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Activision, £9.99 cass
Author: Steve Cartwright

Closely following on from the Commodore and Spectrum versions, Activision have made Hacker available to the throngs of Amsters up and down the country. Now you too, can engage in hypothetical furtive activities, late at night. For those of you who have missed out on what it's all about, here's the rundown.

Hacker comes without instructions (other than the standard loading details). There is no title screen: no options — nothing. Once you've loaded the game, you find out why — the screen turns blue and prompts 'Logon Please'. From this point on, it's up to you. The idea is, that at the end of a session accessing bulletin boards with your modem, you decide to ring one more number before going to bed. It's late, however, and you're tired. You misdial and end up in some anonymous mainframe. There are no clues as to what the password is, and it's doubtful you'd guess it first time without the most incredible piece of luck. Luck is on your side, however, for after a few failed attempts at guessing the password, the computer starts to terminate your involvement with the system. Before it disconnects the line, the mainfraim suffers a very convenient malfunction, and the system crashes. When it recovers, the computer believes you have already gained legitimate access, and you are logged on...
If you enter the system by this method, there is a little intelligence test for you to pass. A schematic of a Subterranean Remote Unit {SRU) is drawn on the screen and you have to complete a systems check on it. This requires you to do little more than follow prompts and move the joystick. After a few attempts at this, you should get through to the next stage.
Here you are asked to input your name (not a trick) and set up a map. The map, in the bottom half of the screen, is a gridded world map with night time areas and certain cities displayed on it. After setting the time of day to match yours, you learn that your SRU (remember those?) is situated in the South Atlantic. A little cursor on the relevant part of the grid confirms this. 'You're on your own,' (as Phil Collins once said) from this point on. First thing you become aware of is the top half of the screen display which changes, presenting a menu of options, your 'front view' from the SRU, a compass and a message indicator.

Whilst you are exploring the underground network, finding routes to the different cities, little by little, the plot becomes more evident. You are inside a computer belonging to Magma Ltd, a company that is involved in a plot to take over the world. A document has gone missing and it must be retrieved before other interested parties come across it. This is complicated by the fact that the document is in pieces, with different sections held by unscrupulous spies, who are themselves spread out in loca-tions across the face of the globe. You have to deal with the spies in order to collect the pieces and assemble the document, which then has to be returned to a certain location.

This is made difficult because the spies, being the untrust-worthy, double-dealing bunch they are, allow you to trap yourself. A spy will happily accepting an item you need to give to another agent in order to trade. Not only that, but the long range scanner goes faulty after a while, leaving you totally blind to your location. To cap it all. Magma eventually discover your intrusion and send out security satellites which, when they find you, commence a series of progressively harder security checks. After all that, you probably don't want to hear that there's a time limit as well..

CRITICISM

Hacker is a superbly designed game, oozing with originality. If nothing else, we've come to expect originality from Activision recently. The game works well. Packed with vitality and atmosphere woven into a deceptively clever plot, it provides the most stimulating graphic adventure I've ever come across. It does have its faults however. The sound effects are poor, as is the redesigned character set and there's really no excuse for this. Also, some form of randomisation in the dealing of different items would have negated the tedium which threatens to settle in after a few games. The graphics too, could have been better — as it is they make few demands on the Amstrad. In the end, I think Activision managed to do what they wanted well. Hacker is worth it.

Okay, comparisons are odious but this version of Hacker isn't as good as versions for other machines in some respects. The SRU arms don't move when you obtain items from other spies for instance, and some of the sound effects are rather tame. I don't think that the game will appeal to everybody — it is a little obscure. On the other hand, it's the different style of this game that makes you love it or hate it. I love it. I think a lot of Amsters will too.

I enjoyed playing Hacker for the first few times. There's nothing quite like it on the Amstrad (at least as far as I know} but to be honest, it does seem to become a bit routine after a while. There's not enough variety. There's plenty to go at in the game, but the author could have included randomisation in some areas and it would have added greatly to the ame. Overall, a pretty good job has been done. I admire it — but at the same time, I'm slightly disappointed that more wasn't made of this excellent idea.

Presentation 79%
There's very little to complain about because there's very little there. It's the nature of the game.

Graphics 75%
Very good in parts but otherwise lacking to some degree.

Sound 67%
Rather tame but not too bad.

Playability 68%
Rather difficult at first.

Addictive qualities 86%
One thing you always want to do on this game is get that little bit further.

Value for money 83%
There's plenty of game to get your teeth into here.

Overall 84%
Brilliantly conceived but let down slightly by unambitious implementation.