By James Johnson

Aptly named, Space Hack feels like a “hacked” version of Diablo with a space theme. The gameplay as well as the overall feel of the game remind one of Diablo almost immediately. Unfortunately, Space Hack does not have near as much appeal as Diablo or Diablo 2. Space Hack, although similar to Diablo, is not the same. Space Hack is missing the ability to build a unique character, and it is also missing the intriguing story. Unless you are willing to put up with repetitive and boring gameplay as well as a rather weak storyline, you might want to stay away from Space Hack.

Twigs in space?

You play as “Hack” an eye-patch wearing sideburn-having hero who must rescue the crew of a downed space ship. The introductory cutscene, which is amazingly short, explains that the population on Earth grew into the billions and forced the colonization of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. In time Europa’s population grew as well and a mission was started to explore colonization into other areas of space. Unfortunately the exploration was cut short when the space ship unexpectedly became disabled at the hands of alien creatures. Hack is now stuck on Maximus XV, a gigantic cargo ship carrying hostages in different domed modules. Your job as Hack is to destroy the invading aliens and free the hostages so the ship can escape.

This is where Space Hack starts to get odd though, you basically play the whole game on a ship in different environments in what would basically be modules or domes on the ship. The ship is so big there are drastically different modules and environments that you will experience. None of them, however, appear to really be space, oddly enough. The first environment you experience, for example, is similar to a sci-fi forest. There is an area of the forest that is basically a town and safe area while the rest of the environment in the forest is populated by alien creatures. The physical parts of the ship remain interspersed among the forest environment, leading you to believe ship and environment are intertwined. This type of theme continues throughout the different modules and domes on the ship. The big problem with all of this storyline and environment craziness is that none of it really makes sense. It’s not really explained to you. The beginning cutscene is just about as short as cutscenes go and the lead-in leaves you wondering where you are even beginning, let alone who you actually are as “Hack”. If you like to play a game that makes sense, something with a story you can understand and follow, Space Hack might not be the game for you.

Playing Space Hack is very much like playing Diablo. Clicking on the ground will move your player to that spot and clicking on the enemy will attack. There is a small menu on-screen that controls additional aspects of the game such as player inventory. You can easily bring up an in-game map by pressing “m” and continue to wander the level, or dome, while watching your movement on the map. The overhead 3rd person view is the same as Diablo except Space Hack lets you rotate the camera 360 degrees around Hack. It’s sometimes necessary to rotate the camera while exploring a level to see around certain obstructions. In some cases the obstructions will become transparent, but in others you may find it necessary to rotate and get a better look. Transporters aid your movement between domes and safe areas. Playing Space Hack can be fun because of its simplicity, but it is all rather boring and uninteresting at the same time. If you’ve played Diablo or Diablo 2 you’ll pick up the game rather quickly with little to no problems, but you may find yourself a little apathetic toward the story and thus not interested in the game as a whole.

Page 2 of 2 »