Considering how much World of Warcraft has been overtaking my gaming time of late I'm quite surprised at how quickly Uplink has been able to pull me away (at least once I got it working of course) from Azeroth's fair lands.

If you have yet to play the game I highly recommend getting on to Steam and purchasing a copy. It is around USD$10 and represents phenomenal gaming value.

In short the game is a hacking simulator. In many ways it reminds me of an advanced version of V-Sysop which was a game that was doing the rounds back in the heyday of bulletin board systems for those old enough to remember. The reason the games strike me as similar (apart from their computer geek culture focus) is that they manage to be extremely playable despite being more than a little deficient in the visual stakes.

V-Sysop is nothing more than an ANSI interface (keep in mind people played this game over dialup modems, often 14.4kbps and slower) and while Uplink does make use of a genuine GUI it hardly sports the kind of visuals that will excite the average punter.

Uplink doesn't need good graphics to be a great game though. The interface is perfectly suited to what the game is 'simulating' and the gameplay lying beneath its blue and black exterior is well thought out and involving. I can't express how upset I was when I received an email last night informing me that my company privileges had been revoked on account of not quite cleaning my trail properly after a hacking attempt on a world bank. I was so engrossed in the world of Uplink that for a moment I did feel as though I'd been sprung doing something illegal. Well I had, but only virtually. Nonetheless Uplink, like V-Sysop before it, represents an almost perfect fusion of function and form.

I don't want to sound like a shill but if you enjoy unique game ideas then the price point of this particular title makes it worth taking a risk on. It won't be for everyone but if it is your style you're going to love it.