Steam. While graphically, it won’t be winning any awards, the music is nice, and the game loop is great.

I enjoyed the fact that you have different city sizes to deal with that were better at different things. For example, bigger cities are better for hosting military buildings, while Hamlets are much better for your resource buildings and such. The ability to enter them and actually guide how this is done is also a nice touch. The combat is another place where the game truly shines. You can’t simply build a ton of one unit or a few overpowered units and expect to win. Trust me, that is how I lost at first.

You will need to understand that backing up foot soldiers with archers is basically mandatory. This is all alongside the fact that trade is the name of the game here. Without that, your city-states are sunk. By making the game smaller in scope to a single city-state to run, they have made the game much better in many ways, and at around $15, the game is a great 8/10 experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

• Bus Bound PlayStation 5 Review
• R-Type Dimensions III – 7 day countdown
• Sudden Strike 5 PlayStation Review
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 trailer
• Evil Dead Burn trailer

Above the Snow was sent my way by the fine people at Wandering Wizard, which is always appreciated. The game has a cool premise: you play as a man being sent to join a shelter crew to run a run-down ski resort and make it the best resort possible. You hate it, but your options were that or prison.

The people up here all seem to be pretty damn shady, honestly. The story is truly pretty unique for this type of game. How the rest of the game translates is really going to come down to the individual player. The game is, in many ways, Baby’s First Management Game when you play it on the lowest difficulty setting. The story will walk you through everything you should be doing.

I don’t mean this as an insult; you are free to ignore it and do other stuff when you want. This is a cozy game after all. Even with all the usual elements of a management game, they managed to make it stress-free if you want it to be. Well, sort of, the user interface needs a ton of work. I love the look of it, but it can be buggy at times. There are also some quality-of-life updates needed. Why can’t I set up a task in advance?

I do love the characters; however, they are just fun and interesting. While the game won’t be for everyone, there is a reason with 250 reviews, it sits at mostly positive reviews. This is a 7/10 title that I can see a few updates pushing higher up there. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

• Bus Bound PlayStation 5 Review
• R-Type Dimensions III – 7 day countdown
• Sudden Strike 5 PlayStation Review
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 trailer
• Evil Dead Burn trailer