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Hacking Minigame: Difference between revisions
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A [[Mini Game]] in which the character hacks a machine or software system, either to open a password-protected locked door or to access some benefit that the machine is withholding. Occasionally this will extend to [[Mecha-Mooks]], allowing the player to disable or reprogram them to fight on their side with a [[Convenient Color Change|change in color.]] Hacking minigames come in a wide range of forms.
Any kind of realistic hacking would be too slow, too hard, too dull, and would require knowledge that most players just don't have. Hacking minigames bridge the gap between realism and fun. We can assume the minigame is just a player-friendly representation of the character's difficulty with the hack, and that characters are indeed hacking properly, even if we don't see it.
Subtrope of [[Hollywood Hacking]]. Sometimes these minigames allow for some [[Menu Time Lockout]].
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{{examples}}
* ''[[Uplink]]'' is an entire game of this.
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' 's Mastermind-reminiscent hacking minigame has you guess a password by searching through raw data and selecting key words.
* ''[[
** In the sequel, hacking is timing-based, requiring you to make a moving needle land on either a green or blue spot.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' let you hack doors and containers by playing ''[[Simon]]'' in the console version and a ''[[Frogger]]''-like game in the PC version.
** In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', you instead watch through scrolling boxes of coloured text, then select the matching box to the example, with what you're searching for changing every time. Bypassing is also changed to matching "Pins" on a circuit board to bypass electronic locks.
*** The change from the first game to the second is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC:
{{quote|'''Shepard''': Remember when you could just slap a bunch of omni-gel on to force open the lock?
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* ''[[Iji]]'' has one, involving moving a pointer through a maze.
* ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' Daxter gets "jaked in" to a security program where he has to eat all the information Pacman style to lower the defences and release a cypher key.
* The ancient browser game ''[http://www.javaonthebrain.com/java/noids/ Urbanoids]''.
* The [[Freeware Game]] ''Saira'' has a number of hacking minigames.
* In ''[[My Sims]] Agents'', hacking involves moving the pointer through a scrolling maze under a time limit. And you have to stay on the lit path, which often changes when you pass through certain icons.
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** It's also far more realistic than most minigames... while no actual hacking knowledge is required or used, you're going to be very lost if you don't have a basic understanding of command-line interfaces.
* [[Project Eden]] involves spinning disks and quick reactions to hack a device.
* [[Inspector Gadget]]: Operation MadKactus has a [[Pipe Dream]] style one. Since you can rotate pieces and there's no penalty to changing pieces, there's no way you can fail it.
* Both System Shock games have hacking minigames. In the first game, the hacking consists of little puzzles; easy to do if the player them self is good at or gets luckly. In the second game hacking(and modifying, and repairing) is trying to light up a series of three connected nodes.
* In ''[[Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden]]'', one of the options of the vending machines you get your items from is to hack it, but you need "Science points" to do so. {{spoiler|You can't get any.}}
* An important part of the game [[Freedroid RPG]] (as it allows you to take over enemy bots)
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