Uplink Demo

Regardless of what you may have seen in movies, hackers are rarely able to break into anything in a matter of minutes, using nothing but a rusty laptop they find laying around. While the security itself can be vulnerable against a certain exploit that doesn’t require too much actual work to be broken, they still need to cover their tracks incredibly well, otherwise they are quickly found by the authorities.

Uplink gives you a taste of the hacker life, by allowing you to play the role of a hacker agent for the Uplink agency. In essence, your job is try to attract contracts from various people around the Internet and try to accomplish what they demand of you, in order to earn a paycheck and please the company. Naturally, there’s more to it than that, especially since the game is very open and non-linear.

Although you start off with a few straightforward missions that need to be approached according to the instructions, you are soon left on your own and the game gets that much more fun. You are practically free to attack anyone and everything, as long as you do not get caught and you do not hurt the agency in doing so. Speaking of which, in case you get traced by the victim, your saves are liable to be deleted, which is definitely a bold move from the designers.

Just like any other type of computer enthusiasts, hackers need good computers in order to be sure that their tools work as they should. There are a variety of specialized applications you can use to automate certain processes and not have to manually write the scripts. Certain upgrades and components can be bought after you make enough credits, though, which gives you something else to look forward to.

As far as the interface is concerned, the entire thing looks like a terminal window, which is not exactly a bad idea. However, the colors can get a bit annoying after a while, so you may not be able to continue playing for hours at end without getting headaches. The controls are simple, although you do have to type a lot and do a great deal of reading as well.

All things considered, Uplink is quite the enjoyable experience, as long as you happen to nurture a passion for security and Hollywood-esque hacking sequences. If so, then the game is packed with everything you might desire, including a great degree of freedom when it comes to the story and the gameplay.