Knight Rider 3D

In vehicular lore, the 1980s were probably the golden days for cars, helicopter and bikes. We can imagine newer Kawasakis parked next to old Hondas and Harleys, for instance, and being berating for not knowing their heritage and not paying the elder members of the family enough respect.

Let's face it, why would these pieces of machinery be any different to us humans?

Yep, the 1980s were when these otherwise unassuming modes of transport had their time in the spotlight. There was Street Hawk, featuring a crime-fighting motorbike. There was Air Wolf, which starred a crime-fighting helicopter. And there was the show that started it all, Knight Rider, which featured a crime-fighting car.

Admittedly this car had a little help from one David Hasselhoff who played Michael Knight, but we all knew the car – called KITT (standing for Knight Industries Two Thousand) was the real star.

It's with a thrill and an air of reminiscence, then, that we slipped behind the wheel for this, the Knight Rider mobile phone game. Featuring many of the more infamous enemies of Michael and KITT, Knight Rider will have you solving crime and saving the day (in a leather jacketed fashion) from the likes of KARR, Goliath, Garthe Knight and The Dragon.

You do this by driving around, meeting deadlines, crashing enemies off the road and shooting things with laser guns and cannons that you can kit KITT out with.

That might sound like quite a lot to fit into one mobile phone game, particularly when the TV show used to take an hour for one episode. But Knight Rider 3D is an ambitious game.

Not only is it fully 3D, with landscapes ranging from an urban jungle to verdant green countryside by way of a sandy desert highway, it's very open in the way that you're able to explore.

None of this is better illustrated than by the opening level, which requires you to first locate KITT by exploring the city on your motorbike (an ever-present directional indicator gives you a hint of the right direction) and then to make your way to China town.

In most other games this would usually be straightforward, with the game channelling you down a pre-defined route. But here you're free to find your own way, turning down whatever road you choose and, if you so feel, embarking on a sight-seeing tour instead of working towards the mission objective.

It's nice to have the freedom to make your own choice. However, the opening level is also indicative of a couple of the problems that dog Knight Rider throughout.

First is the amount of pop-up that you'll experience. As we explained when we encountered it in the Symbian version of Project Gotham Racing, pop-up is the phenomenon of scenery simply 'popping' into place straight out of thin air as you approach it. In the city setting it's at its worst, as entire blocks materialise in front of you, turning what you thought would be a short cut or open plaza into a very hard and rather damaging brick wall.

The second snag is a feature that will have you scratching your head. Due to Michael and KITT's renown, the police are keen to have a little word. So keen that, if you're spotted by them, it's literally game over. As a result, you've got to stay away from any and all police vehicles, the proximity of which is illustrated by a red bar at the top of the screen.

Now, squad cars are parked liberally around certain levels, forcing you to take alternate routes. But if you simply drive in a circle (and we've had this confirmed by the game's developer) the boys in black-and-white vanish into thin air.

It's a strange matter and not one we're wholly convinced by. On the one hand it's a good trick to know – the squad cars' locations seem to be randomly generated, so you never know when you need it – but on the other, it doesn't help when you crash into one when you turn a blind corner, and it's hardly realistic.

It's clear that Knight Rider 3D is a very different game to what's on offer elsewhere. Although you're in a car, it much more closely resembles a sneak-em-up rather than a racer. And it's also hard, very hard. Perhaps not intentionally so, but it is difficult.

So while this game won't be spoken of in hushed tones by the same four-wheeled denizens of late night car parks who might have saluted the Knight Rider TV show, it will give them something to talk about as they gather around the ticket machine.