C&VG


The Hacker

Publisher: Firebird
Machine: BBC Model B

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #72

The Hacker

Oh no, not again! This is the instinctive reaction to the opening screen of The Hacker. OK, I know it's hard to come up with anything mind-blowingly original these days, but if you're going to stick with tried and trusted formats, you need that little extra something - like speed, imaginative graphics, wide awake sound, a touch of class. And I'm afraid The Hacker just hasn't got it.

You have control of a sprite that travels through the telephone network. Being the age of high tech, he moves from modem to modem. So off he goes, climbing along different levels, using moving walkways, avoiding obstacles, picking up five floppy disks along the way.

There's a time limit to each screen, with twelve in all before he reaches the CPU and the main file store. There to rifle data at his leisure, one supposes.

Keys are right, left and jump. Key response is not exactly instantaneous and it's easy to make mistakes. Graphics and sound are basic, although the animation is not bad. You've seen it all before.