App Of The Day: The Hacker
The Hacker (iOS)
One of the major differences between Android and iOS is the fact that Apple, whether users like it or not, wants to control the entire experience presented on iPhone and iPad. There’s no room for tinkering, and very little experimentation beyond what’s available on the App Store.
Although we’re perfectly fine with the closed iOS platform, sometimes we daydream about being a hacker. Sure, we could try to learn that stuff, but we’re lazy. That’s where a game like The Hacker comes in.
In The Hacker by Gaspar Mereu, you’re presented with an old school monochromatic terminal screen familiar to anyone who remembers life before Windows and Mac OS X. The flickering, sickly-green screen is your gateway into a geopolitical world of hacking.
After you tinker with the main screen, complete with Network and Mail options (everything game-generated, so the only connection to the outside world is GameCenter achievements), you’re approached by a faceless hacking group to show off your skills in a variety of challenges.
These tests come in the form of several minigames that are more like puzzles. One has you playing the memory game with a bunch of hidden cards, while another has you guiding a ball of light through a narrow maze on your way to unlocking the next data cluster.
The more you hack, the more XP you receive and the further the story progresses. It’s actually pretty intriguing to see where the narrative goes, and the difficulty ratchets up as you make your way around the world, hacking computers from here to China.
The XP also allows you to “repair” (i.e. unlock) mini games for your own gaming pleasure. For example, the famous “snake” game where you have to eat apples while your snake grows is the first one you can afford to unlock. While these games aren’t tied to the story, they offer a nice diversion when you get brain fatigue from the puzzles.
That said, we thoroughly enjoyed The Hacker and suggest you download it, in large part because the game is free for a limited time. More importantly, it lets you sneak through cyberspace without attracting unwanted attention. And, you know, going to prison.
Stolen from GT ^_^
