Hands-onKnight Rider

We recently had a chance to check out a preview build of Netherlands-based Davilex Software's Knight Rider game on the PC. After running a story on the game a short while ago, we've learned that the PS2 version is actually the one that Davilex has been concentrating on to date and that the PC version will be a direct port of it. Our understanding is that the development of the other console versions of the game has been put on hold, and that the PC version will be optimized for the different hardware and controller options while the PS2 version is in QA and production at Sony.

The game will see you assuming the role of KITT, the sentient black sports car, rather than role of Michael Knight, the character portrayed by David Hasselhoff in the popular '80s TV show. This really has very little impact on the gameplay, although it does mean that at no point in any of the game's 10-plus missions will you be able to climb out of (or be ejected from) the driver's seat to pursue villains on foot. Not that you'll need to, since the Knight Industries Two Thousand car comes equipped with all the optional extras that fans of the TV show will remember, including turbo boost, ski mode, micro jammers, scan mode, and the terrifyingly quick super pursuit mode, in which KITT changes shape to get extra downforce before reaching speeds well in excess of 200mph. In the game, activating the super pursuit mode also causes the screen to take on a distinctly red hue and blur very slightly.

The game's control scheme employs plenty of special features, including the ability to go up onto two wheels in ski mode. The only feature that KITT seems to lack is a hand brake that could be used to powerslide around corners. The standard brake stops you almost instantly, and easing off the accelerator and then pressing it down again also fails to have the desired effect.

Most of the missions we've played so far involve pursuing criminals who are either in cars or helicopters without ever letting them get out of KITT's scanner range. The onscreen indicators for the direction of and distance from your target are currently very confusing and difficult to see at times, but we've been assured that these are near the top of the list of problems that need to be rectified before the game is released. As it happens, the indicators aren't terribly important in some of the pursuit missions, since the courses are linear and offer very little in the way of alternative routes. There are numerous scripted events during the car chases, such as cars pulling out of junctions and trains appearing on grade crossings that need to be jumped. Along with the numerous explosions that go off on the sides of the road, these do a very good job of replicating the feel of the TV show.

In addition to the scripted explosions in the game, many of the roads are littered with mines that will send you off course if you drive too close to them. The mines give off a red glow that we initially thought had been employed by the developers to make them more visible, until we found out to our cost that just driving into the quite large red area is enough to set the mines off. Currently, this makes the game very challenging even on its easy setting. Like many of the obstacles in the game, such as chicanes or broken bridges, the mines can be a little tricky to anticipate because of the low camera angles behind and inside the car. One idea that Davilex might implement to combat this would see KITT warning you vocally when an obstacle is approaching, which sounds feasible and would definitely be in keeping with the TV show.

Graphically, there's not much wrong with Knight Rider, although it's not as impressive as many of today's racers, and, as was the case with the TV show, the missions all appear to take place in and around very similar-looking small towns in very similar-looking deserts. The KITT model in the game is pretty decent, and if Davilex manages to implement the real-time environment mapping on it and all the other cars in the game as it plans to, the results could be impressive.

Judging from what we've played so far, Knight Rider could turn out to be an entertaining and challenging game--particularly for fans of the TV series. As it stands, the game drives a very fine line between being challenging and fun and being an exercise in frustration. Davilex recently decided to push the release date of the game back to November so an extra month could be spent tweaking the gameplay and adding polish to the visuals and sound. For more information, check our previous coverage of the game.