Another review, this time by an ex-fan. I think its absolutely spot on.
We're a lucky, lucky bunch, am I right? 2004 is the year next generation gaming has really come into it's own, wouldn't you agree? Games like Killzone, Burnout 3: Takedown. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are just a few of the groundbreaking, highest quality games ever to grace our PlayStation 2s that have come out recently. It's hard to envision things getting better than this, but we all know that it will. And against that backdrop comes Knight Rider 2, the frankly appalling sequel to the mediocre original. Where does that belong in comparison to all these greats? Not in your collection, that much is for sure.
Why? Why do it? Why release a budget game of a very old TV series, clearly on a very small development budget, when there are so many worthwhile games out there? I have no idea, yet here it is and sadly I've had to waste about three hours of my life playing Knight Rider 2 so that you never have to (and I almost finished it in that short time, too). Don't say I never take a bullet for you guys, okay?
Upon loading up, things are looking okay - simple yet snazzy presentation, the catchy Knight Rider theme tune playing, a few extras including behind the scenes info on various aspects of the show, a Knight Rider quiz and a few clips showcasing some of the greatest stunt driving moments of the TV show. However, it all goes horribly wrong once you start the game and wait for almost a minute for the first level to load. The meagre options are Story Mode - play through 11 excruciating missions - or Mission Mode - play through those same 11 excruciating missions again, but in any order. Wahey!
For those of you not familiar with Knight Rider (and I'm showing my age by the fact that I loved this as a kid), it's the story of Knight Industries, a secret organisation who have built a futuristic car with artificial intelligence and its very own personality, known as KITT, driven by front man Michael Knight, a man with no past, a man with a new identity, the man who Knight Industries send out to investigate maniacal super villains and foil their diabolical schemes. It's a corny old show and no mistake but good, harmless fun with some great stunts and a very lovable double act in the form of Micheal and KITT.
Anyway, the game's story begins with our heroes taking a cruise through the mountains on the way back from some conference when - horror of horrors - they are attacked by a bunch of missiles! Yikes! Cue something slightly different then, as half of this very irritating opening level is played with you driving into the screen and having to steer KITT left or right to avoid the missiles as they land. I actually got stuck on this level, repeatedly dying on several occasions. Not because it's tough, but because I didn't get an instruction manual and the level tells you what you must do but not the controls on how to do it. Uh oh, there's a tree in the way, better use Turbo Boost to jump it. Whoa, that tree is coming up might fast, what button is turbo boost? R1, no, L1, no, square, no, damn, crashed. Next time around I press R2 and KITT jumps, but the turbo boost doesn't recharge in time to jump again and… crash! Third time lucky and over the tree we go. There's a nice little slow motion cinema moment as I fly over the tree, one of the few cool touches in the game.
Next up I have to fire my laser to melt the ice blocking the road (I feel for anyone driving a normal car down this road) and R1 is a good guess, it proves to be accurate. Then comes the real problem - going into Ski mode (up on two wheels). I'm pressing all the buttons but nothing's happening. After hitting the rocks half a dozen times I finally figure out it's the right thumbstick. But would it have been so awful for the level to have just told me what the controls were? No, it really wouldn't have.
The next ten missions see a Bond-style scheme unfolding involving a super laser but sadly there isn't much actual driving to be done. You don't get to chase the bad guys, fly down the road in Super Pursuit Mode, avoid innocent bystanders (indeed, not a single civilian is to be seen in the entire game) or do any of the cool things from the TV show. Instead you get to drive around finding these weird towers, which you must microjam for a few seconds to unlock endless gates. In one level a heavily armed helicopter constantly blasts missiles at you, causing you to have to keep your speed down and swerve all over the place. Soon after this, hordes of annoying robots attack you (!) that you must blast with your laser or plasma cannon. There's some stunt driving to be done here and there, like jumping gaps, traversing girders using ski mode and driving through moving laser grids but it's just not in keeping with the feel of the show and, more importantly, it really is no fun at all.
KITT's handling is rubbish; the steering is far too sensitive at low speeds and not sensitive enough at high speeds, making the driving a real chore. The weapons are also rubbish; you end up just driving in circles, blasting at the lame robots until they explode in unspectacular fashion. The missiles are also super-annoying to use, as they take about 3 seconds to lock onto the target. In the face-off against the helicopter, you are constantly losing the lock-on and must take lots of missile hits if you're to get any yourself. This saps your energy, but fear not, as you can easily recharge from a nearby generator. Most levels are impossible to complete without recharging and far too easy to complete because you can recharge, removing both the challenge and the incentive to be challenged.
But it gets worse. The script is possibly the most awful one I have ever come across in a game and, believe you me, I've seen some real stinkers. It's actually worse than Sonic Adventure 2 at times and that is seriously saying something. The voice acting is equally appalling, with Michael Knight sounding like a complete moron and KITT not sounding like his on-screen counterpart at all. There are some such terrible lines that you will laugh out loud. Here's one example - "The name of the company behind all this is…" says Devon, your boss. "Let me guess," interrupts Michael, "is it Equis?" "How did you know?" asks Devon, sounding impressed. "Because it was written on the side of that helicopter that was chasing us," finishes Michael.
Every level has terrible dialogue and unfunny banter but towards the end it gets fantastically bad. The main villain capture Michael, ties him to the conveyor belt of a shredder and then Michael asks him what his plan is. "You fool, you expect me to tell you my plan?" asks the bad guy. "Well, you are tied to this shredder and about to die so I suppose I could…" It's the classic James Bond villain moment so brilliantly spoofed by Austin Powers, where the villain reveals all and then leaves Bond to die in an unnecessarily slow way and doesn't stick around to make sure it goes to plan. Never have I seen such appalling, cliché-ridden, clumsy writing. Rarely has a writer deserved to be taken out the back and shot so much as the one behind this load of complete drivel.
Graphically things are competent but mediocre - the graphics engines works fine, although the settings are incredibly limited, being mostly desert roads and industrial complexes. It says a lot that the original Burnout beats this for looks hands down. Sound wise things are less than competent - KITT's engine whines, the explosions are more like whimpers and there was only one tune for the levels and another for the cut scenes. Luckily they're catchy but even so, come on! And then there's the voice acting, which I've already covered in more than enough detail. The fact that you'll be through the game within five hours tops would normally count against it, but it's definitely a blessing here. You can go back and do it all again in hard mode or select your favourite mission to replay, to catch that quality gameplay and those classic moments of dialogue again and again.
What more is there really to say? If you still want to go out and buy Knight Rider 2 then there is simply no helping you. It's one of the worst, most ill-conceived, badly designed, terribly written, boring and unplayable games I've ever had the misfortune to review and even at a budget price there are so many quality games available (like Burnout for a tenner) that you'd have to be just a little bit mental to spend money on this.
3/10
http://www.acegamez.co.uk/Knight_Rider_2_PS2.htm
Knight Rider 2 - Out Now! *OFFICIAL DISCUSSION THREAD*
Moderators: neps, Matthew, Michael Pajaro
-
KnightCrusader99
- Operative
- Posts: 209
- Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2003 10:37 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Falmouth, Kentucky
You know, I think if everyone is going to gripe about the game, then we need to work on our own, the way we want it. I see there is an addon for GTA for KITT and Michael. Is there a way anybody knows to rewrite the missions in GTA and rewrite the media to be all KR related? I am a Computer Science major, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start working on a game. I would like to do it, but the only knack I have is business/retail database software. I remember someone on here writing a KR game themselves. It is the best bet other than picketing outside Davilex and/or Universal with our demands . LOL
-Steve
-Steve
-
Knight Racer
- FLAG Special Ops
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Brooklyn
- Contact:
I just wish that I could be there t see the looks on Davilex'es face when they see tese bad reviews for the game.Fans on this board wet so far as to make a huge list of suggestions and they said it will be so much better then the last one with mini games and free roaming and other things.they barely listened to anyone.Sort of gives you the idea you get what you paid for.
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
Yet another shining review.
Germany’s favourite American, David Hasselhoff is apparently the world’s most watched TV star. He appeared in many TV programs in the eighties and nineties – Including the incredibly successful Knight Rider. So a couple of years ago, Davilex Software decided to create Knight Rider: The game. It received a lot of criticism, and rightly so. It was terrible, but Davilex has given the Hoffmeister and KITT a second outing, promising to improve on every aspect of the old game. Can Knight Rider 2: The Game deliver its promises?
For those of you not familiar with the whole Knight Rider story, it’s a pretty simple affair. A secret organisation known as Knight Industries has developed a car with a personality – That’s KITT. The car is driven by smooth talking hunk with no past, Michael Knight. Together they solve crimes and defeat evil geniuses. It was bloody great at the time!
It all kicks off with our man Michael Knight chatting to KITT whilst returning from a conference somewhere. The first thing you’ll notice about this game, besides the horrendous visuals, is the voice acting. Think the original Resident Evil only worse. The voice of Michael Knight isn’t actually played by Hasselhoff. Instead, a terrible impersonator has been given the job. KITT isn’t much better - same goes for the rest of the characters. Performances are wooden and somewhat corny at best. Sound effects are not much better, with weedy explosions and the famous black car sounding like an old lawnmower.
Basically, the whole game is played in the car. Michael seems to be glued to the seat, and even the simplest task – Opening a door for example, is done from within the car. Driving the car isn’t terribly realistic. A simple tap on the brakes can prevent even the most unskilled gamer from careering off track and into an abandoned log – Yes there are a lot of them. The first level starts with the car driving towards the camera, being chased by roughly 600 “remote controlled” missiles. After a little too much missile dodging and cries of “Whoa - That was close KITT!” the camera switches to a much more functional behind-car view. This is when things get, erm, a little more interesting… Now Michael has those logs to contend with – as if the missiles, which are still hot on your tail, weren’t enough. Michael has to jump over countless logs that have been very carelessly placed across the road. Just to make it all a little more exciting, Davilex has decided to make every log-jump an event. After you clear each log, a small cut scene shows the car flying through the sky John Woo style. Of course, this doesn’t get annoying at all. Not even after the twentieth log… I failed to mention the broken bridge cliché that also rears its ugly head towards the end of this onslaught, also using a crafty camera technique mid-flight.
Weaponry is not particularly varied. KITT has access to three weapon types. Missiles, a plasma gun and a laser. KITT comes with a few special moves as well. Besides the aforementioned turbo boost function – which strangely makes you jump rather than go faster – the car has three other functions. These include: Super Pursuit Mode, which basically requires holding down the circle button to exceed 300MPH; the self explanatory Night Vision Mode; and possibly the most interesting – Ski Mode. Ski mode is activated by a flick of the right analogue stick in either the left or right direction. This causes the car to ride along on two wheels. Useful for dodging in and out of frequent carelessly placed boulders.
Most of the game is played out along roads and occasionally inside compounds and enemy lairs. All of the weapons and functions come into play at some point, usually a little too often (for example, the laser is used to melt ice that is inconveniently blocking your path). Occasionally, you have to backtrack to find objects and activate switches, most usually to open big steel doors. Enemies vary from helicopters to robots, laser guns and even your arch nemesis, KARR. Most of these can be quickly dispatched using one of your three weapons.
Cut scenes, or the massive overuse of them are another contributing factor to the agony of playing this game. You literally can’t play for longer than two or three minutes without a badly voice acted cut scene spelling out exactly what is going on for you. It is akin to watching a DVD and having to manually select the next scene every five minutes - Infuriating.
Graphically, the game looks seriously dated. The textures are grainy, pop up is rife and the explosion effects are akin to two fleas having a “light your fart” competition. Very little effort has been put into improving the visuals on the first game – if any.
The game isn’t overly challenging on the whole, and can be completed in a couple of sittings. As an added bonus, Davilex has included a few extras. There are a couple of scenes taken from the TV series and even a quiz to test your Knight Rider knowledge, with an even harder quiz unlocked by completing the game.
Despite the fact that Knight Rider 2: The Game is a smidgen under £20, even the budget price doesn’t justify how badly made this game is. Knight Rider 2 isn’t fun, it’s just plain aggravating. This has to be one of the worst “driving” games I have ever played. The graphics are poor, the sound is poor, the voice acting is poor – This game is poor. Save your pennies for another week or two and buy GTA: San Andreas.
3.2 out of 10
http://www.jolt.co.uk/index.php?articleid=2927
Germany’s favourite American, David Hasselhoff is apparently the world’s most watched TV star. He appeared in many TV programs in the eighties and nineties – Including the incredibly successful Knight Rider. So a couple of years ago, Davilex Software decided to create Knight Rider: The game. It received a lot of criticism, and rightly so. It was terrible, but Davilex has given the Hoffmeister and KITT a second outing, promising to improve on every aspect of the old game. Can Knight Rider 2: The Game deliver its promises?
For those of you not familiar with the whole Knight Rider story, it’s a pretty simple affair. A secret organisation known as Knight Industries has developed a car with a personality – That’s KITT. The car is driven by smooth talking hunk with no past, Michael Knight. Together they solve crimes and defeat evil geniuses. It was bloody great at the time!
It all kicks off with our man Michael Knight chatting to KITT whilst returning from a conference somewhere. The first thing you’ll notice about this game, besides the horrendous visuals, is the voice acting. Think the original Resident Evil only worse. The voice of Michael Knight isn’t actually played by Hasselhoff. Instead, a terrible impersonator has been given the job. KITT isn’t much better - same goes for the rest of the characters. Performances are wooden and somewhat corny at best. Sound effects are not much better, with weedy explosions and the famous black car sounding like an old lawnmower.
Basically, the whole game is played in the car. Michael seems to be glued to the seat, and even the simplest task – Opening a door for example, is done from within the car. Driving the car isn’t terribly realistic. A simple tap on the brakes can prevent even the most unskilled gamer from careering off track and into an abandoned log – Yes there are a lot of them. The first level starts with the car driving towards the camera, being chased by roughly 600 “remote controlled” missiles. After a little too much missile dodging and cries of “Whoa - That was close KITT!” the camera switches to a much more functional behind-car view. This is when things get, erm, a little more interesting… Now Michael has those logs to contend with – as if the missiles, which are still hot on your tail, weren’t enough. Michael has to jump over countless logs that have been very carelessly placed across the road. Just to make it all a little more exciting, Davilex has decided to make every log-jump an event. After you clear each log, a small cut scene shows the car flying through the sky John Woo style. Of course, this doesn’t get annoying at all. Not even after the twentieth log… I failed to mention the broken bridge cliché that also rears its ugly head towards the end of this onslaught, also using a crafty camera technique mid-flight.
Weaponry is not particularly varied. KITT has access to three weapon types. Missiles, a plasma gun and a laser. KITT comes with a few special moves as well. Besides the aforementioned turbo boost function – which strangely makes you jump rather than go faster – the car has three other functions. These include: Super Pursuit Mode, which basically requires holding down the circle button to exceed 300MPH; the self explanatory Night Vision Mode; and possibly the most interesting – Ski Mode. Ski mode is activated by a flick of the right analogue stick in either the left or right direction. This causes the car to ride along on two wheels. Useful for dodging in and out of frequent carelessly placed boulders.
Most of the game is played out along roads and occasionally inside compounds and enemy lairs. All of the weapons and functions come into play at some point, usually a little too often (for example, the laser is used to melt ice that is inconveniently blocking your path). Occasionally, you have to backtrack to find objects and activate switches, most usually to open big steel doors. Enemies vary from helicopters to robots, laser guns and even your arch nemesis, KARR. Most of these can be quickly dispatched using one of your three weapons.
Cut scenes, or the massive overuse of them are another contributing factor to the agony of playing this game. You literally can’t play for longer than two or three minutes without a badly voice acted cut scene spelling out exactly what is going on for you. It is akin to watching a DVD and having to manually select the next scene every five minutes - Infuriating.
Graphically, the game looks seriously dated. The textures are grainy, pop up is rife and the explosion effects are akin to two fleas having a “light your fart” competition. Very little effort has been put into improving the visuals on the first game – if any.
The game isn’t overly challenging on the whole, and can be completed in a couple of sittings. As an added bonus, Davilex has included a few extras. There are a couple of scenes taken from the TV series and even a quiz to test your Knight Rider knowledge, with an even harder quiz unlocked by completing the game.
Despite the fact that Knight Rider 2: The Game is a smidgen under £20, even the budget price doesn’t justify how badly made this game is. Knight Rider 2 isn’t fun, it’s just plain aggravating. This has to be one of the worst “driving” games I have ever played. The graphics are poor, the sound is poor, the voice acting is poor – This game is poor. Save your pennies for another week or two and buy GTA: San Andreas.
3.2 out of 10
http://www.jolt.co.uk/index.php?articleid=2927
-
Michael Pajaro
- Advisor
- Posts: 3082
- Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Los Angeles
- Contact:
-
Maestro
- Volunteer
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 3:22 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Wales, UK
Reading the reviews and oh dear they`ve slaughtered it. 
Though I can`t say I disagree with most of the comments, except for the stuff about the graphics being from 10 years ago! 
Have they played games from 10 years ago? Texture mapping was a new thing then, most were plain old polygons and you were lucky if they had a 640x480 `hi-res` option! I`d forgive the gfx any day if the game was decent and `KR alike`, but it ain`t. It panders to the `playstation generation` (eg. weapons) with the `blow everything up in sight` mentality and I`m sick of those sorts of games to be honest.
Here was a chance for them to create something a little unique and different, with some depth to the gameplay and a fan base to kickstart the sales with hopefully some expansion into the non-fan base after rave reviews in the media. But they`ve failed. Miserably. You`ve almost got to wonder whether Davilex have even seen Knight Rider at all!
On the plus side, I do think the turbo boost TV style shots in both games are great and even though I never buy a game that doesn`t have online multiplayer (if the game type suits it) I do have to say that they`re stuck between rocks and hard places with KR so I wouldn`t hold that against them in this case.
To be honest I wouldn`t expect them to create sophisticated game engines for a budget game but I don`t see what is wrong with them creating first person and driving engines that could be used in other games with some modifications. I can`t blame them much for the use of other voice actors either. Hasselhoff & co must cost a packet for even talking to them.
I`ve seen this problem with movie/TV licensed games before. It`s been around since the 80`s. They blow so much money acquiring the license that they have little money left to develope the game, resulting in a cheesy platform shoot-em-up. Which is what this is, only in 3D in a car.
I doubt there`ll be a third game now, after all that panning in the reviews.
Oh well, maybe some KR fans will mod the hell outta GTA 3/4 or Driv3r or something.
Though I can`t say I disagree with most of the comments, except for the stuff about the graphics being from 10 years ago! Have they played games from 10 years ago? Texture mapping was a new thing then, most were plain old polygons and you were lucky if they had a 640x480 `hi-res` option! I`d forgive the gfx any day if the game was decent and `KR alike`, but it ain`t. It panders to the `playstation generation` (eg. weapons) with the `blow everything up in sight` mentality and I`m sick of those sorts of games to be honest.Here was a chance for them to create something a little unique and different, with some depth to the gameplay and a fan base to kickstart the sales with hopefully some expansion into the non-fan base after rave reviews in the media. But they`ve failed. Miserably.
You`ve almost got to wonder whether Davilex have even seen Knight Rider at all!On the plus side, I do think the turbo boost TV style shots in both games are great and even though I never buy a game that doesn`t have online multiplayer (if the game type suits it) I do have to say that they`re stuck between rocks and hard places with KR so I wouldn`t hold that against them in this case.
To be honest I wouldn`t expect them to create sophisticated game engines for a budget game but I don`t see what is wrong with them creating first person and driving engines that could be used in other games with some modifications. I can`t blame them much for the use of other voice actors either. Hasselhoff & co must cost a packet for even talking to them.
I`ve seen this problem with movie/TV licensed games before. It`s been around since the 80`s. They blow so much money acquiring the license that they have little money left to develope the game,
resulting in a cheesy platform shoot-em-up. Which is what this is, only in 3D in a car.I doubt there`ll be a third game now, after all that panning in the reviews.
Oh well, maybe some KR fans will mod the hell outta GTA 3/4 or Driv3r or something.
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
We love posting reviews... oh yes we do...
K.I.T.T. (short for Knight Industries Two Thousand) is the fictive name for the highly modified Pontiac Trans-Am which has a mind, and a series, of his own. For eighty-four episodes, K.I.T.T. and Michael fight against crime, a battle which completely destroyes "the black beauty" four times. If you think you can do better yourself then this game is the chance to prove it.
As many of you will without a doubt remember, the first Knight Rider game wasn't quite the quality product every fan was hoping for. Some hardcore fans couldn't take the horror any longer and gave Davilex their quality feedback. So I read while I was doing some research about the game because I wanted to send Davilex a few questions, questions they never answered and God knows I've waited. Perhaps they simply don't listen to what gamers need. If they did listen and wrote every comment on a sheet of paper then they must have cut it up, burnt the shreds, frozen the ashes and dumped those over the five continents to make absolutely sure that they wouldn't be able to consider even the slightest tip.
Some games have lousy graphics but most of them put at least some effort in making the rendered cut scenes look two or three times better but not Knight Rider 2, that is for sure. I am not talking about plain ugly, these movies are horrifying and if you think that is worse ... then you won't survive the quality of the extra's. Now, I must say that the idea behind the bonus material is very neat: pictures, movies and even a trivia quiz deliver a few minutes of extra value. However, they do have serious problems too: pictures are of extremely low resolution, the blurry movies don't run smooth and the quiz only features about twenty-five question which are in addition hard to read and lousy randomly selected.
Okay, so cut scenes and extra's are graphically bad, but wait until you saw in-game footage: the environments seem to repeat themselves over and over again, there is almost no other (moving or waiting) traffic, no people walking on the side-walk, not even cows grazing in a grassland. If you do happen to stumble on an occasional item that stands along the road then you are devastated by its disgustingly low detail. Even K.I.T.T. doesn't look fly and that is when things do NOT go wrong!
While the dialogs play, subtitles appear (yes, there are subtitles) accompanied with the face of the spokesman. Nice touch, if it wasn't for the fact that his mouth just opens en shuts according to one predictable pattern and thus doesn't correspond with the speech. Truly, a ridiculous sight.
Now, I would give the sound 10 out of 10 only for the renowned theme but then you would probably start thinking the sound is good which isn't the case at all. K.I.T.T.'s scanner sounds like an old telex that worked for forty years with the N.M.B.S (Belgian Railroad company - ed.) and was then shipped of to some god forsaken town in Congo where it had to work intensively for another decade. Guns don't sound impressive either, the engine doesn't make a tough noice, breaking doesn't seem to have a sound-effect at all, voices are plain silly and background noise, well I guess they just forgot about that.
You could state the there isn't a learning curve at all and that everybody can start with this game immediately. But you see, that would be slightly superficial because the gameplay is so unrefined that it even helps to know how it might have been programmed to understand it better. Luckily, it isn't a hard game so the car's incredibly stupid control isn't always to blame for getting killed. Now, on most of the missions you won't find yourself doing so but when you have to take down a legion of robots with a gun that doesn't move separately from your car, it might happen that you have to restart the button-bashing sequence all over again several times.
It is even hard to just drive down a public highway so dodging rockets is almost impossible as the Pontiac doesn't so much turns. It rather kind of slides left and right or spins around but turning... that mathematical formula must have been too complicated. Therefore, I figure you can guess how difficult it is to shoot a small, but quickly moving robot. That makes battles usually come down to shooting as much and as wild as you can after which rushing to a power-generator to recharge K.I.T.T.'s batteries (your life-bar) is the only option. The rest of the objectives only consist of finding all switches to open a gate.
However, the game never got me frustrated and there were several gripping moments, the mission where you have to drive al the way to the top of a factory for example. It is a terrible shame that they didn't make more challenges like these. Even separately: driving games/tests where you have to finish a circuit (with obstacles) within a certain time limit would have been a useful extra mode in great contradiction with the mission mode in which you can play each of the missions separately once unlocked.
As often said, fun things don't last long ... well neither do crappy games I guess because I played through this one in less than five hours. That even includes watching all the videos and photographs, playing the quiz for about twenty times and completing the two first missions again on a higher difficulty setting which I unlocked by finishing the game on normal.
It completely brakes my heart to say this but the sequel fails in every possible aspect. Getting the Knight Rider license is great but far from enough. No matter how renowned a series or movie might be, with worse than ps1 gameplay, sound and graphics and the lack of a multitiplayer (with which they spoil another chance of improving the game) this title is bound to fail. In addition, you have to realise that I didn't even mention all the other problems, bugs and lacks. Things that you thought were no more than obvious in a game released near 2005.
I did have a wonderful time last night and I am even desperately searching to buy (read: get it for free) the PS2 version of the first game. I loved to hear the tune, see the extra movies I unlocked or play the quiz and I even liked the last levels which where, when looked at in a proper respect, quite challenging. However, in the end the opinions differ once again greatly: I kind of liked it, the rest of world will probably think it stinks worse than a drunk man's piss.
Perhaps, I now know why they didn't answer my questions but I do have a lot of other things to ask now so I am still more than happy to type out some of my remarks if a developer or CEO wants to answer them.
35.5% out of 100%
http://www.fragland.net/index.php?page=reviews&rid=422
K.I.T.T. (short for Knight Industries Two Thousand) is the fictive name for the highly modified Pontiac Trans-Am which has a mind, and a series, of his own. For eighty-four episodes, K.I.T.T. and Michael fight against crime, a battle which completely destroyes "the black beauty" four times. If you think you can do better yourself then this game is the chance to prove it.
As many of you will without a doubt remember, the first Knight Rider game wasn't quite the quality product every fan was hoping for. Some hardcore fans couldn't take the horror any longer and gave Davilex their quality feedback. So I read while I was doing some research about the game because I wanted to send Davilex a few questions, questions they never answered and God knows I've waited. Perhaps they simply don't listen to what gamers need. If they did listen and wrote every comment on a sheet of paper then they must have cut it up, burnt the shreds, frozen the ashes and dumped those over the five continents to make absolutely sure that they wouldn't be able to consider even the slightest tip.
Some games have lousy graphics but most of them put at least some effort in making the rendered cut scenes look two or three times better but not Knight Rider 2, that is for sure. I am not talking about plain ugly, these movies are horrifying and if you think that is worse ... then you won't survive the quality of the extra's. Now, I must say that the idea behind the bonus material is very neat: pictures, movies and even a trivia quiz deliver a few minutes of extra value. However, they do have serious problems too: pictures are of extremely low resolution, the blurry movies don't run smooth and the quiz only features about twenty-five question which are in addition hard to read and lousy randomly selected.
Okay, so cut scenes and extra's are graphically bad, but wait until you saw in-game footage: the environments seem to repeat themselves over and over again, there is almost no other (moving or waiting) traffic, no people walking on the side-walk, not even cows grazing in a grassland. If you do happen to stumble on an occasional item that stands along the road then you are devastated by its disgustingly low detail. Even K.I.T.T. doesn't look fly and that is when things do NOT go wrong!
While the dialogs play, subtitles appear (yes, there are subtitles) accompanied with the face of the spokesman. Nice touch, if it wasn't for the fact that his mouth just opens en shuts according to one predictable pattern and thus doesn't correspond with the speech. Truly, a ridiculous sight.
Now, I would give the sound 10 out of 10 only for the renowned theme but then you would probably start thinking the sound is good which isn't the case at all. K.I.T.T.'s scanner sounds like an old telex that worked for forty years with the N.M.B.S (Belgian Railroad company - ed.) and was then shipped of to some god forsaken town in Congo where it had to work intensively for another decade. Guns don't sound impressive either, the engine doesn't make a tough noice, breaking doesn't seem to have a sound-effect at all, voices are plain silly and background noise, well I guess they just forgot about that.
You could state the there isn't a learning curve at all and that everybody can start with this game immediately. But you see, that would be slightly superficial because the gameplay is so unrefined that it even helps to know how it might have been programmed to understand it better. Luckily, it isn't a hard game so the car's incredibly stupid control isn't always to blame for getting killed. Now, on most of the missions you won't find yourself doing so but when you have to take down a legion of robots with a gun that doesn't move separately from your car, it might happen that you have to restart the button-bashing sequence all over again several times.
It is even hard to just drive down a public highway so dodging rockets is almost impossible as the Pontiac doesn't so much turns. It rather kind of slides left and right or spins around but turning... that mathematical formula must have been too complicated. Therefore, I figure you can guess how difficult it is to shoot a small, but quickly moving robot. That makes battles usually come down to shooting as much and as wild as you can after which rushing to a power-generator to recharge K.I.T.T.'s batteries (your life-bar) is the only option. The rest of the objectives only consist of finding all switches to open a gate.
However, the game never got me frustrated and there were several gripping moments, the mission where you have to drive al the way to the top of a factory for example. It is a terrible shame that they didn't make more challenges like these. Even separately: driving games/tests where you have to finish a circuit (with obstacles) within a certain time limit would have been a useful extra mode in great contradiction with the mission mode in which you can play each of the missions separately once unlocked.
As often said, fun things don't last long ... well neither do crappy games I guess because I played through this one in less than five hours. That even includes watching all the videos and photographs, playing the quiz for about twenty times and completing the two first missions again on a higher difficulty setting which I unlocked by finishing the game on normal.
It completely brakes my heart to say this but the sequel fails in every possible aspect. Getting the Knight Rider license is great but far from enough. No matter how renowned a series or movie might be, with worse than ps1 gameplay, sound and graphics and the lack of a multitiplayer (with which they spoil another chance of improving the game) this title is bound to fail. In addition, you have to realise that I didn't even mention all the other problems, bugs and lacks. Things that you thought were no more than obvious in a game released near 2005.
I did have a wonderful time last night and I am even desperately searching to buy (read: get it for free) the PS2 version of the first game. I loved to hear the tune, see the extra movies I unlocked or play the quiz and I even liked the last levels which where, when looked at in a proper respect, quite challenging. However, in the end the opinions differ once again greatly: I kind of liked it, the rest of world will probably think it stinks worse than a drunk man's piss.
Perhaps, I now know why they didn't answer my questions but I do have a lot of other things to ask now so I am still more than happy to type out some of my remarks if a developer or CEO wants to answer them.
35.5% out of 100%
http://www.fragland.net/index.php?page=reviews&rid=422
-
86chvs10
- FLAG Recruit
- Posts: 472
- Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 9:54 pm
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Pensacola,Florida
- Contact:
I played the demo again it makes want to through up all over it.They need to give it EA Games or Rockstar Games because both those companies can bring the game into North America and Europe easily.They can make the game just like GTA where michael gets out of kitt when ever he wants just like Driver walk into Bars ask questions for information to solve cases.K.I.T.T. would totally real just like the show too.Davilex just didn't touch the graphics or they have computers from 1985.They need to gove the license to some other company to America so the Americas can get the game as well, instead of Europe just getting the game. Everyone shout with me (DAVILEX GIVE UP THE LICENSE).I wish we can email Rockstar games to see if they can kick Davilex's butt and give Rockstar Games the License and the Knight Rider would be reconized and make many more Knight Rider games in future. UHHHHH i finally said my piece i just can't look at this game anymore.
-
Matthew
- Site Administrator
- Posts: 1150
- Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2002 1:01 am
- antispam: No
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 1982
- Location: England
Calling them 1995 graphics would be an exaggeration, let alone 1985. The graphics may not be as good as the Need For Speed Underground series, or the last two GTA's but they are still good. The way people are making it sound, anyone would think the graphics are comparable to those of a Nintendo Entertainment System.Maestro wrote:1985 computers?The gfx are far from that bad! That`s a major exaggeration to say the least...
Welcome aboard the Knight 2000.
Thank you. What's all this, it looks like Darth Vader's bathroom?
Thank you. What's all this, it looks like Darth Vader's bathroom?
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
Just a heads up, that Davilex have been invited to respond to the criticism leveled at them in this thread and elsewhere.
So, should you see Davilex posting... that is the company themselves.
So, should you see Davilex posting... that is the company themselves.
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
Another review:
You’ve got to hand it to Davilex. They certainly have dogged determination in their locker. And let’s hope they have a truckload (or should that be semi-load?) of bouncebackability too. Sequels to good games make sense, but a sequel to Knight Rider The Game? Blimey! – now that’s real dedication to a cause that is.
Knight Rider is doing the rounds on satellite TV (most things are), but even so anyone under the age of 18 or so probably hasn’t got a clue what Knight Rider is….Gamers of an older persuasion will know however, and probably be sniggering at me for getting stuck with the review for the second game of the rather naff 80s TV series…..
Starring David Hasselhoff (the old, tall orange guy out of Baywatch and a pop “legend” in Germany because they actually think his music is cool), Knight Rider was about the mysterious Michael Knight, the millionaire owner of hi-tech Knight Industries, and his computerised talking car K.I.T.T. – It stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand apparently.
The trouble with Knight Rider, even at the time, was its inherent crapness. David-Michael HasselKnighthoff (he had trouble distinguishing himself from the on-screen character so why shouldn’t I?) was a bouffant-haired twerp who was about as tough as Ross Geller or Chandler Bing. His boss, Devon Miles was a camp toff, and the star of the show (K.I.T.T., the talking wondercar) was in fact no more than a black Pontiac Trans-Am (a truly terrible automobile in real life) with blacked-out windows and wheel trims. K.I.T.T. also had a laconic attitude and a camp voice…. (more campness?), and lacked any decent Bond-style machine guns, rocket launchers or any fun gadgets. What it did have was the ability to jump in the air (or “Turbo Boost” as it was called for some reason) and drive on two wheels (or Ski). K.I.T.T.’s best bit was definitely its cool red light on the front that scanned from side to side and made a cool ‘whhhooooom’….. ‘whoooom’ noise…… (you probably had to be there)…
The ‘Campaign’ is series of missions (you can replay missions individually once they’re completed, although for the life of me I can’t think why you’d want to) and to kick things off, Mike & K.I.T.T. get attacked by a volley of missiles (larger than the combined stocks of the US & the USSR at the height of the Cold War) on the way back from a holiday in the mountains. So far - so unbelievable. The way this level plays is even less plausible; You drive K.I.T.T. out of the screen (that’s towards you, with reversed controls) whilst trying to avoid the missiles by jumping with “turbo mode”! (the R2 button). The original Knight Rider game had you jumping around some levels like a platform game at times, and this new opening level seems so reminiscent of a Crash Bandicoot level that you wonder why Davilex don’t just do a cutesy platform game and be done with it…
Thankfully K.I.T.T. does have a few new toys under his bodywork (so it’s not very faithful to the TV series then), and now apart from scanning things (drive up to something that looks like it could be useful and hold down L2), “Turbo Boost” jump and “Ski” (go on two wheels in order to fit through narrow gaps or ‘tiptoe’ across narrow bridges), the supercar now has a laser beam (woohoo), a plasma gun (gasp!) and guided missiles (crikey!) (although you’ll wonder what kind of cheap hardware they’re guided by).
Okay to the “plot” for KRTG2: Devon is the boss of F.L.A.G. (even more initials) or the Foundation for Law And Government (so that should be F.F.L.A.G. really then) a covert organisation who seem to use Michael Knight’s money to catch bad guys. They operate out of a Semi (no, I don’t mean a ‘partial’, for some unknown reason those wacky Americans call 18 Wheelers that sometimes) that acts as a mobile HQ and base for K.I.T.T. In the game, you play and control K.I.T.T. (who’s accent seems to have changed a lot since the TV series, and become distinctly English), and drive Michael (Michael unsurprisingly isn’t voiced by the real Hasselhoff either, but it’s pretty easy to sound like the too-nice, patronizing dweeb) around, seemingly doing all the work for the mouthy one, who calls you ‘pal’ and ‘buddy’ a lot - so much in fact that I think that like arch-enemy Garthe and myself, you’ll want to kill him before long too…
So let’s recap; there’s Michael, K.I.T.T., Devon, Garthe (bad alter ego brother of Michael), Goliath (Garthe’s truck), Bonnie (some nice-sounding girl who give you lots of info and upgrades K.I.T.T from time to time) and K.I.T.T’s alter ego, K.A.R.R. (a really bad car, don’t know what the initials stand for, sorry). Oh, and a remote control helicopter that attacks you, probably known as C.H.O.P.P.E.R. to his friends. Note to self: If only I’d worked harder at school… maybe I’d have got the San Andreas review instead…
The levels seem to be mostly strangely deserted desert roads through canyons that end for no apparent reason at huge industrial installations. Some of these have massive underground complexes underneath them that you drive around in – not a bad guy in sight – just loads of tracked robots of various sizes and some laser beams to avoid. Imaginative level design or what? – There really is nothing for your brain to get excited about - even the original Knight Rider game had traffic on the roads, but it’s gone missing now, probably to appear in a better game somewhere.
The game engine allows for little in the way of detail, and apart from some nice smoke and speed blurring effects, there really is nothing for your eyes to get excited about either. Knighthoff only gets out of the car once, and you don’t get to control him even then, although you naturally have to save his irritating ass, because crap-Bond-style, the only time he gets out of K.I.T.T. he gets tied to a conveyor belt on a crushing machine… If only you could run him over, and run free…
The game is short, but not short enough. You’ll tire of its inane design, odd controls and unhelpful camera positioning quickly, and after driving, shooting, avoiding stuff and giggling insanely for a while (it’s one of those games) you’ll long for GTA, or Driv3r, or anything else really. Sometimes you’ll have to replay a level because the time limit ran out before you figured out exactly what to do or got fed up with shooting the dozens of stupid robots (think they stole them from Terminator 3), but second time you’ll get it and that’s that. It last about 3 or 4 hours, tops, and that’s if you’re patient enough to see it to the end, and explore. A lot.
So that’s about it. You drive somewhere, scan something, shoot something, drive somewhere else and then chase something (a car, or possibly a helicopter) for a while (should you do a big jump, you’ll get a cinematic, GTA-style cutaway view). That’s KRT2 pretty much summed up. It’s old, it’s tired and it’s just not good enough. With games as good as GTA San Andreas around this sort of cheap tie-in won’t do anymore, and even allowing for rose-tinted specs and cult/kitsch appeal, this should be ignored at all costs. Extras consist of strangely detached TV clips of stunt drivers doing strangely unexciting non-stunts in Black Trans Ams, a quiz and a few piccies of K.I.T.T.
Knight Rider - The Game 2 (to give it its full title - thank goodness they called it that to avoid confusion with Knight Rider – The Jigsaw Puzzle 2) might be worth a look - if you’re a 30-something and really need a fix then you might derive some pleasure from this, but otherwise it’s impossible to recommend. The only other plus point for some gamers might be that no one dies (apart from possibly the bad guy Garthe, and that’s not clear) so it might be a good one for the kiddies? – But, and this is a big but: if you deprive them of good games like GTA San Andreas and buy them this instead, you know they’ll only grow up to hate you for it, and come into your bedroom one dark knight brandishing a copy of Knight Rider The Game 2…
Best Bits
- K.I.T.T. looks nice and shiny.
- Unintentionally funny.
- It’s cheap.
- It’s easy.
- It’s over quickly, so you can take it back and get something else.
Worst Bits
- Some non-intuitive controls.
- Simplistic and repetitive missions that all feel a bit daft.
- Apart from K.I.T.T., the graphics are crap.
- Polygon tearing and clipping.
- It’s Knight Rider, so you’re likely to be associated with David Hasselhoff.
- Pathetic arch-enemy (Michael’s evil double - with a goatee).
- It’s short.
- SO many acronyms (yeah, I looked it up).
- It’s a bit K.R.A.P.P.
3/10
http://www.gamecell.co.uk/ps2/Knight_Ri ... Game_2.htm
You’ve got to hand it to Davilex. They certainly have dogged determination in their locker. And let’s hope they have a truckload (or should that be semi-load?) of bouncebackability too. Sequels to good games make sense, but a sequel to Knight Rider The Game? Blimey! – now that’s real dedication to a cause that is.
Knight Rider is doing the rounds on satellite TV (most things are), but even so anyone under the age of 18 or so probably hasn’t got a clue what Knight Rider is….Gamers of an older persuasion will know however, and probably be sniggering at me for getting stuck with the review for the second game of the rather naff 80s TV series…..
Starring David Hasselhoff (the old, tall orange guy out of Baywatch and a pop “legend” in Germany because they actually think his music is cool), Knight Rider was about the mysterious Michael Knight, the millionaire owner of hi-tech Knight Industries, and his computerised talking car K.I.T.T. – It stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand apparently.
The trouble with Knight Rider, even at the time, was its inherent crapness. David-Michael HasselKnighthoff (he had trouble distinguishing himself from the on-screen character so why shouldn’t I?) was a bouffant-haired twerp who was about as tough as Ross Geller or Chandler Bing. His boss, Devon Miles was a camp toff, and the star of the show (K.I.T.T., the talking wondercar) was in fact no more than a black Pontiac Trans-Am (a truly terrible automobile in real life) with blacked-out windows and wheel trims. K.I.T.T. also had a laconic attitude and a camp voice…. (more campness?), and lacked any decent Bond-style machine guns, rocket launchers or any fun gadgets. What it did have was the ability to jump in the air (or “Turbo Boost” as it was called for some reason) and drive on two wheels (or Ski). K.I.T.T.’s best bit was definitely its cool red light on the front that scanned from side to side and made a cool ‘whhhooooom’….. ‘whoooom’ noise…… (you probably had to be there)…
The ‘Campaign’ is series of missions (you can replay missions individually once they’re completed, although for the life of me I can’t think why you’d want to) and to kick things off, Mike & K.I.T.T. get attacked by a volley of missiles (larger than the combined stocks of the US & the USSR at the height of the Cold War) on the way back from a holiday in the mountains. So far - so unbelievable. The way this level plays is even less plausible; You drive K.I.T.T. out of the screen (that’s towards you, with reversed controls) whilst trying to avoid the missiles by jumping with “turbo mode”! (the R2 button). The original Knight Rider game had you jumping around some levels like a platform game at times, and this new opening level seems so reminiscent of a Crash Bandicoot level that you wonder why Davilex don’t just do a cutesy platform game and be done with it…
Thankfully K.I.T.T. does have a few new toys under his bodywork (so it’s not very faithful to the TV series then), and now apart from scanning things (drive up to something that looks like it could be useful and hold down L2), “Turbo Boost” jump and “Ski” (go on two wheels in order to fit through narrow gaps or ‘tiptoe’ across narrow bridges), the supercar now has a laser beam (woohoo), a plasma gun (gasp!) and guided missiles (crikey!) (although you’ll wonder what kind of cheap hardware they’re guided by).
Okay to the “plot” for KRTG2: Devon is the boss of F.L.A.G. (even more initials) or the Foundation for Law And Government (so that should be F.F.L.A.G. really then) a covert organisation who seem to use Michael Knight’s money to catch bad guys. They operate out of a Semi (no, I don’t mean a ‘partial’, for some unknown reason those wacky Americans call 18 Wheelers that sometimes) that acts as a mobile HQ and base for K.I.T.T. In the game, you play and control K.I.T.T. (who’s accent seems to have changed a lot since the TV series, and become distinctly English), and drive Michael (Michael unsurprisingly isn’t voiced by the real Hasselhoff either, but it’s pretty easy to sound like the too-nice, patronizing dweeb) around, seemingly doing all the work for the mouthy one, who calls you ‘pal’ and ‘buddy’ a lot - so much in fact that I think that like arch-enemy Garthe and myself, you’ll want to kill him before long too…
So let’s recap; there’s Michael, K.I.T.T., Devon, Garthe (bad alter ego brother of Michael), Goliath (Garthe’s truck), Bonnie (some nice-sounding girl who give you lots of info and upgrades K.I.T.T from time to time) and K.I.T.T’s alter ego, K.A.R.R. (a really bad car, don’t know what the initials stand for, sorry). Oh, and a remote control helicopter that attacks you, probably known as C.H.O.P.P.E.R. to his friends. Note to self: If only I’d worked harder at school… maybe I’d have got the San Andreas review instead…
The levels seem to be mostly strangely deserted desert roads through canyons that end for no apparent reason at huge industrial installations. Some of these have massive underground complexes underneath them that you drive around in – not a bad guy in sight – just loads of tracked robots of various sizes and some laser beams to avoid. Imaginative level design or what? – There really is nothing for your brain to get excited about - even the original Knight Rider game had traffic on the roads, but it’s gone missing now, probably to appear in a better game somewhere.
The game engine allows for little in the way of detail, and apart from some nice smoke and speed blurring effects, there really is nothing for your eyes to get excited about either. Knighthoff only gets out of the car once, and you don’t get to control him even then, although you naturally have to save his irritating ass, because crap-Bond-style, the only time he gets out of K.I.T.T. he gets tied to a conveyor belt on a crushing machine… If only you could run him over, and run free…
The game is short, but not short enough. You’ll tire of its inane design, odd controls and unhelpful camera positioning quickly, and after driving, shooting, avoiding stuff and giggling insanely for a while (it’s one of those games) you’ll long for GTA, or Driv3r, or anything else really. Sometimes you’ll have to replay a level because the time limit ran out before you figured out exactly what to do or got fed up with shooting the dozens of stupid robots (think they stole them from Terminator 3), but second time you’ll get it and that’s that. It last about 3 or 4 hours, tops, and that’s if you’re patient enough to see it to the end, and explore. A lot.
So that’s about it. You drive somewhere, scan something, shoot something, drive somewhere else and then chase something (a car, or possibly a helicopter) for a while (should you do a big jump, you’ll get a cinematic, GTA-style cutaway view). That’s KRT2 pretty much summed up. It’s old, it’s tired and it’s just not good enough. With games as good as GTA San Andreas around this sort of cheap tie-in won’t do anymore, and even allowing for rose-tinted specs and cult/kitsch appeal, this should be ignored at all costs. Extras consist of strangely detached TV clips of stunt drivers doing strangely unexciting non-stunts in Black Trans Ams, a quiz and a few piccies of K.I.T.T.
Knight Rider - The Game 2 (to give it its full title - thank goodness they called it that to avoid confusion with Knight Rider – The Jigsaw Puzzle 2) might be worth a look - if you’re a 30-something and really need a fix then you might derive some pleasure from this, but otherwise it’s impossible to recommend. The only other plus point for some gamers might be that no one dies (apart from possibly the bad guy Garthe, and that’s not clear) so it might be a good one for the kiddies? – But, and this is a big but: if you deprive them of good games like GTA San Andreas and buy them this instead, you know they’ll only grow up to hate you for it, and come into your bedroom one dark knight brandishing a copy of Knight Rider The Game 2…
Best Bits
- K.I.T.T. looks nice and shiny.
- Unintentionally funny.
- It’s cheap.
- It’s easy.
- It’s over quickly, so you can take it back and get something else.
Worst Bits
- Some non-intuitive controls.
- Simplistic and repetitive missions that all feel a bit daft.
- Apart from K.I.T.T., the graphics are crap.
- Polygon tearing and clipping.
- It’s Knight Rider, so you’re likely to be associated with David Hasselhoff.
- Pathetic arch-enemy (Michael’s evil double - with a goatee).
- It’s short.
- SO many acronyms (yeah, I looked it up).
- It’s a bit K.R.A.P.P.
3/10
http://www.gamecell.co.uk/ps2/Knight_Ri ... Game_2.htm
-
Davilex
- Developers of KR: The Game 1 & 2
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:42 pm
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Netherlands
- Contact:
Hi guys,
It's been interesting to read your opinions, here's some feedback from our side:
re: not listening to suggestions.
but... we did. We just couldn't do everything you wanted. We also felt that while some of your wishes would be appreciated by hardcore KR-fans, they might not be noticeable for others. Please remember, we did this project with limited budget and limited time, so we had to make painful choices. However, looking back, I think the choices were "wise" as they gave us the most "bang for our buck".
re: handling of KITT
I think we did a reasonably good job balancing the different requirements on the handling. Because of the weapons, we need a "fast turn", which is like an invisible hand that helps you turn the car around at low speed. At high speed, another invisible hand helps you keep the car on the road. However, both systems aren't without faults and may not be to anyone's taste.
re: weapons
We felt that the game needed "something" to add more action. In the first game you can only *bump* into Goliath and destroy him that way. I think the weapons work well, although I can understand why some KR fans don't appreciate them, because they weren't in the series.
re: fighting = circling
It's true that you can get into this "infinite loop" where a robot circles you and you go crazy and dizzy trying to shoot it. There is however a way to break out of that loop and it is simply: release the gas, drive away, turn around, and come back at some speed with guns blazing
re: shield/energy/damage
We wanted to keep the "energy economy" simple. So yes, energy and damage are the same. So yes, if you don't recharge your energy, eventually one shot will kill you. It may not be what you expect in a shooter, but in a game where you have car with "battery packs", I think it is defendable. The idea behind the shield is that you use it briefly (upon impact of enemy fire) so it gives you a positive trade-off (you avoid a lot of energy-draining damage, you sacrific a small amount of energy to briefly keep up the shield).
re: story and voice acting
Some people wrote they thought the story was more "James Bond" than "Knight Rider". I think I disagree, but you probably know better
We tried to make up a story that would have spanned two or three episodes in the series, that would allow some bigger sets for KITT to act in, and would allow for more than one "boss-fight".
Of course there are cliches in the story, but that is appropriate for this license IMHO.
Looking back, the ingame animations work well. I especially like the fact that you see KITT from other angles (although some hardcore fans might get upset because of the inconsistencies in the KITT model). The voice acting may not be the best in the world, but IMHO it is certainly "on par" with the TV-series.
re: extras vs. missing features
During development we had to throw out a couple of features (notably the mini-games) because we wouldn't have had the time to finish them properly. That was a painful decision, because the mini-games would have made up for the game being on the short side.
To compensate (sort of) we did throw in the video clips and the other extras, and we made sure that the levels where you can have a "good fight" are easy to access (ie. no lengthy driving sequence before you get to the fight)
re: graphical glitches & hardware issues
Some of you mention problems with graphics on the PC version. I think that is probably due to driver-problems.
re: camera behavior
Not surprisingly not everybody likes the "original" camera behavior in the first mission of the game. We did it because it shows you KITT from the front and it gives you a good look a the rockets that chase you (which ups the tension). The downside is that you don't see where you're going, but to offset that the car is helped by an invisible hand to stay on the road.
Some people complained likewise about the camera behavior in the helicopter battle... What can I say? It works for me... You can turn it off by switching to the dashboard view.
re: reviews
I am not shocked by the lowly scores in the reviews. First, if you only have a scale of 1 to 10 on which to express yourself, it doesn't come as a surprise to me that a game with modest production values gets a score of 40% at most.
Furthermore, Knight Rider 2 isn't aimed at the hardcore gamers, but rather at the parents who buy the game out of nostalgia or for their 10 year old son, or both. That is why we designed it for a 7+ age rating.
Along these lines, it is understandable that there is some hostility in the reviews, because not everybody can put themselves in other people's shoes. In other words, most reviewers look at the game as if it was made to please *them* only. IMHO this doesn't do justice to the fact that Knight Rider 2 is a charming little game, even if it is not "the next big thing".
If there are more "urgent" issues, I'll do my best to come back and answer/clarify them,
best regards,
Lambert Wolterbeek Muller,
Davilex Games.
It's been interesting to read your opinions, here's some feedback from our side:
re: not listening to suggestions.
but... we did. We just couldn't do everything you wanted. We also felt that while some of your wishes would be appreciated by hardcore KR-fans, they might not be noticeable for others. Please remember, we did this project with limited budget and limited time, so we had to make painful choices. However, looking back, I think the choices were "wise" as they gave us the most "bang for our buck".
re: handling of KITT
I think we did a reasonably good job balancing the different requirements on the handling. Because of the weapons, we need a "fast turn", which is like an invisible hand that helps you turn the car around at low speed. At high speed, another invisible hand helps you keep the car on the road. However, both systems aren't without faults and may not be to anyone's taste.
re: weapons
We felt that the game needed "something" to add more action. In the first game you can only *bump* into Goliath and destroy him that way. I think the weapons work well, although I can understand why some KR fans don't appreciate them, because they weren't in the series.
re: fighting = circling
It's true that you can get into this "infinite loop" where a robot circles you and you go crazy and dizzy trying to shoot it. There is however a way to break out of that loop and it is simply: release the gas, drive away, turn around, and come back at some speed with guns blazing
re: shield/energy/damage
We wanted to keep the "energy economy" simple. So yes, energy and damage are the same. So yes, if you don't recharge your energy, eventually one shot will kill you. It may not be what you expect in a shooter, but in a game where you have car with "battery packs", I think it is defendable. The idea behind the shield is that you use it briefly (upon impact of enemy fire) so it gives you a positive trade-off (you avoid a lot of energy-draining damage, you sacrific a small amount of energy to briefly keep up the shield).
re: story and voice acting
Some people wrote they thought the story was more "James Bond" than "Knight Rider". I think I disagree, but you probably know better
We tried to make up a story that would have spanned two or three episodes in the series, that would allow some bigger sets for KITT to act in, and would allow for more than one "boss-fight".
Of course there are cliches in the story, but that is appropriate for this license IMHO.
Looking back, the ingame animations work well. I especially like the fact that you see KITT from other angles (although some hardcore fans might get upset because of the inconsistencies in the KITT model). The voice acting may not be the best in the world, but IMHO it is certainly "on par" with the TV-series.
re: extras vs. missing features
During development we had to throw out a couple of features (notably the mini-games) because we wouldn't have had the time to finish them properly. That was a painful decision, because the mini-games would have made up for the game being on the short side.
To compensate (sort of) we did throw in the video clips and the other extras, and we made sure that the levels where you can have a "good fight" are easy to access (ie. no lengthy driving sequence before you get to the fight)
re: graphical glitches & hardware issues
Some of you mention problems with graphics on the PC version. I think that is probably due to driver-problems.
re: camera behavior
Not surprisingly not everybody likes the "original" camera behavior in the first mission of the game. We did it because it shows you KITT from the front and it gives you a good look a the rockets that chase you (which ups the tension). The downside is that you don't see where you're going, but to offset that the car is helped by an invisible hand to stay on the road.
Some people complained likewise about the camera behavior in the helicopter battle... What can I say? It works for me... You can turn it off by switching to the dashboard view.
re: reviews
I am not shocked by the lowly scores in the reviews. First, if you only have a scale of 1 to 10 on which to express yourself, it doesn't come as a surprise to me that a game with modest production values gets a score of 40% at most.
Furthermore, Knight Rider 2 isn't aimed at the hardcore gamers, but rather at the parents who buy the game out of nostalgia or for their 10 year old son, or both. That is why we designed it for a 7+ age rating.
Along these lines, it is understandable that there is some hostility in the reviews, because not everybody can put themselves in other people's shoes. In other words, most reviewers look at the game as if it was made to please *them* only. IMHO this doesn't do justice to the fact that Knight Rider 2 is a charming little game, even if it is not "the next big thing".
If there are more "urgent" issues, I'll do my best to come back and answer/clarify them,
best regards,
Lambert Wolterbeek Muller,
Davilex Games.
-
Gonzaloa
- Rookie
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 4:49 pm
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Argentina
Hello all,
I thinks it's good that someone at Davilex, show his face about our game's dislikes, but if that is just to say "it's good for me, the problem is that hard fans of the series expected too much", I thinks it's just like nothing.
I read here reviews from fans of the series and from fans of action/driving games, and both sides disliked the game a lot.
It's hard not to note than when he suggested to use the Dash view, didn't mention anything about the missing indicators in it.
I agree that with this bad second game, it's hard to think is going to be a third.
I hope someone will make a good mod for GTA.
I thinks it's good that someone at Davilex, show his face about our game's dislikes, but if that is just to say "it's good for me, the problem is that hard fans of the series expected too much", I thinks it's just like nothing.
I read here reviews from fans of the series and from fans of action/driving games, and both sides disliked the game a lot.
It's hard not to note than when he suggested to use the Dash view, didn't mention anything about the missing indicators in it.
I agree that with this bad second game, it's hard to think is going to be a third.
I hope someone will make a good mod for GTA.
-
Knight Racer
- FLAG Special Ops
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Brooklyn
- Contact:
-
whet
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 882
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: derbyshire england
Thanks to Davilex for the post.
I pesonaly enjoyed the game, only thing that niggled me was it was to short.
Can someone from Davilex tell me if there are any plans for a 3rd game?
I know it's maybe a little early with the 2nd only released early this month.
I woulden't mind paying more for a 3rd game if it could be made longer the wait might be a bit long for you to get it that way, but I think it would be worth waiting for.
I pesonaly enjoyed the game, only thing that niggled me was it was to short.
Can someone from Davilex tell me if there are any plans for a 3rd game?
I know it's maybe a little early with the 2nd only released early this month.
I woulden't mind paying more for a 3rd game if it could be made longer the wait might be a bit long for you to get it that way, but I think it would be worth waiting for.
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
Zoom ice-lollies, Daisy Duke in cut off denim, John Barnes goal in the Maracana – there are some things from the Eighties that evoke waves of nostalgia and deserve to be seen again for their style and appeal. Then there are the ugly things from the period, things to make you glad those days are behind us – filofaxes, legwarmers, Margaret Thatcher. I’m not sure where to place Knight Rider – it was pure cheese, an entire series built around a slightly modified Trans-am and a man who would later go on to sell a lot of naff pop records in Germany, yet it was part of that boys own vehicle nonsense that proved so popular.
Knight Rider 2; The Game from Davilex accurately represents an episode of the television series on PS2 – someone tries to invoke a dastardly scheme, Michael (the shining) Knight rides to the rescue, villain subsequently tries to bump him and his pesky car off. At this point you realise that it was actually crap after all. Split into missions you must drive your vehicle buddy KITT (no marks for anyone who can remember what it stood for, this isn’t the TARDIS after all) through a variety of scenarios, all of them sadly lacking in any challenge or appeal. Ultimately they involve you reaching some checkpoint or performing some task from the comfort of your leather interior – it’s an entirely driving based action game. That’s not a problem if you’re talking about a title with a huge range of realistic cars for the petrolheads, or a programme with a tight plot, and real class, like say the first Driver game on Psone, but when it’s a plough through the American Midwest trying to avoid the odd missile and listening to a sarcastic Ferrari wannabe telling you to watch out for a fallen tree it’s just not Top Gear.
The action as is can be set to four levels of difficulty – two of them locked at the start. This doesn’t really prove a challenge as I’ll be stunned if you can play through it three times. Selecting the ‘normal’ option I was presented with an opening storyline of minding my own business driving home after a vacation – happily chatting away to my car as you do when you’ve been brought back to life by a philanthropic corporation. Out of nowhere I was informed there were some missiles homing in on my exhaust pipe and evasive action is required, now I take the wheel. The camera angle, that you can’t influence, is taken so that the car is driving towards you, and the missiles are overhead and steadily gaining. That’s fine for knowing when to move right and left so you don’t end up in a crater, but immediately you start to think ‘hang on’ that means I don’t know where I’m going – guess what, it doesn’t matter as you don’t have to bother doing anything – just keep your finger on accelerate and move left or right. As far as gaming challenges go it’s right up there with taking the cellophane off the box. Ostensibly the first level is a training mission so after this five minutes of nonsense the car rotates so you start to employ the turbo boost to leap over objects, the ‘go faster’ whilst under pursuit, the assorted weaponry and two wheeled stunt. There are only two possible outcomes however, either failing to react to these instructions (which even a sloth on vallium could do) or you press the button every twenty seconds and reach the end. KITT could be the coolest, most gadget ridden acerbic dude on the highway (which he’s not) and still this would induce slumber.
The subsequent missions don’t get nay better – locate four ‘power units’ to open a gate – amidst the stark backdrops and on board radar they might as well have said ‘find ten tap dancing rhinos in your back garden.’ Avoid more missiles, this time from a helicopter – and by the way your gadgets now don’t work – oh, that’s fun, shall I just shoot myself instead? The gameplay is of such a low level that I could only assume it’s been created with the very young in mind, and yet unless they’re avid fans of satellite T.V repeats the ‘world of the Knight Rider’ will mean bugger all. There could have been potential here for an over the top Starsky and Hutch style spoof, or an amusing dig at what we thought was ‘futuristic’ in those days encompassing the likes of Airwolf and Streethawk as well – all lost to produce a risible Spyhunter effort.
One of the most telling things of this game is the lack of original voice involvement – there’s no Hasselhoff, no ‘Dr Mark Craig from St Elsewhere (nil points to me in a pub quiz on actor’s names), no serious voiceover at the start. The tune is there, as is the Universal studios logo on the box, but you might as well release the A-Team without a big bloke covered in gold talking about ‘crazy fools’, why even bother with the franchise when so much of it revolved around two personalities who are not involved? Instead the voices are devoid of the rapport they tried to build into the series, the acidic comments of the car just sound stilted and annoy, and before long you think speeding head first into the nearest mountain will at least end it but no, you just get another ‘I don’t think you meant that’ comment. Power instead drains away from the car depending on how often you employ your gadgets, rather reflective of how life-force just drains from your body whilst playing.
In terms of the graphics it’s not much better. Locations are dull and uninspired, detail sadly absent, and the grainy quality makes you double check that it is a PS2 disk you’ve loaded up. Usually it’s a long shot to hope that a title delivers on great gameplay, excellent storyline and top notch graphics, unfortunately it’s easy to produce a shortfall that lacks any one of these three, it’s been managed here.
Knight Rider 2 The Game is like those ridiculously unamusing ‘deely boppers’ – one to leave in the cupboard marked Eighties items to forget.
35% out of 100%
http://www.ic-games.co.uk/index.php?loc ... cleid=2314
Knight Rider 2; The Game from Davilex accurately represents an episode of the television series on PS2 – someone tries to invoke a dastardly scheme, Michael (the shining) Knight rides to the rescue, villain subsequently tries to bump him and his pesky car off. At this point you realise that it was actually crap after all. Split into missions you must drive your vehicle buddy KITT (no marks for anyone who can remember what it stood for, this isn’t the TARDIS after all) through a variety of scenarios, all of them sadly lacking in any challenge or appeal. Ultimately they involve you reaching some checkpoint or performing some task from the comfort of your leather interior – it’s an entirely driving based action game. That’s not a problem if you’re talking about a title with a huge range of realistic cars for the petrolheads, or a programme with a tight plot, and real class, like say the first Driver game on Psone, but when it’s a plough through the American Midwest trying to avoid the odd missile and listening to a sarcastic Ferrari wannabe telling you to watch out for a fallen tree it’s just not Top Gear.
The action as is can be set to four levels of difficulty – two of them locked at the start. This doesn’t really prove a challenge as I’ll be stunned if you can play through it three times. Selecting the ‘normal’ option I was presented with an opening storyline of minding my own business driving home after a vacation – happily chatting away to my car as you do when you’ve been brought back to life by a philanthropic corporation. Out of nowhere I was informed there were some missiles homing in on my exhaust pipe and evasive action is required, now I take the wheel. The camera angle, that you can’t influence, is taken so that the car is driving towards you, and the missiles are overhead and steadily gaining. That’s fine for knowing when to move right and left so you don’t end up in a crater, but immediately you start to think ‘hang on’ that means I don’t know where I’m going – guess what, it doesn’t matter as you don’t have to bother doing anything – just keep your finger on accelerate and move left or right. As far as gaming challenges go it’s right up there with taking the cellophane off the box. Ostensibly the first level is a training mission so after this five minutes of nonsense the car rotates so you start to employ the turbo boost to leap over objects, the ‘go faster’ whilst under pursuit, the assorted weaponry and two wheeled stunt. There are only two possible outcomes however, either failing to react to these instructions (which even a sloth on vallium could do) or you press the button every twenty seconds and reach the end. KITT could be the coolest, most gadget ridden acerbic dude on the highway (which he’s not) and still this would induce slumber.
The subsequent missions don’t get nay better – locate four ‘power units’ to open a gate – amidst the stark backdrops and on board radar they might as well have said ‘find ten tap dancing rhinos in your back garden.’ Avoid more missiles, this time from a helicopter – and by the way your gadgets now don’t work – oh, that’s fun, shall I just shoot myself instead? The gameplay is of such a low level that I could only assume it’s been created with the very young in mind, and yet unless they’re avid fans of satellite T.V repeats the ‘world of the Knight Rider’ will mean bugger all. There could have been potential here for an over the top Starsky and Hutch style spoof, or an amusing dig at what we thought was ‘futuristic’ in those days encompassing the likes of Airwolf and Streethawk as well – all lost to produce a risible Spyhunter effort.
One of the most telling things of this game is the lack of original voice involvement – there’s no Hasselhoff, no ‘Dr Mark Craig from St Elsewhere (nil points to me in a pub quiz on actor’s names), no serious voiceover at the start. The tune is there, as is the Universal studios logo on the box, but you might as well release the A-Team without a big bloke covered in gold talking about ‘crazy fools’, why even bother with the franchise when so much of it revolved around two personalities who are not involved? Instead the voices are devoid of the rapport they tried to build into the series, the acidic comments of the car just sound stilted and annoy, and before long you think speeding head first into the nearest mountain will at least end it but no, you just get another ‘I don’t think you meant that’ comment. Power instead drains away from the car depending on how often you employ your gadgets, rather reflective of how life-force just drains from your body whilst playing.
In terms of the graphics it’s not much better. Locations are dull and uninspired, detail sadly absent, and the grainy quality makes you double check that it is a PS2 disk you’ve loaded up. Usually it’s a long shot to hope that a title delivers on great gameplay, excellent storyline and top notch graphics, unfortunately it’s easy to produce a shortfall that lacks any one of these three, it’s been managed here.
Knight Rider 2 The Game is like those ridiculously unamusing ‘deely boppers’ – one to leave in the cupboard marked Eighties items to forget.
35% out of 100%
http://www.ic-games.co.uk/index.php?loc ... cleid=2314
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
‘Never trust a talking car’, that is the advice my father gave me than I was a lad. He also warned me away from loose women, and for years I thought he was telling to avoid gymnasts. Only too late did I learn. ‘80s American Saturday night action television is something we will never see again; a heady mix of idealism, innocence, thrills and dazzling future technology that enthralled us all. Not only did we have Street Hawk and Automan; but we had Knight Rider. A world in danger, a timelessly cool car with a panning light on the front (surely stolen from the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica?) and what do they do with it? They give to David Hasselhoff. The man is little more than fake tan, suspect perms, open shirts and medallions. You expect to find him in a nightclub trying to impress bored housewives, not driving the most sophisticated automotive device the world has even seen. There’s no accounting for taste; and the same applies to Knight Rider 2; an agonising sequel to a tormenting game.
(Knight) Riders on the Storm
Frankly; I have to wonder at the mentality that ensures that games such as Knight Rider 2 ever get published. Is it bad karma for us as an entire planet? We have Halo 2. We have Half-Life 2. We have GTA: San Andreas. Why waste your money on such dross, when you can instead own Knight Rider 2; a game with little development budget and no vision? It would be like ending a relationship with a supermodel to marry some slapper chav with 24 kids and terrible roots. I shake my fist in rage and demand back the time I spent playing this game; hours I will never see again. The things I do for the sake of being a hack. Knight Rider 2 is a doubly cruel game as it begins with such promise. The presentation is sharp, the nostalgia-inducing theme music plays and deadens the senses, and the menu lulls us with extra features about the TV series, a Knight Rider quiz and some impressive clips from the show. Prejudice begins to melt like a thaw; and nostalgia sets in. After all; Knight Rider is from your youth, surely a game based on it cannot be a travesty of Alien vs Predator dimensions. Alas; when you finally play the game, your sanity takes a shattering blow as if from the pages of a Lovecraft tale.
The scant game options are either Story Mode (play through 11 missions that offer as much fun as a razor blade enema) or Mission Mode (play through the same 11 missions, but on any order). Not a promising start. For those not blessed with memories of Knight Rider, it is focused on Knight Industries, an archetypal organisation run by a leering old man called Devon. Not to be confused with the county of inbreds and small fairs selling suspect jam. And before anybody complains; I live in Devon and am more than qualified to judge; and am not inbred. Knight Industries have created a revolutionary car with its own persona called KITT. Unlike the Terminator films, KITT never decides that humanity must be expunged, which is a pity, as it would mean that this game would never have been made. KITT is driven by the walking aftershave commercial Michael Knight, and Knight and KITT endlessly save the world from the camp schemes and machinations of ‘80s villains. Which always involved turbo boosts and little else. The TV series was pure escapism, with plenty of stunts and an oft-amusing banter and interplay between Knight and KITT. The game rapes the whole idea and removes anything remotely redemptive, leaving us gamers with a violated husk.
The game opens with the protagonists driving back from a conference (probably Michael Night on Hair Care or somesuch) when, predictably, they are attacked with a salvo of missiles. Rather than present this as a tense FMV, the game places you in the middle of the attack, driving into the screen and steering frantically to avoid the missiles. Given that KITT has a computational mind infinitely faster than that of a human, surely placing KITT on autopilot would be a more sensible option? Obstacles line the way and the ever-useful turbo boost must be employed to clear them. Those too apathetic to read the manual will find this frustrating, as the game informs you WHAT to do, but not the button to press to execute it; which is nonsensically maddening. An honourable mention must go to the slow-motion cinematic that accompanies some of the turbo boosts; one of the dismally few impressive moments of the game. The pace of the mission keeps things intense, with the use of laser and ski-mode to navigate.
After this rather spectacular opening, the game takes a profound pratfall; and any saving grace from the opening level is scattered to the wind. The following ten missions present a quasi-Bond scenario concerning a prototype laser that, naturally, spells genocide for us all. Much as the worldwide intelligence services would have been invaluable for this, the fate of the world rests with a camp man in tight jeans and a slick talking car. ‘We’re doomed’, as C3PO would lament. Knight Rider is focused upon the car; KITT is the true hero and the dream of every child watching it. The worst possible thing that developers Davilex could do is remove the thrilling driving and turn the game into a simplified combat game. And, lo!, developers Davilex have removed the thrilling driving and turned the game into a simplified combat game. The locus of the game sees you driving about to locate computer towers, which KITT must jam for to open one of the endless gates which you must pass through. There are some exhilarating distractions, such as one level featuring a helicopter gunship continually barraging you with missiles, and an intense fight against KARR, KITT’s rival, but more often than not you will be attacking endless streams of robot guards. There is an element of stunt driving to be done, such as jumping gaps and navigating laser grids, but they do not meld seamlessly with the game and feel shoehorned into the proceedings for the sake of the license.
Another flaw in the game is the dynamic handling of the driving. The mediocre and formulaic game could be partially forgiven if the driving was well-implemented and engaging. Which it is not. At slow speeds the handling is far too sensitive, making for control as twitchy as a paranoid caffeine-junkie. At high speeds, conversely, KITT feels more like a brick, and control is not sensitive enough. The combat is equally unexceptional, and lacks the frenetic pace of ‘proper’ vehicle combat games such as the Twisted Metal games. Combat in Knight Rider 2 consists of driving in concentric circles and shooting the robot sentries until they explode with as much grandeur as a cheap firework. Using the missiles is often a cumbersome experience, as the lock-on time is just that little bit too long, meaning that you will continually be failing to get the lock, and having to wrestle the controls to try and recapture it. Death, at least, is never an issue as KITT can recharge energy via one of the liberally supplied generators. As you can recharge at will; the game fails to offer any real challenge, or motivation to play well; as it is easy to blunder through without any finesse and skill and merely recharge when required. Seeing as how Knight Rider 2 already cuts more corners than a boy racer; it comes as no surprise to find that the voice acting and scripting are utterly risible. Knight himself sounds as if he has been smoking recreational narcotics and is running at about half the speed of the rest of us, and KITT seems to sound nothing whatsoever like the car in the series, and more like the work experience boy yelling into a tin can and trying to sound reasonably mechanised. Near the end of the game, some self-parody is attempted. Knight is tied to the conveyor belt of a shredder, and the villain intones that as he is about to die, he may as well tell his plans. The writers of the script should be escorted to Siberia and brutalised with garden tools.
Graphically, Knight Rider 2 manages to regain a little polish. The game engine is fluid and smooth, but the game conveys a barren feeling throughout, as many of the environs are deserts or homogenised industrial complexes. Occasionally slick graphics are not enough to save this floundering game. Those old enough to be children of the ‘80s will feel that Knight Rider 2 defiles the series with tedious ideas and horrendous tokenising of KITT’s abilities, almost as if a checklist were being steadily worked through. There is some hope, however. There are some genuinely pleasurable moments in the proceedings, and the game is retailing at a ‘budget’ price of just under twenty notes; so it will offer a semi-amusing weekend for enthusiasts. Then again, just as much fun could equally be had collecting string or standing very still and repeating the word ‘spatula’.
5/10
http://www.playxcess.co.uk/article.php?id=235
(Knight) Riders on the Storm
Frankly; I have to wonder at the mentality that ensures that games such as Knight Rider 2 ever get published. Is it bad karma for us as an entire planet? We have Halo 2. We have Half-Life 2. We have GTA: San Andreas. Why waste your money on such dross, when you can instead own Knight Rider 2; a game with little development budget and no vision? It would be like ending a relationship with a supermodel to marry some slapper chav with 24 kids and terrible roots. I shake my fist in rage and demand back the time I spent playing this game; hours I will never see again. The things I do for the sake of being a hack. Knight Rider 2 is a doubly cruel game as it begins with such promise. The presentation is sharp, the nostalgia-inducing theme music plays and deadens the senses, and the menu lulls us with extra features about the TV series, a Knight Rider quiz and some impressive clips from the show. Prejudice begins to melt like a thaw; and nostalgia sets in. After all; Knight Rider is from your youth, surely a game based on it cannot be a travesty of Alien vs Predator dimensions. Alas; when you finally play the game, your sanity takes a shattering blow as if from the pages of a Lovecraft tale.
The scant game options are either Story Mode (play through 11 missions that offer as much fun as a razor blade enema) or Mission Mode (play through the same 11 missions, but on any order). Not a promising start. For those not blessed with memories of Knight Rider, it is focused on Knight Industries, an archetypal organisation run by a leering old man called Devon. Not to be confused with the county of inbreds and small fairs selling suspect jam. And before anybody complains; I live in Devon and am more than qualified to judge; and am not inbred. Knight Industries have created a revolutionary car with its own persona called KITT. Unlike the Terminator films, KITT never decides that humanity must be expunged, which is a pity, as it would mean that this game would never have been made. KITT is driven by the walking aftershave commercial Michael Knight, and Knight and KITT endlessly save the world from the camp schemes and machinations of ‘80s villains. Which always involved turbo boosts and little else. The TV series was pure escapism, with plenty of stunts and an oft-amusing banter and interplay between Knight and KITT. The game rapes the whole idea and removes anything remotely redemptive, leaving us gamers with a violated husk.
The game opens with the protagonists driving back from a conference (probably Michael Night on Hair Care or somesuch) when, predictably, they are attacked with a salvo of missiles. Rather than present this as a tense FMV, the game places you in the middle of the attack, driving into the screen and steering frantically to avoid the missiles. Given that KITT has a computational mind infinitely faster than that of a human, surely placing KITT on autopilot would be a more sensible option? Obstacles line the way and the ever-useful turbo boost must be employed to clear them. Those too apathetic to read the manual will find this frustrating, as the game informs you WHAT to do, but not the button to press to execute it; which is nonsensically maddening. An honourable mention must go to the slow-motion cinematic that accompanies some of the turbo boosts; one of the dismally few impressive moments of the game. The pace of the mission keeps things intense, with the use of laser and ski-mode to navigate.
After this rather spectacular opening, the game takes a profound pratfall; and any saving grace from the opening level is scattered to the wind. The following ten missions present a quasi-Bond scenario concerning a prototype laser that, naturally, spells genocide for us all. Much as the worldwide intelligence services would have been invaluable for this, the fate of the world rests with a camp man in tight jeans and a slick talking car. ‘We’re doomed’, as C3PO would lament. Knight Rider is focused upon the car; KITT is the true hero and the dream of every child watching it. The worst possible thing that developers Davilex could do is remove the thrilling driving and turn the game into a simplified combat game. And, lo!, developers Davilex have removed the thrilling driving and turned the game into a simplified combat game. The locus of the game sees you driving about to locate computer towers, which KITT must jam for to open one of the endless gates which you must pass through. There are some exhilarating distractions, such as one level featuring a helicopter gunship continually barraging you with missiles, and an intense fight against KARR, KITT’s rival, but more often than not you will be attacking endless streams of robot guards. There is an element of stunt driving to be done, such as jumping gaps and navigating laser grids, but they do not meld seamlessly with the game and feel shoehorned into the proceedings for the sake of the license.
Another flaw in the game is the dynamic handling of the driving. The mediocre and formulaic game could be partially forgiven if the driving was well-implemented and engaging. Which it is not. At slow speeds the handling is far too sensitive, making for control as twitchy as a paranoid caffeine-junkie. At high speeds, conversely, KITT feels more like a brick, and control is not sensitive enough. The combat is equally unexceptional, and lacks the frenetic pace of ‘proper’ vehicle combat games such as the Twisted Metal games. Combat in Knight Rider 2 consists of driving in concentric circles and shooting the robot sentries until they explode with as much grandeur as a cheap firework. Using the missiles is often a cumbersome experience, as the lock-on time is just that little bit too long, meaning that you will continually be failing to get the lock, and having to wrestle the controls to try and recapture it. Death, at least, is never an issue as KITT can recharge energy via one of the liberally supplied generators. As you can recharge at will; the game fails to offer any real challenge, or motivation to play well; as it is easy to blunder through without any finesse and skill and merely recharge when required. Seeing as how Knight Rider 2 already cuts more corners than a boy racer; it comes as no surprise to find that the voice acting and scripting are utterly risible. Knight himself sounds as if he has been smoking recreational narcotics and is running at about half the speed of the rest of us, and KITT seems to sound nothing whatsoever like the car in the series, and more like the work experience boy yelling into a tin can and trying to sound reasonably mechanised. Near the end of the game, some self-parody is attempted. Knight is tied to the conveyor belt of a shredder, and the villain intones that as he is about to die, he may as well tell his plans. The writers of the script should be escorted to Siberia and brutalised with garden tools.
Graphically, Knight Rider 2 manages to regain a little polish. The game engine is fluid and smooth, but the game conveys a barren feeling throughout, as many of the environs are deserts or homogenised industrial complexes. Occasionally slick graphics are not enough to save this floundering game. Those old enough to be children of the ‘80s will feel that Knight Rider 2 defiles the series with tedious ideas and horrendous tokenising of KITT’s abilities, almost as if a checklist were being steadily worked through. There is some hope, however. There are some genuinely pleasurable moments in the proceedings, and the game is retailing at a ‘budget’ price of just under twenty notes; so it will offer a semi-amusing weekend for enthusiasts. Then again, just as much fun could equally be had collecting string or standing very still and repeating the word ‘spatula’.
5/10
http://www.playxcess.co.uk/article.php?id=235
-
knightman
- Operative
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
ok i love knight rider, i did enjoy the first game, apart from
all that stupid jumping on the roof top stuff,
and with the testing ground, ski mode in that small area drove m
nuts, im not sure ill get the new game , i might renti it first see
if i like it, speaking of games
has any one played the dukes of hazzards return of the general lee?
while the handling of the car is tricky i think it gave a great
way to how the show was,
why couldnt they do knightrider? i mean, they had most of the original
stars in it, and intervies as unlocables...
all that stupid jumping on the roof top stuff,
and with the testing ground, ski mode in that small area drove m
nuts, im not sure ill get the new game , i might renti it first see
if i like it, speaking of games
has any one played the dukes of hazzards return of the general lee?
while the handling of the car is tricky i think it gave a great
way to how the show was,
why couldnt they do knightrider? i mean, they had most of the original
stars in it, and intervies as unlocables...
-
ILoveGames
- Volunteer
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:18 pm
I have a question..
Can anyone tell me whose doing mods for this game? I hope someone is gonna try consider making additonal graphic buttons in Kitt's dash to bring realism or a whole new scratch look i dunno what program you would need and perhaps a new map where u can actually roam and how the HELL can i make screenies from the game? there is no info.. Anyone have a feeling maybe Knight Rider 3 will be made? maybe a HUGE improvement? I'd still would love to see Davelix do Airwolf..
-
Sith
- FLAG Assistant
- Posts: 601
- Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:01 am
- What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
- Location: Korriban
- Contact:
A review by a female gamer:
I loved Knight Rider as a kid, I’d tune in every week to watch the adventures or misadventures of Michael Knight and his fabby car KITT. I wanted a car like KITT, he was the ultimate in luxury items and I was pretty convinced that the future would hold many KITT like cars for me to drive around in. Little did I know at the time that I’d be 29 when I first had the opportunity to drive KITT and I’d be doing it on my games console which plugs into the TV.
I wanted to like this game so much, I think there’s a lot to be said for retro titles and it’s nice to be reminded of your childhood every now and again. You can imagine my disappointment when my long anticipated go of KITT turned out to be a dull, uninspiring drive around desert towns and industrial complexes, however, I digress because I’m jumping the gun a little, let me explain to you the good and many bad points of Knight Rider 2.
Having not being blessed with playing Knight Riders original outing on consoles, I wasn’t sure what to expect of this sequel. Obviously I knew I’d be playing with Michael and KITT and hoped that there would be many grand driving levels and outstanding crime solving to be done. In a time where Burnout 3 is rarely off my TV screen, I was hoping another driving game could give me something interesting to try out. I was sadly disappointed. When I first loaded up KR2 I was happy enough, the opening sequence seemed fine and there were a few options such as a Knight Rider quiz, Behind The Scenes info, clips of some of the greatest driving stunts from the TV show and of the choice of Story Mode or Mission Mode. Not bad for a budget title you’re thinking, however, story mode is simply the same 11 missions as mission mode except in mission mode you can play them in any order. Wow. Groundbreaking. Sigh.
Ok so, on with the show they say and therefore I chose story mode to get a feel for the game and I was thrust into the first mission which sees Michael and KITT being attacked by missiles all of a sudden. There we are driving along and wham, missiles start flying at you trying to blast you off the road. Now, this is where my first intense concern for this game arose. I attempted to avoid the missiles but since the car is actually driving towards the screen, this is not easy. Seriously, this was the first level and already I was dying all over the place, it was very frustrating. You swerve all over the place trying to avoid them and attempting to make the most of the terrible driving controls which seem overly sensitive, always at the wrong time. This level also introduces you to your weapons and special abilities. Mainly you’re required to use your laser to melt ice blocks in the road, use turbo boost to jump over trees and enter ski mode to drive on two wheels. Now, these all seem pretty cool but they quickly become boring because at the end of the day you’re simply doing the same thing over and over again. The backgrounds don’t give you much to look at either and are generally a bland blend of deserts, industrial complexes and very little else. You are at times attacked by a helicopter (which requires you to fire missiles at it that simply fail to lock on most times), mad robots (which again you simply find yourself driving around in circles and firing indiscriminately at) and so on and so forth. You have the opportunity to recharge throughout the levels which is good because then you don’t die but is also self-defeating as it makes the levels too easy.
One of the worst aspects of this game is the voice acting. It’s embarrassingly cringe-worthy and at times made me laugh. Some of the lines are bad, ok, a lot of the lines are bad but it’s more general than that, the voice acting just seems amateurish and rushed. It doesn’t help you become absorbed in the game and will most like put you off it. Don’t get me wrong there’s a few good points such as the slow motion camera angles when you boost over things but these are just not strong enough to sustain the game, The lack of a varied and atmospheric soundtrack doesn’t help either and you’re likely to finish this game in around 5 hours which is probably a blessing.
Overall, I was greatly disappointed in this game. I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be full of driving missions that were engaging and gripping. I wanted to feel like I was Michael Knight and I was in control of KITT and all of our adventures would be filled with fun and excitement. I just didn’t have that experience on this game. There is nothing here for the female gamer but then there’s not much here for the male gamer either I’m afraid. If you’re the biggest Knight Rider fan around you’ll buy this game but I’m not sure that the rest of us will follow suit. Sorry.
3/10
http://www.thumbbandits.com/review_view ... category=1
I loved Knight Rider as a kid, I’d tune in every week to watch the adventures or misadventures of Michael Knight and his fabby car KITT. I wanted a car like KITT, he was the ultimate in luxury items and I was pretty convinced that the future would hold many KITT like cars for me to drive around in. Little did I know at the time that I’d be 29 when I first had the opportunity to drive KITT and I’d be doing it on my games console which plugs into the TV.
I wanted to like this game so much, I think there’s a lot to be said for retro titles and it’s nice to be reminded of your childhood every now and again. You can imagine my disappointment when my long anticipated go of KITT turned out to be a dull, uninspiring drive around desert towns and industrial complexes, however, I digress because I’m jumping the gun a little, let me explain to you the good and many bad points of Knight Rider 2.
Having not being blessed with playing Knight Riders original outing on consoles, I wasn’t sure what to expect of this sequel. Obviously I knew I’d be playing with Michael and KITT and hoped that there would be many grand driving levels and outstanding crime solving to be done. In a time where Burnout 3 is rarely off my TV screen, I was hoping another driving game could give me something interesting to try out. I was sadly disappointed. When I first loaded up KR2 I was happy enough, the opening sequence seemed fine and there were a few options such as a Knight Rider quiz, Behind The Scenes info, clips of some of the greatest driving stunts from the TV show and of the choice of Story Mode or Mission Mode. Not bad for a budget title you’re thinking, however, story mode is simply the same 11 missions as mission mode except in mission mode you can play them in any order. Wow. Groundbreaking. Sigh.
Ok so, on with the show they say and therefore I chose story mode to get a feel for the game and I was thrust into the first mission which sees Michael and KITT being attacked by missiles all of a sudden. There we are driving along and wham, missiles start flying at you trying to blast you off the road. Now, this is where my first intense concern for this game arose. I attempted to avoid the missiles but since the car is actually driving towards the screen, this is not easy. Seriously, this was the first level and already I was dying all over the place, it was very frustrating. You swerve all over the place trying to avoid them and attempting to make the most of the terrible driving controls which seem overly sensitive, always at the wrong time. This level also introduces you to your weapons and special abilities. Mainly you’re required to use your laser to melt ice blocks in the road, use turbo boost to jump over trees and enter ski mode to drive on two wheels. Now, these all seem pretty cool but they quickly become boring because at the end of the day you’re simply doing the same thing over and over again. The backgrounds don’t give you much to look at either and are generally a bland blend of deserts, industrial complexes and very little else. You are at times attacked by a helicopter (which requires you to fire missiles at it that simply fail to lock on most times), mad robots (which again you simply find yourself driving around in circles and firing indiscriminately at) and so on and so forth. You have the opportunity to recharge throughout the levels which is good because then you don’t die but is also self-defeating as it makes the levels too easy.
One of the worst aspects of this game is the voice acting. It’s embarrassingly cringe-worthy and at times made me laugh. Some of the lines are bad, ok, a lot of the lines are bad but it’s more general than that, the voice acting just seems amateurish and rushed. It doesn’t help you become absorbed in the game and will most like put you off it. Don’t get me wrong there’s a few good points such as the slow motion camera angles when you boost over things but these are just not strong enough to sustain the game, The lack of a varied and atmospheric soundtrack doesn’t help either and you’re likely to finish this game in around 5 hours which is probably a blessing.
Overall, I was greatly disappointed in this game. I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be full of driving missions that were engaging and gripping. I wanted to feel like I was Michael Knight and I was in control of KITT and all of our adventures would be filled with fun and excitement. I just didn’t have that experience on this game. There is nothing here for the female gamer but then there’s not much here for the male gamer either I’m afraid. If you’re the biggest Knight Rider fan around you’ll buy this game but I’m not sure that the rest of us will follow suit. Sorry.
3/10
http://www.thumbbandits.com/review_view ... category=1
