Alex Andreadis of Over Easy Games, which is based in Melbourne, Australia, has a new game that was recently released for Android. Any fan of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the early 90’s will recognize the theme behind this one. The name of the game is Bomb on Bus. It is a new endless runner that will have you causing mayhem in the midst of the streets, as you navigate your bus at top speeds, so that the bomb on the bus won’t detonate. Oh, and the name of that film starring Reeves and Bullock… was Speed. Though Over Easy Games in tongue-and-cheek deny the similarities, it is still a fun game in its own right.
“Bomb on Bus is a new fast paced game that in no way has a premise that is suspiciously similar to a certain blockbuster movie from the mid-90’s. If we’re going to throw around a fancy genre term you could say its one of those endless runners, like that Temple one or what’s his face? Or, you could say its the touching story of a bus that couldn’t slow down.” – Over Easy Games
Comparisons or not, Bomb on Bus is a pretty good game, if a bit repetitious in style. The first time you start driving your bus, the first thing you notice is how well the bus controls. Seriously, I can’t really imagine a bus handling this well, but somehow, Over Easy Games has managed to make that happen. The controls are really good for weilding such a large vehicle. The changing of lanes is spot on. There will inevitably be explosions in the game. Your bus is going to blow up. The explosions sort of remind me of scenes from the console game Burnout Crash with the mayhem that occurs. Granted, you don’t have the same kind of pileup, but it definitely hearkens back to those days, where your vehicle erupts into flames once you drop below 55 MPH.
While handling the bus seems like a dream, the lanes are not easily navigable. They are packed with cars and plenty of other buses. You are rewarded points for near misses, bumping into other cars and driving on the opposite side of the road. All of these things work well for you, as long as you don’t drop below the 55 MPH that is necessary to keep playing.
A game play decision I applaud, is how the perspective changes while you are playing the game. It changes unexpectedly while you are driving your bus. The primary view is almost a bird’s eye view of what is taking place below. When you least expect it, your view careens and sweeps down like a bird, to just behind the rear of the bus. It definitely makes things interesting, and makes you pay close attention to what is going on around you.
Bomb on Bus Features:
- A bus, a bridge, a tunnel, a flux capacitor, an ambulance and a whole lot of action.
- Full vehicle physics
- Item upgrades
- Google Play Leaderboards
- Google Play Achievements
The other components available to aid you on your run are shields, an ambulance, boost power-ups, and the flux capacitor. Of course the flux capacitor is probably not in any way suspiciously similar to another concept presented in an extremely popular movie in the mid 80’s called Back to the Future. Nevertheless, when you have been able to drive the bus long enough without dropping below the required 55 MPH, the flux capacitor powers up and you are able to hit 88 MPH for extended periods of time. When you pick up the ambulance power-up, an ambulance appears in front of you, knocking all of the other vehicles out of the way. It is a nice animation, but you have to make sure you are behind the ambulance, or it defeats the purpose of using the power-up in the first place. The points you score on your runs, allow you to upgrade each of the power-ups.
Bomb on Bus is a free to play game. There are ads in the game, but to be honest, I kept looking for them to appear, and they were so innocuous that they didn’t hamper the game play at all. This game is not pay to play in any way. The points you score are only used to upgrade the power-ups. You can spend real money to get extra coins, but it is not required to enjoy the game. The game has ten achievements to unlock and leaderboards.
Bomb on Bus is a good game to play and it is challenging. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles to the game, but what is there, is well done. The graphics are good, the controlling of the bus is excellent, and the music fits the time period, which is closer to 80’s than 90’s. Over Easy Games has definitely cooked up a pretty nice project for you to download and enjoy for free.
