Knight Rider Review (no fat)

Game Description

If Davilex were looking for inspiration from the good ol’ days, they certainly got their wish. Knight Rider was a very popular TV show from the ’80s and gamers from that era will certainly remember Michael Knight and KITT teaming up to take down criminals. Even while being particularly cheesy, Knight Rider had a huge fan base which is still likely to pick up anything from a poster of KITT to a game with it on the cover…even if we have had Viper and Street Hawk that tried to steal some of its glory.

For the younger audience, Knight Rider is the story of a man, Michael Knight and his special car, KITT. Michael, presumed dead by the law, was actually given the special opportunity to be the driver of the most technologically advanced car. Working for the Foundation for Law and Government he takes up the task of driving KITT, the talking car, which has many abilities normal cars don’t have, like the ever famous Turbo Boost, shooting laser or electric pulses, or riding on two wheels with the cool Ski Mode.

By the way, if KITT and Michael can turn up after all these years, why not the classic villains from the series. The evil twin, Garth, definitely makes an appearance with his equally evil truck Goliath and KITT’s counterpart KARR,.

Knight Rider Gameplay

For a driving game to succeed you have to have control over you car. This is where Knight Rider suffers a tad. While the Super Pursuit mode is almost uncontrollable, the regular driving will take some getting used to as well.

The car’s abilities will be used many times, and they are implemented in a satisfactory fashion. While the Turbo Boost will launch the car up and forward, it can have some strange results if you try to activate it when the car is sliding…you will see KITT spinning like a UFO. However, when executed well, the stunt is cool with the cut scene showing the jump.

The Turbo Boost is by far the most often used ability in the game, and many puzzles will require using it. You will jump over trucks or trains, through laser beams and over traffic. It also led the designers into the creation of some interesting jumping puzzles, in which you will have to jump from a crate to another, these puzzles requiring your adroitness. You won’t actually be able to keep on launching the car up in the air, because the Turbo Boost needs some time to recharge. Still, it is an interesting ability and well implemented if you let apart the small imperfections.

Another one of KITT’s abilities is rolling on two wheels by activating the Ski Mode. Although it isn’t an easy thing controlling the car while it is in this mode, the perfect balance it has is a little bit suspect. This ability won’t be used too often, only about 2 or 3 times in the 15 missions the game has.

KITT surely wouldn’t be a super car if it couldn’t reach extremely high speeds. You can do this by activating the Super Pursuit Mode, and sending the car in overdrive. A rocket engine and other special effects will come out of the car’s body, allowing you to reach insane speeds. It would’ve been better if the car’s controllability would’ve also increased, but since that doesn’t happen, it will be extremely hard to keep the car in the desired direction. This makes SPM the rarest used ability, although it could’ve been used many times because it gets you to extreme speeds that many appreciate.

Knight Rider - The Talking Car

The car actually only talks in the movies that show the story, and so does Michael. To compensate for KITT’s unusually quiet demeanor, you are given control on the car’s other technologies, like its weapons or radar. The laser, the electric pulses gun and the rocket launcher will be used to take down the enemies, while the radar and the computer for scanning buildings surveillance cameras, jamming transmitters or to download data.

Knight Rider Missions

The 15 missions the game has aren’t really impressive, and you will have to get to some destination in a limited time, to chase helicopters and to try to take them down and so on. The puzzles aren’t really complex, and everything is extremely scripted: you can’t choose what to do with the data you obtain; everything is decided by the game. It’s almost as if the game was playing itself, and you only had to press designated buttons at precise moments, because your driving abilities aren’t so important. What matters is that you use the car’s abilities as you were thought in the tutorial ...innovation isn’t going to help you too much in this game.

Knight Rider Technicalities

The game looks acceptable, and with a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1200 there will be enough details to be noticed in the environment. There are some parts of the interface that could’ve been improved, like the map, objective and speed meter…all greens, don’t make for a very good visual effect.

All the sounds effects are mostly authentic and the background music is straight out of the TV series. The engine’s sound, however lets KITT down, for a car that can go as fast as 300 MPH a week engine should certainly not be a occupational hazard. Other sounds, like the explosions or the environment’s sounds are mediocre too, and they don’t give a good artistic impression to the game.

Knight Rider Summing Up

The thing that hurts Knight Rider worse than anything else is, perhaps, the length of the game…a measly 2-3 hours at the most. However, that and the few letdowns that plague the game can not take away the emotional value of an old hit. This is certainly one for the fans, and anyone who is looking to share Michael’s pleasure of riding KITT.