Paranoia has never been so much fun.
I picked up Uplink in a pack on Steam, not thinking much of it at first...and now it maybe my favorite and most addicting game i own on Steam right now.
As far as gaming goes, hacking has been broken down to a game of Pipe Mania or connect the dots but what you get with Uplink is a hacking simulator that feels authentic enough to immerse you in the role of an elite hacking agent. The gameplay is a stratagy of time as you have a limited time to hack a system, yet if you stratigize enough beforehand you can buy yourself more time to get the job done. These stratagies include buying different hacking software, upgrading the hardware in you're "Gateway" (your personal hacking machine) to run that software more efficiently, routing through a chain of IPs that you have hacked to make tracing your main gateway harder on your targets, and when the jobs done, cleaning up your tracks to prevent your early forced retirement from the hacking agency.
The only "problems" i've felt with Uplink are not things the game did but things you start to imagine they could have done. Things like background audio news feeds relating to the jobs you've done, or a loud rapping on your door as the feds track your location ending your hacking career. The one soundtrack that plays is fitting but a more aural ambiance could have gone a long way. Though the authentic feel pulls you into the world, when it's all over I felt like it all could have been better as a component in a larger cyberpunk RPG.
In the end, it's a very unique and addictive experience and if staring at a lotta system files that have the potential to ruin someone's day gets you off then this game is for you.
Update: So after fully "finishing" the game. I can add that there's no real sense of closure to it..the story mission is fairly quick as you hit the fast forward button while watching the news feed waiting for your next mission objective. You have to commit to one side of the story so after you finish you can go back and play the other side of the story. After that there really isn't much reason to go back and play anymore. The mission list will still update but once you master all it's parts you'll just wish for a longer story element.
