Yahtzee Can't Hack It | Semi-Ramblomatic
This week on Semi-Ramblomatic, Yahtzee takes a stab at hacking and lockpicking.
Comments (8)
On lockpicking, the HITMAN (in caps) trilogy comes to mind where it feels like it works best in simple fashion that works with the rest of the game's social stealth mechanics; it's no actual effort and not trying to be besides pressing a button, but the context is that you're trying to do so as long as you possess the right equipment for it, which you need to take up a significant inventory slot for in most cases, and you also have no one around seeing you do it, compared to having acquired a legitimate key for the door you're wanting to open.
The console version of the Mass Effect trilogy has a much simpler game. It's a series of face keys presses. More buttons for harder chests. It's timed of course.
The Double Fine game Hack 'n Slash had a unique approach where you supposedly modified bits of the game's source code to solve puzzles. I never played it because top-down Zelda gameplay and sorting through command screens didn't feel like the most harmonious combination, but I'd guess that anyone who wanted "realistic" hacking might enjoy it.
Not quite the same, but I think something more akin to The Farmer Was Replaced could be interesting. That's a game all about coding and coding efficiently, since that gets you resources more quickly, so maybe a mini-game with a more simplistic coding language (or visual coding) where poorly optimized code takes longer and requires you to hold off enemies while it runs. That'd feeling very similar to action movies where they're in a massive shootout while they wait for the hacker to do his job
You joke at the end, but I think making a hack that’s more realistic could be interesting. From what I understand about irl hacking (not much so feel free to correct me) once you find a system vulnerability, you can use the same hack on any device that uses a similar system. You could streamline a hacking system by giving certain enemies and objects (cameras, turrets, etc…) have a specific “system”/code that they run on, so you have to hack a system at least once, but you can choose to create a program that does the hack automatically for a specific enemy type. Then just have the enemies update their code or use multiple systems to scale the hacking difficulty. As for the actual mini game, I’m partial to something like Deus Ex human revolution but a bit more in-depth.
Oddly enough, Fallout, especially Fallout New Vegas, gets a bit close to the 'realistic' take on this, as if you sneak around enough in locations you can usually find the password or keycard to open places, as Deus Ex (either one, probably) also has, and certain skill checks let you bypass digital systems with knowledge of how they work, or sometimes literal sheer luck.
Was hacking always hard in Mass Effect 1? I only played it on the trilogy release and remember it being so frustrating (though simple) that I stopped trying. I feel like hacking in 2 was a good balance, but have since forgotten the specifics.
ME2 had two different hacking mini-games: one where you'd hover your cursor over nodes and try to match the shapes on the nodes, and one where you'd be presented with a sequence of 'text-files' and would need to then match them with others that are scrolling past. I don't think either was particularly difficult, though the challenge was doing it quickly as you'd get more credits that way.