Producer: Hewson Consultants
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code and some BASIC
Author: Clive Brooker

Knight Driver is not an attempt at' Pole Position' and is content to more resemble some of the earlier Spectrum road games, which is not to say that it is primitive at all. In essence, you must steer a car along a fairly lengthy series of roads which appear to be set in a seaside resort town. The view is seen from directly above and the roads are defined with double broken white lines as though the painter from Double Trouble has visited the place before.

These roads twist and turn energetically past tree-filled parks, between houses and shops, past parked cars, round traffic islands and even turn into cul-de-sacs and car parks. The object, quite simply, is to get all the way through to the 'finishing' line without steering off the road. There are two levels, Professional and Learner. If you select Professional you lose one of your lives every time you veer off the road, whereas Learners don't, but have a time limit imposed on them. There, is also an Automatic mode, which is really a demo.

The screen display is divided into three areas. The two larger squares at the top are the town map and a large graphic device of your car flashing. Running along the bottom is a large report strip. When you have finished, or run out of time or lives, this reports back on how well or badly you did.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Z/CAPS SHIFT = left/right, BREAK/SYM SHIFT - accelerate/brake. ENTER to start
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: sensible keys, but the response is a bit slow and car control is difficult
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: nice and big, detailed and smooth with excellent scrolling
Sound: good
Skill levels: 2
Lives: 5

Knight Driver is a drive around a rather scenic track and the graphics are quite good. As the playing area is much greater than the display, the graphics are constantly on the scroll, and they do this rather well. Unfortunately the control is not exactly brilliant (possibly an Eastern bloc vehicle - Skoda, etc). The game is playable at first but I soon began to lose interest - just beating the clock gets a little boring after a while. Nice graphics, above average.

The scene is set in an empty town and you're the lonesome driver. The graphics are drawn very nicely and the streets move across the screen wonderfully. But steering your car is a disappointment and it's quite unrealistic due to the fact that 45' increments are used. Thus you tend to oversteer. Poor key response makes this factor worse. Otherwise colour and sound are well used. At the end of each game the computer prints out your score and a lengthy report in very large letters. This delays you having another go immediately - frustrating.

It s a pity, because the graphics are of a high quality, that this game really offers so little to the player. After a couple of turns around the streets I had had enough. The car is exceptionally difficult to steer, more like a tank than a saloon! This doesn't add to its playability and certainly bonks on the head any addictive qualities it might have possessed. The report, which comes in such large letters that only two or three words can be displayed at once, takes an age and only acts to interrupt any flow you may have achieved. I would have expected a bit more from Hewsons than this.

A 'plan view' racing game in which you carefully steer the car left and right, accelerate and decelerate to keep it on the track.

Ian: The speed is fast enough to make this game addictive, but it's a pity that the track only takes up about a quarter of the screen - the rest is given over to instructions, fuel gauges and so on. 4/10

Jon: While the colour and speed are reasonable, the graphics are too large, and this tends to spoil the effect. But it's still a well thought-out and highly enjoyable game, with some exciting effects. 6/10

Simon: It's a pity that the best use of colour happens to be on the threequarters of the screen that contain the instructions and the instrument panel. It's an easy game to control, but difficult to win. 6/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys
FROM: Hewson Consultants, £5.95

Knight Driver puts you behind the wheel of a small car, confined to a small display on the right of the screen. The rest of the screen is taken up with either a fuel gauge or (at the higher skill level) information on lives remaining and a large flashing panel which looks pretty but doesn't add anything to the game.

There are two levels of play - learner driver and professional - and a demo mode. As a learner driver you must steer your car round the track while your fuel runs out steadily. When it runs out you finish and will be presented with a progress report based on the score you managed to clock up.

As a professional driver you don't have to watch the fuel gauge, but you have five lives and must avoid all collisions if you don't want to lose any of them.

The trouble with Knight Driver (apart from the cramped display) is that the progress reports take so long that waiting for another chance to play becomes rather frustrating. The first time they flash on the screen they're mildly amusing. The tenth time they're not.

The controls are rather fiddly, you need quick reactions to get round the bends. Sometimes it's more fun not going round, but crashing through the barrier and driving off through some rather crudely displayed trees and buildings.

Knight Driver is one of those games that would be great value at £2.50, or if it could fit into 16K, but must otherwise be considered a rather uninspiring game, unlikely to have the motor-power to keep up with the competition.

TESTING DRIVING SKILLS

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £5.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Hewson Consultants, Hewson house, 56B Milton Trading Estate, Abingdon

Knight Driver, by Hewson Consultants, is a driving simulation which requires a red car to be driven round a narrow track. This becomes quite fiddly after a while, especially as the keys produce slow response.

Instead of four direction keys there are two keys which swivel the car clockwise and anti-clockwise, and two keys for accelerate and brake, all of which are conveniently displayed on the loading picture. This method of swivelling the car is fine at the start, but when the car turns round and comes backwards it gets a bit confusing.

There are two skill levels: learner and professional. In learner mode there is a fuel limit, whereas in professional mode only four crashes are allowed but there is no fuel limit. Each has its disadvantages. In learner mode the car has to be driven at full speed making it difficult to stay on the road. In professional mode the car must be driven very carefully, made more difficult by the awkward control.

The screen is split into three sections: a score section, a section in which is displayed a picture of a car and the game section: Despite being well set out, the graphics, and indeed the game itself, is rather simple. Instead of a head-on three-D view, like the pole position-type games, the player is presented with a plan of the track which scrolls as the car moves. On either side of the track are extremely simple trees and houses - looking distinctly user-defined and amateur in style.

Thus far, although the responses are a bit frustrating, the game has been quite playable. The player is curious to see more of the track and to explore more features, producing a just-one-moregame syndrome. As I ventured into this land I expected to see more interesting features, like fuel cans, road works, or even petrol stations, but my curiosity was cut short when I saw the finishing line, where the track started again. After that I didn't feel like playing much because all the excitement had gone, only having lasted half an hour. The game was fun for a while, but I wouldn't call half an hour's play good value at £5.95.

With the already excellent standard of Spectrum software rising every week, I am rather surprised that Hewson Consultants think they have a chance of selling many copies of a game of this calibre.

Knight Driver provides its players with a birds-eye view of the car to be controlled. The aim is to drive the car round a complicated circuit. Controls are accelerator, brake and steering to left and right.

The road is very narrow and attempting to remain on it at speed is no simple task. Learner option allows players not to lose a life when they steer off the road but limits time allowed to complete the circuit. That time is short and any player who can negotiate the course at sufficient speed to complete it in that time should choose the professional option.

Professional limits players to five lives, one of which is lost whenever the car is steered off the road. Beginners will find it difficult to move more than a few inches without losing all five.

Automatic option allows the computer to guide the car round the course. It gives some idea of what the course is like, how long it is, and where the most difficult bends and obstacles are.

Racing car games are not new but this is a difficult and enjoyable version. Knight Driver is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Hewson Consultants Ltd, 60a St Mary's Street, Wallingford, Oxfordshire and costs £5.95.

Spectrum 48K
Racing
£8.95
Hewson Consultants

A breakneck racing game which gives you a downward looking view of a tortuously-twisting race track. Accelerate, decelerate turn accurately left and right. Don't hit anything.

Good for your reflexes, but I found I tired of it somewhat rapidly.