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Uplink
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Graphics & Sound:
Uplink’s aesthetic is very minimalistic, but considering the fact that this is a hacking game, it is completely understandable. Your interface consists of a HUD with different applications for you to choose from, as well as a ticking clock display at the top and a map on the right. The clock was a bit disappointing since the date was sometime in the spring of 2010, but perhaps if you play the game until completion, it will eventually get to the present time. I didn’t make it that far, but more on why a bit later.
The map on the right is used to make your internet connections and when you open it up, it lists a handful of sites you will regularly connect with, such as the Uplink Internal Services System, the Uplink Bank, your Gateway, InterNIC, and the location you are currently trying to hack, to name a few.
Sound effects are minimalistic as well and consist of stressful sounding tunes while you are playing, plus dings and bongs when you perform actions. There is an interesting video cut scene that plays at the very beginning of starting the game, but it only plays once. There are also some odd pictures that will show as you log in with different accounts, but since you typically stick with one account (until you are kicked to the curb, at least), you won’t see this too often.
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Gameplay:
First off, let me say this – I wanted to like Uplink, I really, really wanted to like it. The premise sounds cool and I thought it would be great fun, but alas, all it brought was frustration. But I will get to that in time.
Uplink places you in the role of an aspiring hacker for hire working at the Uplink Corporation. As you take on jobs from the Mission List, your Uplink ranking will increase, as will your Neuromancer level, which indicates what type of agent you are becoming. My rating was Aggressive, imagine that.
You are assigned a gateway from which to work and a small amount of money to begin with and from this, you will purchase the first few software items you will need, such as a Trace Tracker and a Password Breaker. There are lots of different software options for purchase as you progress and you will need to upgrade in order to take on more serious jobs. You can also upgrade your hardware, such as when you find you need more space on your hard drive for larger programs or when you want something a bit faster. You can even purchase motion detectors and self-destruct mechanisms to protect your gateway, although these are pricey.
Missions range from destroying files to stealing files to falsifying identities. Later, you can even track down another hacker. Whenever you go in and steal a file, you must also cover your tracks by destroying the logs you create in doing so. Then you are required to email the file to your employer, or to simply notify them that the job has been done. If you are traced before you complete the job, you will receive a fine and a warning. Eventually, it could even result in legal action and Uplink disavowing you as an agent, in which case, you are back to square one and have to start over. Can you tell this happened to me? |
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Difficulty:
The difficulty in Uplink comes more from issues that lie within the game rather than difficult missions. Each mission has a rating and you are not allowed to do a mission that exceeds your Uplink agent ranking. This keeps you from getting in over your head, although you can still easily do that. Let’s say, it lessens the possibility. However, frustrating and often unresponsive controls add to the difficulty, as do impossible situations like needing to transfer money to pay a fine, but being unable to do so. Maybe the solution is hacking into the system that issued you the fine and deleting it, but since I was caught the first time, this isn’t going to work really well, now is it? I even tried to hack the bank in attempt to transfer the money that way, but that seems a bit ridiculous.
There are even quick links to all of the sites you have visited, but if you click on them, you are routed directly there and immediately kicked out, because you are a hacker, naturally. There is a little icon next to these sites and I’m not sure what it does, but when I clicked it, the link went away. At one point, I was actually able to delete a location from my map; accidentally, of course. Sadly, I had a mission involving this location and couldn’t get there, so I had to search InterNIC to find the IP. Honestly, it was just too much minutiae for me. |
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Game Mechanics:
Here’s where I had problems with Uplink, and the problems were numerous. First off, I had some difficulty getting the buttons to recognize my taps, from time to time. This would exhibit itself a lot when I was trying to read an email and scroll down to read what was obscured. Once, this caused me to accidentally tap the Abandon button, which is an option after you have accepted a job. Mind you, it didn’t give me anything that asked me if I was certain I wanted to abandon the job, it just allowed me to do it, accidentally. Then I was reprimanded by Uplink for my unprofessional behavior and I was lowered a ranking, which wasn’t cool. Later, when I used the Abandon button on purpose, it then changed to all caps and said !!ABANDON!! so I am not sure why this didn’t occur that first time, but it didn’t.
So then later, I was fined for hacking into the Social Security database and getting busted. I got a notification that I owed a fine of 1000 credits. I tried to pay the fine using the Transfer option on my bank account and got an error message that I had to contact the Bank Administrator, however there is no contact email listed and when you go to the About Us section of the bank’s site, there again is no way to contact them. So after trying numerous things, I just ignored the fine email and figured I’d deal with it later. In fact, the fact that I hadn’t completed the Social Security job was fortunate because it left the option to connect to the Social Security site on my map and I used it to route my calls through, to add an additional buffer. Eventually, I progressed through all of the jobs available to me, leaving only the Social Security job on the board and one other very similar one. Then it was time to advance the time by clicking fast-forward in the hopes that more jobs would appear. By this time, I had amassed a nice sum of money, had paid my initial loan off and had started to accrue some extra software and hardware upgrades. I decided to click Abandon on the fine emails to get them out of my way and see what would happen and this time, it asked me if I was sure with the word in caps with exclamation points. I did and when I sped the time up, sure enough, I got an email saying that legal action was being pursued against me and it was suggested that I obtain legal counsel. I also got an email from Uplink disavowing me as an agent and all of my equipment was confiscated. This left me at rock bottom and back at square one.
Rather than start a new account again (since I actually had already done this a few times when I encountered other road blocks like fines I couldn’t manage to pay, etc.), I opted to go ahead and write my review. I’m sure there are people out there who would love this game, but I am not that person. Neither is Geck0, my husband, who is actually a computer programmer who loves tinkering with programs and breaking them apart. I asked him to try it out to see if maybe the problem was with me, but he didn’t want to play it for more than 5 minutes.
Long story short, Uplink may be an awesome PC game, but it’s definitely not for everyone and the switch to iPad has introduced additional control issues that I feel could not have been present in the PC version. At around $5, it’s pricier than a lot of games for the iPad and if you can find a demo, do make sure it appeals to you before making a purchase. I wanted to enjoy it, but all it brought me was frustration. |
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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