Hacker (computer game)
| hacker | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Activision |
| Publisher | Activision |
| Senior Developer | Steve Cartwright |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1985 |
| platform | Amiga , Amstrad CPC , Apple II , Atari XL , Atari XE , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , MS-DOS , Macintosh , MSX , ZX Spectrum |
| genre | Computer puzzle game |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Joystick , keyboard |
| medium | Floppy disk , compact cassette |
| language | English |
Hacker is a computer game by Activision that was released for multiple platforms from 1985 . The designer was Steve Cartwright .
A follow-up was published in 1986 with Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers .
Gameplay
The game aims to put the player in the position of a hacker . To achieve this, the game contained very brief instructions that only described how to start the game. After the start, the game greets the player with the message "Logon Please" . The player, like a real hacker, has to find out the password and the use of the system protected by this password himself.
However, the system "crashes" after a few attempts and gives access to a spy system. In this system, the player can steer a small robot through a labyrinthine tunnel system. With the robot, the player can drive to eleven cities all over the world and talk to an agent there. Starting with $ 5000 starting capital, the player must collect all parts of a document by bartering with these agents. If the player spends too much money on non-exchangeable items, he may run out of money. This makes the game unsolvable and has to be restarted.
The system operators also discover the break-in into the system and launch two satellites with which the robot on the game card must not collide. When this happens, the player must enter a security password. If the player does not know this password or if he has already been asked for it four times, the game is ended. Since the game has no memory function , the player has to start the game from the beginning.
Production details
Steve Cartwright gives the first idea of an "underground mail delivery simulation", which over time has developed into a spy topic. He gives two reasons for the choice of the title or the reason why the hacker motif was also brought into the game. Activision wanted to focus on this topic after the financial success of the film WarGames , which is also about a hacker. Furthermore, "hacking computers" was a general topic in the news that year. Originally, a memory function was also planned, but due to financial problems at Activision, it was dropped in order to bring the game to market as soon as possible.
Reviews
Crash magazine praises the fundamentally new game idea as well as the theme and the atmosphere of the game. The game also has a certain addictive factor. The graphics are rather mediocre and the sound is practically non-existent.
The British magazine ZZAP! 64 describes the game as unusual, original and atmospherically successful. Even if the sound is rather minimalistic, the magazine gets a good overall rating of 87%.
However, other critics are more sober in their assessment. Thus, computer gamers found that the game had to do with "hacking" little since the startup problem (the input of the password) dissolves by itself. The following main game is very good and very engaging. Sinclair User magazine also agrees that the initial idea will quickly be abandoned.
Heinrich Lenhardt comes to the conclusion in Happy Computer that Hacker was "amusing food for thought and one of the most original new publications of the last few months" .
