Hacking the Night Away
Hacker Evolution is, ahem, an evolution of Exosyphen's previous hacking games, of which they've developed several over the years. This is a good thing, as the current game is intelligently thought through and polished, and the puzzles cleverly designed (if at times frustratingly hard). That is, of course, a big advantage of reworking the same theme: you improve each time.
Many will compare Hacker Evolution to Introversion's Uplink, also an excellent game in this--well, there aren't enough hacker games to call it a genre, but "of this type" will do. Hacker Evolution =feels= more like you're actually hacking because of a design decision that in almost any other type of game would be obviously incorrect: The game is largely played on the command line.
You're typing in Unix-style commands (paradoxically, this is a PC game with no Linux version). So the keyboard clatters away, and you penetrate the defenses of a remote machine--or get traced by the opposition. In other words, the physical activity is actually what hackers do (albeit this is of course an abstracted simulation), and it feels right. Surprisingly fun, in fact.
In Hacker Evolution, you play a freelance "white hat" hacker dealing with a series of increasingly dire attacks by cyber criminals. It's a level-based game, and each level poses a different puzzle for you to solve--which you do by invading computers, finding data, taking over machines to serve as intermediate nodes to mask your ultimate IP address, and ultimately uncovering the bad guys. The game has some ten levels (which provide enough gameplay to make the price reasonable), but there's also an active modding community at the developer's site, so if you're seriously into the game, you can extend play beyond that.
Nice techno score, too.
The developer says:
From the creators of a successful hacker games series (Digital Hazard, BS Hacker, etc) Hacker Evolution is a new hacking simulation game, featuring unparalleled graphics and features.
You play the role of a former intelligence agent, specializing in computer security. When a chain of events sets off worldwide, leaving critical service disabled, you assume the role a computer hacker to find out what happened and attempt to stop it.
When a stock market, a central bank, satellite uplink, and transoceanic fiber optics links crash, you know this is more then a simple event. Something big is behind all this, and you have to figure out what it is.
You hack into computers, look for exploits and information, steal money to buy hardware upgrades in an attempt to put all the pieces of a big puzzle, together.
Set in a virtual operating system environment, the game is packed with all the features required to bring the hacker feeling and experience to every gamer.
The concept behind Hacker Evolution is to create a game that challenges the gamer's intelligence, attention and focus, creating a captivating mind game. Solve puzzles, examine code and bits of information, to help you achieve your objectives
Features
- Modding capability to allow the creation of custom levels
- Multiple interface skins
- Complex levels and gameplay to guarantee the best experience
- Optional freelance jobs to offer more variety
- Complex command console with over 20 commands and tools
Reviews
"I like Hacker Evolution more than Uplink because it offers more varied tasks to complete and a central storyline to follow. Plus, Hacker Evolution feels more realistic, since you’re typing in commands in a console instead of using a childish GUI."
-- Out of Eight Game Reviews
"This game is great for people who like mysteries, puzzles, challenges or computers and the idea of hacking."
-- Gamespotting