Uplink: Hacker Elite

I am not sure on what computers/monitors everyone is playing this. The game was made for CRT monitors which did not suffer from the limitations of LCDs native resolutions. At my native resolution of 1920x1080 I can't read anything - the font in this largely text-based game is wa-a-a-ay too tiny. I tried every single resolution the game graphics settings are capable of only to find that even at 800x600 the text is barely readable as the font is blurry at ALL resolutions other than the native one. Perhaps I need to buy an external 30-inch monitor for my laptop to be able to play this game at the monitor's native resolution of 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 but as of right now I have no way of playing this game without going blind.

I've been gaming since the Commodore-64 in the 80's. This game is easily in my Top 5 of all time. The fact that it IS very text based is actually what makes it so immersive. Very tense gameplay, with a main storyline you can complete at your own pace within in a very sandbox environment. Awesome game, which has an enourmous following all baying for a sequel - but IS just won't do it. More than a decade on, and I'm STILL waiting for a talented mod team to make a proper sequel.

This cult classic hacker simulator doesn't look like much but offers quite unique experience even 20 years after it's release. The premise is simple: you're a freelance hacker doing more or less morally questionable jobs for clients, from stealing or destroying corporate data to framing other people for serious crimes. Earned money are spend on hardware and software upgrades allowing more efficient hacking. At first contact this game looks very impressive and might feel overwhelming. There seems be lot to do and with very vague tutorial it will take time to figure out how some things work and how to do them correctly. First few hours are really great with feeling of progress when every upgrade is big improvement and even thrilling when hacking with low-end rig seconds from being caught. To emotions adds the fact it has permadeath mechanic and unless one makes backups of save files game over is really game over. Problem is after that few hours you'll start disappointingly realizing that you saw pretty much everything it has to offer and most game mechanics aren't complex at all but in fact very simple and predictable. There's handful of mission types but they're always exactly the same with only names and numbers changing. No surprises or plot twists, basically you done one mission of each type, you done them all. Because of that it becomes tedious rather quickly. And so what that late game missions pay really well if there's nothing to spend money on. Buying all best stuff takes maybe couple in-game weeks. Oh, there's also short (and moderately interesting) storyline campaign with two sides to choose (5 missions each). It starts so late I already had tons of money and highend gear long before and if I didn't read about it I would miss it thinking I did everything and can ditch the game. Anyway it's dirt cheap on sales, has mods (I highly recommend UplinkOS which makes UI much more modern and convenient) and offers really fun and engaging few hours at least.

Uplink is nowhere near anything you have played before: it is a game which features entertaining mechanics and gives an overall sense of power over the world. Don't be fooles, though: this game is harsh and unforgiving, and the smallest error will cost you the game and all the progress you've made. As you progress you'll unlock more powerful hacking programs and more useful equipment to take on the great corporations, and when you lose it gives you a screen showing what you changed in the everyday world: how many companies you've ruined, how many people became poor or rich because of you, and in the end you'll want to play it all over again. But first, be ready to restart your game a lot!

Horribly small unreadable font, this game is impossible to play. Looks interesting though.