We recently got the opportunity on a full copy of Hacker Evolution (from Giveaway of the Day [which I will talk about more later]), a new game about hacking for the PC.
The game has a lot of themes that remind me of the Matrix/that movie that had that computer named HAL. You play as Brian Spencer who is a former Intelligence Agent (AI backwards, pretty tricky) for the US. Set in the future, a new kind of internet connection has been made that allows files to be set at the speed of light. So that it messes with the Time-Space continuum and allows files to be sent before they are even requested. The game describes it as a Time warp digitally. When it was made, there was an AI put in place to make sure the internet technology never screwed up. And guess what? It screwed up.
It all starts when the NYC Stock Exchange got hacked (or at least that’s what the government thinks) and you have to figure out who did it. The game features a very very very helpful tutorial and is pretty realistic (with the exception of the crack and decrypt commands, it’s never that easy).
After going about the game, I find that it’s music is really helpful to keep the game fun (else you might go insane trying to hack the idiot who logged in to the exchange’s site right before the attack). Remember the game is extremely hard. Sometimes you have to guess (other times you have to cheat, which gets annoying). Money is also a problem in the game. Beware of high trace percentiles.
Now for the scores:
Sound: 6/10 – Nice voiceovers and other little noises. Can’t complain much
Graphics: 7.8/10 – It has a map, and very cool styles, but the game is mostly command line. The background is animated and very very cool.
Difficulty: 8.7/10 – (this can be a good and bad thing) The game is very hard to pick up, but the tutorial helps a lot. But it does leave out the fact that you can use the arrow up and down keys to recall previously typed commands. Remember: The guide to the first level is found in the manual.
Music: 8.5/10 – Draws from a huge library of music, some of it flows with the game, others not so much.
Controls: 9/10 – Yeah, no big complaints. However a copy and paste would be nice as almost every url has a – in it. The numpad . doesn’t make a . for some reason.
Playback: 6.2/10 -If you have the urge to try to complete levels, then you will be playing this game a lot. However, you can get traced a lot, even if you use tracekill, which degrades gameplay. You have a high chance of losing money, and your global trace carries on with you (ugh!). And if you screw up (like delete a file from a server) you are finished. Play with caution.
Overall Score: 7.3/10 – The game is fun, especially for people who don’t normally play puzzle/strategy games (I just run in and shoot). This game is great for people who like mysteries, puzzles, challenges or computers and the idea of hacking.
You can pick up the demo here, and view a movie about the gameplay here.