Previewed: December 22, 2002
Previewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Tri Synergy

Developer
Davilex Games

Release Date: Q1, 2003
Genre: Racing
Players: TBD
ESRB: Pending

View Screenshots

While Knight Rider was a cool series for its time, sparking more black Trans Am sales than Smokey and the Bandit, it is definitely dated material and gamers in 2003 may have trouble relating; especially since we have had more recent super car shows like Viper. Of all the 80’s TV shows available for game conversion I was surprised to see Knight Rider make the trip to the PC. Maybe CHiP’s will be next.

For those too young to know about Knight Rider, it is the story of a man and his car. The man is Michael Knight, a man who was presumed dead but instead received a new face and a new identity. He now works for FLAG (Foundation for Law and Government) and tools around town in a high-tech Trans Am that can talk, drive itself, and perform all sorts of wild stunts. Admittedly, the show was quite silly even in the 80’s but it didn’t stop me from watching every week.

Knight Rider, the game, does an excellent job of recreating the TV experience in style, missions, and unfortunately length. Spanning only ten missions across 15 levels, this game can be finished in about the time it takes to watch two episodes. My first trip through this game took just under three hours on the easy skill level and a second pass on normal skill took just over three hours. The MSRP for this title has yet to be determined but there is hardly enough value to justify more than a $19 price tag.

What little gameplay Knight Rider does offer is great fun and makes use of all of the high-tech modes that fans of the series will remember. KITT can use a Turbo Boost to launch himself up and forward. This allows you to jump over trucks and trains and even slower traffic, but it also allowed the designers to create a series of demented jumping puzzles. Yes, platform jumping is no longer limited to cute platform characters like Mario. Now you get to jump a car from crate to crate and rooftop to rooftop.

KITT also has a Ski Mode that lets him kick up onto two wheel and balance his way between obstacles or through narrow gaps. This is one of the more challenging stunts you will have to do but aside from the training mission you are only required to use this feature once or twice in the game.

The Super Pursuit Mode sends KITT into overdrive. All sorts of ground effects come out of the body and a rocket engine pops out of the trunk allowing you to reach insane speeds. This feature is very hard to use since controlling your car at such speeds in nearly impossible. SPM was much cooler on the TV show since they just sped up the film about 4x normal and KITT magically stuck to the roads.

KITT also has a powerful computer system with scanners and Micro Jammers. You will use these devices to search buildings, download data, jam electronic signals and open locked doors. You get to scan stuff in just about every mission.

All of your favorite characters from the series are back and recreated with some decent graphics. Michael Knight, Devon, and Bonnie are all back, but I was disappointed that they couldn’t get the original cast to do the voices. I suppose David Hasselhoff (Michael) is too “big” after his success on Baywatch. I haven’t seen much of Edward Mulhare since he played Devon, so I’m not sure why they couldn’t get him, but the biggest disappointment was that they didn’t get William Daniels (Boy Meets World, St. Elsewhere) to do the voice of KITT. Like Charlie, from Charlie’s Angels, you never saw the man behind the voice, which just makes it that much more noticeable when you try to slip in a substitution, and not a very good one at that.

The plot for the game is worthy of a two-part episode. Actually, much of the game plot is a rehash of several existing episodes from the series. Fans of the show will instantly recognize classic villain names like Garth, KARR, and Goliath. Yes, all three are back to give Michael and KITT the ultimate challenge.

Garth is the evil son of Wilton Knight, the man who founded FLAG and setup Michael in his new career as crime fighter. When Michael got his new identity his face was made to look like Garth so we have the classic evil-twin scenario. Thankfully Garth is sporting a stylish goatee so we can keep the two separate.

Fans of the series will remember that Garth was the one responsible for creating Goliath, the giant semi-truck created with the same MBS (molecular bonded shell) as KITT. In a massive duel that nearly killed Michael and destroyed KITT, Goliath was sent over a cliff with Garth inside. Both were presumed dead until we start playing this game.

Garth somehow survived and is back with new technology to mass-produce the MBS formula and sell it to the highest bidder to create an army of super-shielded weapons. The various missions and levels all tie loosely in with this plot but there are several glaring holes that had me wondering why they bothered with the story at all.

Garth has a huge undersea complex that rivals the lair of your favorite James Bond villain. It is here that he manufactures the MBS chemical but he chooses to apply the formula to cars and trucks in a garage located out in the desert. Hmmm…

Of course my biggest laughable moment was the part in the story where Bonnie is kidnapped by KARR. For those who don’t remember, KARR is the prototype for KITT only without the programming to preserve human life. His nose scanner is yellow and he has a two-tone paintjob with a gray bottom half, not to mention a much more evil voice. So when Bonnie tells Michael she was captured because she thought KARR was KITT, I can only assume she is deaf, blind, or stupid.

Weak story and short gameplay aside, the game is still great fun to play although my preview copy had no support for a gamepad or a steering wheel. It is no secret that this game is a port from the PS2, and it is really hard to play using the twitchy keyboard for steering. I can only hope that the final release supports additional controllers. This game would be amazing when played from the cockpit cam using a steering wheel or even a gamepad. Anything with analog control would be very welcome.

Graphically, the game is very nice. I cranked it all the way up to 1600x1200x32 and it ran flawlessly. The levels look great and are nicely detailed with plenty of ambient scenery and a decent amount of varied traffic. The cities are oddly lifeless with no pedestrians or any other signs of life. In one of the earlier missions you investigate a bank robbery and you drive to the bank in a small town. There is a hole in the side of the bank but no cops or onlookers are to be found.

There is a good selection of cutscenes that are created using the game engine graphics. The opening move starts off with actual TV footage then seamlessly blends into the CGI stuff. The CG characters all look remarkably like the actors that portrayed them 20 years ago. Mission briefings are done with text and still images and portraits of the characters doing the talking.

The music is taken right from the series and anyone who has seen even a single episode will instantly recognize the synthesized opening theme music. The in-game music is a subdued techno riff that blends into the background. Sound effects are also perfectly reproduced from the show including the signature sounds of the Turbo Boost, Super Pursuit Mode, and the unmistakable whine of KITT’s engine that sounds more like a Eureka vacuum cleaner than a powerful sports car.

The voice-overs are pretty decent even if they aren’t the voices I grew up with. The only thing that really bugged me (and this is kind of trivial) is that all of the characters in the game kept mispronouncing the word “semi”. Since KITT is based out of a roving semi-truck everyone kept saying, “Return to the semi”, but they kept pronouncing it “sem-e” rather than “sem-i”. I’m sure this is just a translation glitch since this game is an import.

Knight Rider is a good game that could have been a great game if there had simply been more of it. There are a lot of missed opportunities. You get a cool Night Vision mode but are never required to use it. There appears to be a mission where you are going to get to drive through some dark mine shafts and KITT says you are going to need to use Night Vision, but rather than driving through the mine the experience is told on a few pages of text then you magically appear in the arena with Goliath.

Admittedly, my copy is a preview build, so I will reserve final judgment when the finished product releases in 2003, but from all indications, my copy was pretty complete and surprisingly bug-free. I can’t imagine anything being added to the overall content but we’ll just wait and see.

For more information, visit the Knight Rider website. Meanwhile, check out our collection of screenshots in our Preview Gallery and look for our full review of this title when it releases.