Uplink Review

By Gestalt Published 14 May, 2002

Review - the world's first hacking sim?

Version tested: PC

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Gestalt.

About Gestalt

Read more articles from Gestalt by visiting the Gestalt archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (92) Latest comment 10 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Chaser #1 10 years ago

    BTW, there IS a demo out for download from the programmers site. http://www.introversio n.co.uk/.

    Its not bad :)

  • Super Stu #2 10 years ago

    This could be superb, or utterly shite. I think I'll grab the demo tonight :)

  • Moonbender #3 10 years ago

    The background music is neat. TheBlueValley.s3m :)

  • Pirotic #4 10 years ago

    yet again journalists show they dont know there hacking from there cracking, either that or the PR guys didnt do there research

    this is cracking.. not hacking, hacking referes to us resourceful programmers who think 'what if i made a program which did this' and then go out and do it, cracking is a method in which to gain access into areas normally out of reach either thru glitchs in software or good old fashioned brute force

  • otto #5 10 years ago

    "Jobs are usually gained via the Uplink Internal Services server, a kind of high tech BBS where potential clients can meet and hire unscrupulous hackers such as yourself."

    Looks like they read the Greg Mandel novels then. :)

  • Super Stu #6 10 years ago

    yet again journalists show they dont know there hacking from there cracking, either that or the PR guys didnt do there research


    I blame El Nino.

  • Gestalt #7 10 years ago

    "this is cracking.. not hacking"

    Get over it. :p

  • Halo.Jones #8 10 years ago

    Not exactly the first hacking sim.

    The spectrum had quite a few hacking sims, and of course they were not this indepth but bloody hard.

  • ssuellid #9 10 years ago

    "this is cracking.. not hacking"

    it depends who you ask.

    Another definition is that cracking is an attack against a piece of software usually to circumvent copy protection and dongles etc, and hacking is attacking another computer to gain access. Also hacking is a term used by programmers to describe bodges, quick fixes and other unplanned software changes.

  • Pirotic #10 10 years ago

    i know its a petty thing to say, but i hate the way hollywood can tell the public anything and they beleive it, trying to show that the americans cracked the enigma code was annoying.. but now when they try to dramatise computer cracking into some 'cool lifestyle' thing is just comical.

    watched some Robert-Deniro/Edward-Norton film the otherday when the password they were trying to get was 4 digits long.. erm... you can manually brute force that in about an hour, oh well.. the 'hacker' in they film could not even use a mouse properly, just for geeks like me that ruins the film cos it sorta snaps you out of it and realise its a movie again.

    the matrix was good :)

    the game sounds good, its a novel idea.. i understand it has to be unrealistic otherwise it would get banned for teaching people how to crack, but they seem to have got the basics correct.

    as you said, there is a big advantage in just spending time bouncing from as many servers as possible, if they knew anything about cracking they would realise the reason you wouldn't WANT to use 100 odd is simply because if one goes down you get disconnected, so while your lowering the chance of getting caught your risking getting cut off halfway thru.. maybe they should have implemented that into the game.

    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 11:15

  • ssuellid #11 10 years ago

    Pirotic you should avoid Swordfish then. Hacking 128bit or maybe 256bit keys in less than a minute. For some reason RSA had its name placed in the scene the key was cracked.

  • Pirotic #12 10 years ago

    lol.. yere i heard about Swordfish, i dont mind the odd computer mistake every now and again. but if they are going to make hacking movies to appeal to geeks they should atleast do a little research.

    thought 'hackers' was as new police academy movie.

  • LaundroMat #13 10 years ago

    Enormously difficult hacking/spy game (and free!) here.

  • Martin #14 10 years ago

    Swordfish wasn't targeted at geeks. It was targeted at Joe Sixpack, who probably liked it. I know a friend of mine who in no way is into computers liked it.

  • Toby #15 10 years ago

    watched some Robert-Deniro/Edward-Norton film the otherday when the password they were trying to get was 4 digits long.. erm... you can manually brute force that in about an hour, oh well.. the 'hacker' in they film could not even use a mouse properly, just for geeks like me that ruins the film cos it sorta snaps you out of it and realise its a movie again.

    The Score. It also has a barely alive Marlon Brando in it. The password thing was incredibly dumb. Three sets of four digit numbers... right. The hacker/cracker/quake3player sterotype was amusing though.

    Swordfish - Anyone for a multi-headed hydra? :)

  • Martin #16 10 years ago

    About the link that LaundroMat provided (JD SPY):
    This DIFFICULT but fun adventure starts off with an error message! But don't panic; examine the error more carefully.

    snip...

    REMEMBER, the beginning error message is part of the game; examine it closely!

    This has got to be the dumbest thing in the world to ever include in your game. I checked this game out some time ago and when I got the error I assumed that it was because I tried to run it under XP and uninstalled it.

  • Nick #17 10 years ago

    OK Bye Bye!!!

  • mal #18 10 years ago

    if this was on gamecube it wouldn't have the graphical glitches, typos or pointless game elements.

    FACT

    (To be fair, I'm highly impressed with the production of this game considering they don't have Nintendo's manpower behind them)

    PS: Bah, someone's deleted the original comment this was parodying. It wasn't meant to be an attack on the game.
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 14:13

  • Whizzo #19 10 years ago

    Looks like they read the Greg Mandel novels then. :)
    Very good books, I just couldn't get into "The Reality Dysfunction" though.

    I liked "Swordfish", it's a well-made action movie that has computers in it. It's not a documentary. Any movie that has a TVR racing around LA with Travolta using an M60 while standing up in it can't be all bad.

  • Super Stu #20 10 years ago

    if this was on gamecube it wouldn't have the graphical glitches, typos or pointless game elements.

    FACT

    Yes, but you'll never get home brew games on your Gamecube. I think you're having a go at the PC market with that statement which in this context is utterly misplaced. Feel free to correct me

  • otto #21 10 years ago

    Super Stu, with you on that one, not quite sure of the point mal was trying to make there but you'd never see a game like this on any console.

    Whizzo - I just couldn't get into "The Reality Dysfunction" though - noooooooooo! The Night's Dawn Trilogy r0xxxx0rzzzz!! You've got to keep at it, the pace picks up. Superb books!

  • Whizzo #22 10 years ago

    You've got to keep at it, the pace picks up. Superb books!
    I'ver been meaning to give it another go but I've got soooo many books unread at the moment. I've been playing too many games and not reading enough. Perhaps I'll start reading on my trip into work. On second thoughts as I drive perhaps that's not such a good idea.

  • eviltobz #23 10 years ago

    Otto & Stu. It looks like some messages have been magically disappeared from the thread, it started off with a message dissing EG implying some nintendo bias by saying if it were on the cube it would have been reviewed much better, blah blah blah, i'm an xbox fanboy. The later messages were pretty much agreeing with your opinions that its an irrelevant comparison

  • otto #24 10 years ago

    Oh right. Attack of the Fanboy Tosspots again. What a pity I missed it. ;)

  • mook #25 10 years ago

    this book on hacking is quite good.

  • ennead #26 10 years ago

    The Night's Dawn Trilogy was fantastic. I think the Nano Flower was still Peter Hamilton's best though.

    I am currently making my way through Iain Bank's Culture novels. I love Excession, with its focus on the minds and all the ship names.

  • otto #27 10 years ago

    ennead, looks like you & me have got the same taste in literature m8. I love Banks' stuff, 'The Player of Games' is my favourite Culture novel. If you like Banks & Hamilton, I recommend Ken Macleod's stuff, it's excellent (at least his first four).

  • skalmanxl #28 10 years ago

    Not exactly the first hacking sim.

    True, did anyone play that "The Net" game that came out at the same time as the movie? Kinda liked that one. But it was a bunch of years ago.

    I personally liked Swordfish alot, the introduction scene was like a symphonic orgasm delivered by some over the top stupid special effects made by a team who clearly never heard of the term "kill your darling", stupid as hell, but still one of the coolest thing I've seen on a movie. It sure satisfied my primal need for visual effects.

  • DaM #29 10 years ago

    Otto, if you are into the Culture and Ken MacCleod, you might want to take a look at Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds, I'm reading it at the mo, I like it a lot. There's even some an intelligent armoured suits bit, sort of mech/space suits with lots of guns, which would make a great game. Although he does steal a few things, like a near-dead/dead frozen captain a la Dark Star, who is slightly defrosted occasionally to answer queries....

    Re Hacker on the Speccy- I seem to remember the password on the first screen was Australia, as there was a white pixel in the middle of it!
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 16:27

  • ennead #30 10 years ago

    Yes, I've read about 3 of Ken MacLeod's novels. They are good :). I liked the Hyperion series too, although it took a little persistance at times.

    I haven't read Player of Games yet. That and Look to Windward are next on my list, but I just bought a couple of new books to get through first.

  • ennead #31 10 years ago

    Good taste, Otto :)

    Yes, I enjoyed Revelation Space too, DaM. He has new one out called Chasm City. Haven't read it yet.

    I was trying to remember the name of a book with a similar storyline, and I think it was called Vast, by Linda Nagata. It was very good.

    Another couple of excellent authors in the same kind of genre are Vernor Vinge and Greg Egan. Although Greg Egan gets extrememly maths and physics happy at times.

    And of course there is always Neal Stephenson. Shame on you if you haven't come across him yet :)

    By the way, why does the right shift key occasionally not work when posting?

  • Super Stu #32 10 years ago

    Crivvens. Lots of new authors for me to try out :) I'm normally a Terry Pratchett, Arthur C Clarke and Tom Clancy kind of bloke.

  • mal #33 10 years ago

    eviltobz, otto, stu - yeah, it's hard to parody a moving target. Absolutely no criticism of the game (beyond that that's in the review), which looks to be very well screwed together for such a low budget game - just pointing out that if it were a Nintendo game it would be a different game (with a different review score), in the style of the original fanboy.

  • otto #34 10 years ago

    Ooh I love getting new names! :) Amazon thanks you!

    Yeah, the Hyperion series, brilliant - pretty much up there with the British trio of Banks Hamilton & Macleod. In the meantime could someone please take Stephen Baxter outside and shoot him? Thanks.

    While we're swapping names, if you haven't read Perdido Street Station by China Mieville then GO AWAY AND READ IT! NOW!

    Oh and agreed on Vernor Vinge, 'A Deepness in the Sky' was one of my favourites of last year - I've been looking for his previous one (which was actually published about 20 years ago - 'A Fire in the Deep' I think it was called) but have never been able to find it.

    I quite like Egan and he's got a lot of material online which I download to my Psion & read in meetings (2nd top tip of the day) ;)

    Last couple: the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson if you've not read them yet, and Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.

    There, that should keep you going ;)

  • Super Stu #35 10 years ago

    Straw poll:

    a) Iain Banks, or
    b) Iain M Banks

    :)

  • otto #36 10 years ago

    M, definitely. DEFINITELY.

    The man can't write "non-genre" for toffee. I have never read a bigger pile of shite than 'The Business'. And yet his sci-fi is uniformly stellar (pun intended).

    Edit - OK, Crow Road was oK & Wasp Factory was good for a laugh. Complicity & Whit were substandard but readable. Espedair Street was shite. And then after reading The Business I gave up and decided just to wait for his 'M' stuff.
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 14:36

  • Super Stu #37 10 years ago

    M, indeed.

    Consider Phlebas - absolutely superb.

  • ssuellid #38 10 years ago

    The other way around for me. I thought the culture novels were crap, boring, without any interesting characters. Whit is definitely better after a few reads.

    BTW anyone else having trouble getting hold of books recently? I've been attempting to get hold of some old books I read as a child and everything is out of print. e.g Frederick Pohl, Simak, Timothy Mo, Kent Anderson. I've ended up importing second hand books from the states which is not cheap.
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 14:50

  • otto #39 10 years ago

    I thought the culture novels were crap, boring, without any interesting characters

    ?!?!?! Sacrilege!! Burn the unbeliever!

  • ssuellid #40 10 years ago

    Dunno after reading all of Simaks books, Piers Anthonys dark short stories ( not the crappy fantasy books) , Phillip K Dicks books, etc it just seems that Mr Banks could do with some more ideas of his own and have characters that have some character. I quite enjoy his books but they are way over hyped.

  • otto #41 10 years ago

    Hmm. Ah well, different strokes... (or is that the other thread?). I came to Banks with pretty much no hype and find his characters amazingly well rounded for sci-fi. I honestly think you'd have trouble finding characters as well fleshed out as Gurgeh in Player of Games or Zakalwe in Use of Weapons even in most mainstream fiction - they're certainly a lot more believable than his thinly disguised alter egos in Complicity & Espedair Street for example. Even his drones & ships have pretty well-drawn characters imo! Ah well.

  • Gestalt #42 10 years ago

    "that should keep you going"

    I've been meaning to get Perdido Street Station since I read the review of it in Interzone a while back, but the last time I checked it was only out in hardback. Just grabbed the new paperback from Amazon, along with three more Greg Egan books (already had Quarantine, Diaspora and Permutation city) and another Philip K Dick novel (Counter-Clock World - one of the few that I don't have already, as it's been out of print for a while AFAIK). I'm almost tempted to get the new Peter F Hamilton novel, but £14.39 for a hardback copy that will probably cause me serious spinal injuries every time I try to lift it is a bit much. ;) I think I'll wait 'til July for the paperback.

    Kim Stanley Robinson's a good one, but like Greg Evan it's pretty heavy going. Lots of techno babble and philosophy. The Wild Shore is a bit more down to earth (literally). Been a while since I read it, but I remember it being pretty good. The whole trilogy (Gold Coast, Wild Shore, Pacific Edge) seems to be out of print at the moment for some reason though. Pity, I wouldn't have minded picking up the other two novels. :(

  • ssuellid #43 10 years ago

    Maybe I should give Mr Banks another go as with films and music I tend to like books more after time and repeat reading. Anyway if you can find them the Heechee series of books by Pohl are worth getting as is "The Redundancy of Courage" by Timothy Mo, sort of about East Timor.

  • otto #44 10 years ago

    heh, yeah me too, busy waiting for both the Hamilton and Macleod latest offerings to go paperback. Perdido Street Station's been available in paperback for at least a year, and pretty heavily marketed since it won the Arthur C Clarke Award, so you must be avoiding Waterstones like the plague ;)

  • Gestalt #45 10 years ago

    "you must be avoiding Waterstones like the plague"

    Heh, yeah I don't got shopping for books very often, and when I do I normally just check to see if there are any new Philip K Dick novels I don't have already, although I did pick up the new Irvine Welsh book as well last time I was in Waterstones. I'm more likely to order stuff online from Amazon though, so it looks like I missed the paperback coming out. Ho hum.

  • Gestalt #46 10 years ago

    Oh, and yes, Jeff Noon, can't beat him. Not got around to buying Pixel Juice yet, but Vurt was great, nice twisted cyberpunk fairy tale. The Game Cat says buy it. Now. And one of my old hard drives was named after a character from Nymphomation. Yeah, I'm a geek. ;)

  • Pirotic #47 10 years ago

    oh god.. seems we have a little resident book-club here, i've only read one book in my whole life and only because i had to study it for English.

  • ssuellid #48 10 years ago

    I normally have two or three books on the go and finish one a week. At the moment one of them is the Civilisation 3 manual which does not really count.

  • Whizzo #49 10 years ago

    I always think of Waterstones as somewhere you can browse books, make a decision about whether you buy it, then order it from Amazon for a lot less money...

  • otto #50 10 years ago

    Amazon's a bit trickier for me now that I can't get things delivered to the office and the Belgian postman leaves packages out in the rain in full public view - plus a jaunt down to the Brussels Waterstones of a lunchtime is a rare treat (though less so now that they've closed M&S and I can't get their sandwiches, bastards).

  • Martin #51 10 years ago

    Hey, an interesting thread! Whodathunkit?

    I have yet to finish the last two books after The Reality Dysfunction. The problem is that it was such a long time ago since I read it that I most likely have to read it again to understand what's going on. Which I'm not too keen on, no matter how great I think it was.

  • otto #52 10 years ago

    "I normally have two or three books on the go and finish one a week"

    I normally have one 'easy read', one 'stimulating read' and one GBA game on the go at a time, and take pot luck when dipping into my briefcase on the metro as to which gets lucky. My current 'easy read' is Infinity's Shore by David Brin (I'd say the Uplift books are good enough to justify reading all six but not good enough to rank with the names I mentioned above).

  • HitchHiker #53 10 years ago

    Anyone remember a hacking game on the Speccy called "System 15000". I don't recall much of it, just that I really enjoyed playing it.
    Seemed quite hard at the time too.

    P.s. Apologies for interupting your book thread ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 16:13

  • otto #54 10 years ago

    Hey Martin! Now would you have discovered this thread with comments turned off? ;)

    You must keep going with the Night's Dawn Trilogy, they are so worth it, one of those bookcase-busting mega-novels that actually keeps on being good right until the end :)

  • Rico #55 10 years ago

    I'm with Pirotic re: hacking/cracking. \o/

  • Martin #56 10 years ago

    When it comes to fantasy I recall David Gemmel and his Dark Moon as being really good. I can't remember why though but both my brother and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

  • Martin #57 10 years ago

    Otto: I wouldn't. 8)

    I know that I need to finish the Nights Dawn trilogy as I totally loved the first book but there's so much else in my life that I need to sort out before I can concentrate on a book, let alone a trilogy of that scope. I am currently trying to get a friend of mine to start reading The Reality Dysfunction though. Here's hoping...

    I still have a couple of WoT books to read through as well as a non-fiction book about nutrition so I don't know when I'll have the time to pick up Nights Dawn. PLus there's a ton of other books I want to read. Damn, I really love reading but I have to be in the right mood, which I'm not at the moment. Despite that phone call. 8)

    Edit: me so tired...
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 16:24

  • DocX #58 10 years ago

    Nice little reading list you've got here guys!

    I'm re-reading Banks' Use of Weapons at the mo, but hearing more good things of Perdido Street Station, I'll definately pick that up. Not noticed anyone mention Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash or Diamond Age yet. I just finished Paul Di Filippo's The Steampunk Trilogy, also a good read (funny too).

  • DaM #59 10 years ago

    Ennead -Vast, by Linda Nagata. Was that not all far-future humans, very ultra-techy- lots of space sleep though.
    Neal Stephenson- again, excellent, although I prefer his pure scifi to his last effort. I wish I could find my Diamond Age, it had a nice cover.
    The Mars trilogy- could have fitted in one book, overblown. OK though.
    Any Scots read But'n'Ben A GoGo? Science fiction in the Scots tongue! Hard going at first, but its OK once your mind gets into the swing of it. Amusing to get my English gf to try and read it too!

  • Gestalt #60 10 years ago

    "Not noticed anyone mention"

    Look, I just spent the best part of £40 on books at Amazon, I'm not buying any more today! :p I haven't even finished Glue yet, and I've got the last couple of issues of Interzone to finish as well.

  • Moonbender #61 10 years ago

    BTW I assume everybody here agrees that Ender's Game is brilliant ... ? I haven't found anyone on the net who disagreed. The sequels are more controversial, but everyone loves the first book.

  • Tricky #62 10 years ago

    Just to stick my oar in here (as I do) - Vurt. Buy it. Now. Do not stop. Do not pass go. But do collect some money and buy it. Whilst you're there buy Pollen, Nymphomation, Pixel Juice and Needle In The Groove. Get Automated Alice whilst there if you want an interesting oddity. All of them are by Jeff Noon and should be read in roughly that order (if you want to be picky Automated Alice should go between Pollen and Nymphomation).

    Don't even think of considering yourself a fan of intelligent, modern sci-fi books until you've read them. Abso-bloody-lutely essential.

  • Whizzo #63 10 years ago

    Ender's Game is brilliant, I'm about halfway through the second sequel and it's not a patch on it. Actually that reminds me I must get back to reading it.
    It'll be interesting to see how badly screwed up the movie is going to end up if it ever goes into production.

  • Martin #64 10 years ago

    Never read Enders Game. Heard of it plenty of times. Perhaps I should pick it up, if only to tell the rest of you how much it sucks. 9)

  • DocX #65 10 years ago

    Laterst on Ender's Game film:

    http://www.frescopictures.com/movies/ender/ende rsgame_update.html

  • burago #66 10 years ago

    I haven't even finished Glue

    Glue is well worth finishing. I'm currently reading <A HREF="http://www.amazon.co .uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/057120516X/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026-164 9527-0922006">When we were orphans</A> It's not bad.


  • Gestalt #67 10 years ago

    Yeah, I'm on the 1990 bit of Glue at the moment, so I'm getting there, slowly... It's certainly a lot better than Filth, but not as good as I remember Trainspotting and Maribou Stork Nightmares being.

  • burago #68 10 years ago

    Train spotting is Welsh's best book with Glue a close second.

  • mal #69 10 years ago

    I should have guessed you'd all be SF nuts on here. Okay, so I'll generally read Pratchett in paperback and Jeff Noon is great fun (especially Automated Alice, but then he always wrote like a modern day Carrol), but it's Iain Banks over Iain M Banks every time. Well, I've only read Espedair Street and the Bridge so far, but for once I disagree with otto! Oh, the novelty!

    I'm a sucker for modern social commentary (hence the aversion to SF) - Nick Hornby, Amis (the elder), Iris Murdoch (it'll take me a while to read all her books). The God of Small Things and Clockwork Orange are both fantastic works of structure and prose, if that floats your boat. Oh, and even if you never found him funny in person, read Milligan. I've not found a bad book by him yet.

  • otto #70 10 years ago

    heh, well mal I'd agree with all your "non-genre" stuff there (God I hate that pigeon-holing), and I do love my sci-fi it's true but I hardly limit myself to that ;)

    Have you read Banksie's SF stuff? If not, you should. It really is better than his mainstream stuff, honest. Espedair Street I really didn't rate very highly, and The Bridge I found hugely overrated (he rates it himself as his best work, I found it self-indulgent and heavy going, st3ph3n tells me you have to be from Edinburgh to know what the hell it means...).

    This whole business of lumping 'science fiction and fantasy' together and looking down one's nose at it is something that really gets my blood boiling, how come a piece of writing as intelligent and imaginative as Perdido Street Station can get stuck in a dark ghetto corner while the latest chick-lit pot boiler gets star billing in the 'New Fiction' shelves is beyond me, but there's a whole other thread in that...

    edit - you mention Amis Sr but for me 'London Fields' sticks out as one of my favourite books ever...
    Edited by 1 at 14/05/02 @ 21:15

  • FWB #71 10 years ago

    "I'm a sucker for modern social commentary (hence the aversion to SF) - Nick Hornby, Amis (the elder), Iris Murdoch (it'll take me a while to read all her books). "

    Donna Gaines "Teenage Wasteland"
    Douglas Coupland "Generation X"

    And for you American cultural fans out there Jean Baudrillard's "America". I really recommend it.

  • otto #72 10 years ago

    "I'm a sucker for modern social commentary (hence the aversion to SF)"

    Actually there's no conflict as such between SF and modern social commentary, you often find the latter in the former, albeit in allegorical form usually (my opinion is that the Culture novels do this far better and more subtly than the distinctly unsubtle approach of Complicity for example - EDIT: Banksie sets out some of his thinking in this respect in his 'few notes on the Culture'). One series that makes my point better than any other is the Kim Stanley Robinson Mars series that I already mentioned. It may be "science fiction" strictu sensu but it contains (a) some brilliant writing and (b) some very thoughtful stuff on hard science (geology, biology etc) but also on 'soft' science (political science especially but also sociology etc). It is a crying shame if intelligent people ignore it because it's been tarred with the 'sci-fi' brush. There you go, there's my heartfelt plea for this evening ;)
    Edited by 2 at 14/05/02 @ 22:39

  • mal #73 10 years ago

    Well, you've called my bluff to a certain extent, as I've never actually read an Iain M Banks. So, as reprimand - what would you recommend?

    You're right that SF does tackle social issues quite often - but I have the suspicion it is used as a device to obscure someone's overly simplistic view on society's ills. By moving it one step from reality it's harder for the reader to think 'ah, but what about...?'

    Basically, if you wanted to write about social issues and characters, would you risk being tarred by the SF brush?

    I'm quite tempted by the look of Perdido Street Station. I'm far more accepting to the use of SF to have fun with the English language, a la Noon (and I'm sure some older books which are just on the tip of my tongue).

    On the other hand, the Mars books sound like they might read too much like a textbook - a textbook of science that isn't actually practical or proven at the moment. When I was younger I used to hate pages of dry description of landscapes and the like. Nowadays I'm not so fussy, in fact I'd rather such dry prose played with my imagination rather than my logical reasoning, if you see what I mean.

    Oh, and I might just check out that Amis Jr. book. I've tended to avoid him because he comes across as rather pompous when I've seen him on the telly but then again, his father was supposed to be pretty odious and that rarely hurt his writing.

  • ennead #74 10 years ago

    Hey Martin. Otto's right, the Nights Dawn trilogy is certainly worth the effort.

    I have given up on the WoT series. He seems to spend for too much time describing things without progressing anywhere.

    I haven't read Perdito St Station, but on the strength of everyone's advice, I'll have to grab a copy :)

  • Feanor #75 10 years ago

    I agree that the Night's Dawn series is fantastic, and well worth the effort to read thru to the end. Peter F Hamilton's latest book, Fallen Dragon, is also brilliant, with a great and wonderful **spoiler if you haven't read it yet** and has some wry and entertaining commentary in it about modern society. It's only a modest 700 pages, so try reading it first and if you enjoy it, it's very likely you'll like the 3 large volumes of Night's Dawn too.

    I enjoyed Hamilton's A Second Chance At Eden also, espeically the story that reveals more about the founding of Eden.

    The Earth's Children series are still the best books I've ever read.
    Edited by 1 at 15/05/02 @ 03:30

  • Xensor #76 10 years ago

    Ok I don't read anywhere as much as you guys, but I have read a lot of Banks' books and I think his M work is far superior to non-M. The Player of Games is absolutely superb and my fav, Excession is a hell of a page turner (after the first fifty pages which are slow and confusing), Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons, Against a Dark Background all really good reads. I also really like Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance books, especially Salvatore and Weis & Hickman.

  • otto #77 10 years ago

    heh mal, um I guess I'd point you first at 'the Player of Games' as my favourite Culture novel (but let's be honest it's none too subtle in terms of its 'message'). 'Consider Phlebas' is the first Culture novel and a bit 'space opera' but takes an unusual approach to the Culture in that its viewed from the outside by someone unsympathetic. 'Against A Dark Background' is non-Culture and one of my favourites, a really good read. And a lot of people have mentioned 'Excession' which again is a superb read. Go on, have a go... ;)

    I do agree with you though when you say that a fantastic setting can disguise a simplistic world view, that has to be true (Starship Troopers anyone?), but that doesn't necessarily mean that all sci-fi is like that (Forever War by Joe Haldeman?). I particularly like Ken Macleod's near future stuff for that. Banks' politics (although I happen to agree with them personally) are a bit in-your-face which is perhaps why I prefer them in his M guise through the fantastic filter.

    The RGB Mars trilogy doesn't read like a dry text book *at all*, I find it amazing that he manages to weave in all these themes and elements into a story that goes on for so long yet stays gripping. Again, give it a go.

    And yes, you should all drop what you're doing and read Perdido Street Station. :)

    Oh, & Martin Amis, yes an arrogant pain in the arse when seen and heard in the flesh (bit like his dad), but his books are something else. You either love them or hate them (I mean individually, not collectively). I loved London Fields and The Rachel Papers, hated the Information and a couple of others that I've read.

    Woo, lots of long posts on this one, sorry :p
    Edited by 1 at 15/05/02 @ 09:36

  • otto #78 10 years ago

    Oh and it's occurred to me that I've neglected to mention one of my all-time favourites, The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, a jaunt through early 19thC London with the romantic poets... kind of ;)

  • DocX #79 10 years ago

    Good call Otto, Anubis Gates is one of my favourites too. Have you read any of his mate Philip Blaylock's stuff? Homunculus & Lord Kelvin's Machine are both similar to Anubis & his Balumnia fantasy series is awesome (though sadly out of print). William Ashbless always gets a mention in his books too.

  • otto #80 10 years ago

    Ooh thanks DocX, *another* name for my little list!

  • Psi #81 10 years ago

    Damn im joining late on this hacking/cracking thred!!

    Anyone mentioned Independance Day yet?!?!

    A FUCKING Apple MAC!!!!!

    compatible protocols my fucking arse!!
    then goldblum did all those MAC adverts....... hmmm.

  • otto #82 10 years ago

    "this hacking/cracking thred!!"

    It is??

  • DocX #83 10 years ago

    As usual it got hijacked into a much more interesting discussion :)

  • Xensor #84 10 years ago

    "Damn im joining late on this hacking/cracking thred!!

    Anyone mentioned Independance Day yet?!?!

    A FUCKING Apple MAC!!!!!

    compatible protocols my fucking arse!!
    then goldblum did all those MAC adverts....... hmmm."

    You want Macs? Then check out Unbreakable for the 'mysteriously moving macs'... strange how you've never seen a windows pc in the movies yet... they've everywhere *cue twilight zone music*

    BTW has anybody got anywhere on the JD Spy game? I'm stuck like... well a really stuck thing. I just found out about Grundle and his three pubs but now what? I worked out what the string of numbers is, but i haven't got a clue as to the relevance. Help pleez.

  • Gestalt #85 10 years ago

    "Then check out Unbreakable"

    No. Really, just don't go there. A deeply mediocre movie with a hilariously bad ending. "I think it's time we shaked hands". Puh-lease.

  • Moonbender #86 10 years ago

    Xensor, check out the HP of that game. It has a hint list and a walkthrough. I found it to be pretty dull, as I didn't solve anything, really, without the walkthrough.

  • Tricky #87 10 years ago

    Thanks for the heads up on that JD Spy game, guys - absolutely right up my street. Reminds me of the cloudwalker web mystery stuff that was done to help promote the film AI (although that really did get stupidly hard eventually).

  • Xensor #88 10 years ago

    "No. Really, just don't go there. A deeply mediocre movie with a hilariously bad ending. "I think it's time we shaked hands". Puh-lease."

    I know what you mean G. The idea was really good, but the execution was appalling.

  • Nobby #89 10 years ago

    Like thousands of others, the only author that I buy each and every new book of is Pratchett. I'm ashamed to say I've never even read a book by half of the authors mentioned here, certainly got a good few that I'll have to check out now.

    Anyone reckon the demo is worth downloading on a 56k?

  • Gestalt #90 10 years ago

    Well the full game's only about 30Mb installed, so it shouldn't take too long to download the demo over a modem. :)

  • Gestalt #91 10 years ago

    Er .. what are you talking about? If you mean Uplink, it's a single player game. You're not hacking real servers or anything. ;)

  • Nobby #92 10 years ago

    Now I think you're getting confused between 'hacking' and 'a game' here.