Other missions may have you accessing a database to manipulate data or even hack into the stock exchange. You may need to delete files from some target system or perhaps steal information, copy it to your memory then attach the file to an email response. Upon accepting an assignment you are sent an email outlining the specifics. It’s best to start slow with some simple hacks, earn some money, upgrade your system, and get comfortable with the interface before you tackle the more complex assignments. Some missions require the hacker to have a prerequisite ranking, so not all jobs will be available to you at the beginning. Missions are assigned a difficulty factor with the more difficult missions offering a greater financial reward for successful completion. You log into the Uplink Internal Services System that maintains a listing of all available jobs, a news server, online help, and other useful information. There are three short lessons that will get you comfortable with the interface and the basics of how to hack into remote systems and not get caught, and then you are tossed to the wolves. Installing a faster CPU, modem, or additional memory will be critical to your success, as your hacking assignments become more complex. You pay a monthly fee for the upkeep on this system but you are free to make modifications as necessary. This is the computer you dial into from your remote location and is used as a “buffer” to conceal your identity and hopefully keep you out of jail. Once you have been accepted as a freelance hacker for the Uplink Corporation you are given a “low interest loan” of $3,000 and a modest gateway computer located in a nearby city. The 60GHz CPU in my Gateway hacking system is well beyond what we have now, and memory storage is measured in Giga-Quads and your Internet connection is measured in Giga-Quads/sec.īy keeping the interface simple and the technology real, the designers have created a very believable atmosphere that will keep you on the edge of your seat and on the edge of paranoia as you begin your career of professional hacking. The game takes place in 2010 so there is a little “forward thinking” as far as system specs. Rather than going for some super-phreak style of hacking that you might have seen in movies like Weird Science, Introversion Software has wisely chosen to keep this game rooted in believable technology. Of course the most amazing thing about all this is just how simple the concept and how perfectly executed this game is. Never before have I become so caught up in a game that I literally checked my modem to make sure I wasn’t really online, and no game has ever created the urge for me to peek through my window to check for an FBI surveillance van parked across the street. Borrowing all the high-tech elements from classic hacker movies like Sneakers and Hackers and cyberpunk novels like the William Gibson series you are literally “immersed” in a world of white-collar crime from the moment you start playing. Such is one possible scenario to explain Strategy First’s latest release, Uplink: Hacker Elite, a game no wait, a simulation, that explores the often romanticized world of computer hacking, not as a hobby, but as a career. Intrigued, you select a login and a password and are instantly welcomed into the underworld of professional computer hacking. The disc spins up and you are presented with a cryptic login screen and the option to “Create a New Account”. Out of curiosity you open the package to find an unlabeled CD and throwing caution to the wind you pop it into your PC. Junk…junk…bill…junk…bill…hmmm… What is this? A small package, perhaps a CD mailer, with no return address. Imagine, one day you are sifting through your mail.
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