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Lockpicking/terminal hacking representations in games

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oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
I'm a few hours into Alien Isolation and BOY does this game have a lot of ways to open doors! I do particularly like the the way you bust into computers, though:

ezeSkNM.jpg


It reminds me of Batman Arkham frequency tuning, but (slightly) less braindead. But it got me thinking about other comparable ... minigames? I'm not sure what to call them. Anyway, there's lockpicking in Skyrim which was fine:

TWrJdhY.jpg


Hacking in Fallout 3 was by nature more "wild-guess" based, which rubbed me the wrong way:

BVxSTwZ.jpg
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Bypassing in Mass Effect sucked. It sucked.

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What are your favorites? Least favorites?
 
Watchdogs had this 3d timed puzzle thing. I wasnt a fan of it, but it seemed like a cool minigamish thing. Some of them were hard though and that was cool.
 
I liked both Alpha Protocol's lockpicking and "hacking"

Although the hacking in particular got ludicrously hard later in the game if you didn't jack up your hacking attributes, wear things that boosted hacking and/or played on higher difficulties. Became a very unfair mini-game very quickly later on.
 
I can appreciate Warframe's bite sized hacking mini games.

Other than that I remember loving the hacking in System Shock 1.
 
oneida said:
Hacking in Fallout 3 was by nature more "wild-guess" based, which rubbed me the wrong way
Click to expand...

Hacking was actually really cool once you learned all the tricks and whatnot. You start with a wild guess, but then you use the feedback from that guess along with logic to determine the right answer. Plus you could get additional attempts and cross out incorrect codes if you found pairs of brackets and parenthesis in the hacking screen.
 
Took me a while to understand but I like Kratos' subtle yet effective way of lock-picking chests.

Edit: Also might not count but MGS2 as in finding the device to shoot to shutdown a terminal is a great 'mini-game'to progress. But in regards to 'hacking' gotta go Bioshock.
 
Speaking of a recent game, Dying Light totally steals Skyrim's lockpicking mini game. It's not inherently bad, but it is used far too often in Dying Light.
 
Creaking said:
Hacking was actually really cool once you learned all the tricks and whatnot. You start with a wild guess, but then you use the feedback from that guess along with logic to determine the right answer. Plus you could get additional attempts and cross out incorrect codes if you found certain symbols in the hacking screen.
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Yup, iirc it told you how many correct chars were in your incorrect answer.
 
I kind of like how the lock-picking in Dying Light is similar to Skyrim. By far my favorite terminal hacking representation was in Alien Isolation, and I remember them being incredibly tense because a alien or an android would be in hot pursuit of me
 
I also really like Deus Ex HR's hacking. Tricky to figure out at first, but once you do it's a great challenge, and not one that can be easily conquered like other games. There's always a risk, and you have to think fast and work fast if that risk turns against your favor.
 
Deus Ex (NOT HUMAN REVOLUTION)

Just give me a skill check instead of wasting my time with some stupid ass minigame that will become agonizing about 10 hours into the game.

Bioshock 2 is my second fav if only because...

1. it was real time

2. it was fast as hell and didn't waste my time

3. auto hack tools existed if you wanted to expend the resources to skip it entirely on occasion if you were getting tired of it
 
Hacking terminals in Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction.

rcf_review_decryptor_1--screenshot_large.jpg
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SIXAXIS TILTING TO HACK. I know it was an early PS3 game and they wanted Sixaxis in everything but damn it.

Whoever thought that shit was a good idea needs to be smacked a few times, not that it was hard, just annoying at times.
 
pa22word said:
Deus Ex.

Just give me a skill check instead of wasting my time with some stupid ass minigame that will become agonizing about 10 hours into the game.
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KotOR does this too. When did these minigames start showing up in like every game?
 
I always liked the ones where you have to figure out a numeral sequence of numbers.

I think Sleeping Dogs had it

And also this game

mickey-ultimate-challenge-1-techmynd.jpg
 
Yeah, I could do with a lesser story and setting in Bioshock 2.

But the awful hacking attempt of a minigame that was in there was too much. ): Missed 1's so much.
 
God, people are actually posting pipedream from BioShock?

That shit was torture, and it was pointlessly so as it broke the flow of gameplay because it paused the game so you could do it, erasing any real risk involved with taking the time to do it. Just pure shit, and total padding that felt like it was implemented by someone who had way too much pull in development to the point that no one could ever say no to him when he introduced the idea.

"Hey guys, wouldn't making players spend mins at a time in a game totally separated from the game itself like 1000x across the total length of the game be just /awesome/?"

"uh, sure bob, whatever you say..."
 
Bionic Commando Rearmed had this little cube puzzle. Well, it wasn't much of a puzzle, just wanted to post something. :b
nhuuEdGh.jpg
 
1107573-morrowind_lockpick.jpg


Just kidding.

Really liked Fallout 3's hacking game, even though you could cheese it pretty hard. Splinter Cell lockpicking is still great.
 
pa22word said:
Deus Ex (NOT HUMAN REVOLUTION)

Just give me a skill check instead of wasting my time with some stupid ass minigame that will become agonizing about 10 hours into the game.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I also really liked how the lockpicking/bypassing were item based. With skills reducing the number of items it took. No mini-games and it made you think a bit about whether it was worth using x amount of your tools or lockpicks or if you should look for an alternative.
 
Sleeping Dogs had lock picking, camera hacking and bug planting (which included frequency tuning) which was simple and non-aggravating. Bad locking picking/hacking can really screw with the fun of gameplay.
 
I enjoyed that in Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines you needed to do very little hacking. A lot of the passwords are left around near by. Sometimes on a notepad by the computer itself or tucked away in the drawers of an office in the other room or even hidden inside one of the emails that you can access on another computer in the same room.
kSqEYrX.jpg
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I love that 343 thought outside of the box on this because nothing says immersion like having to open a separate fucking app to view a terminal.

yeah I know they're not really "in game" content but come on
 
Splinter Cell inspired me to learn how to pick locks. Chaos Theory specifically. I remember it being the most realistic out of any game I've played.
 
pa22word said:
Deus Ex (NOT HUMAN REVOLUTION)

Just give me a skill check instead of wasting my time with some stupid ass minigame that will become agonizing about 10 hours into the game.
Click to expand...

Definitely this. I still enjoy the hacking of the original Deus Ex most of all. I could hack any computer in the world, but my Computer skill determined:


  • the length of time I had to find the information I needed and log out before the security systems found me
  • the amount of sensitive functions I had access to, such as control over automated turrets

Ideally, the complications shouldn't arise from hacking, but from tracking down a computer with the right functions or finding a top-level clearance username and password somewhere in the level.

That said, I didn't mind Human Revolution's hacking sequences because it gave me optional rewards to chase at the risk of triggering an alarm, thus forcing me to speed up my actions before I got locked out. Felt more exciting that way. But I would prefer having a simple hacking mechanic that relied more on a skill check than a minigame.
 
pa22word said:
Deus Ex (NOT HUMAN REVOLUTION)

Just give me a skill check instead of wasting my time with some stupid ass minigame that will become agonizing about 10 hours into the game.
Click to expand...
This was what I came to post.

Want to access an ATM but don't have the password? Click "hack" and wait a bit. Boom, hacked (although you're on a time limit and won't get as many credits as you would with a proper login).

Want to hack a terminal that's keeping a door locked? Grab a Multitool and left-click until the hacking number reaches 0. Use another Multitool if it expires before the number does. Boom, hacked.

Want to pick a lock? Grab a lockpick and left-click until the lockpick number reaches 0. Use another pick if your first one breaks before that. Boom, picked.

Want to skip that shit? Break out the GEP Gun and rocket the door down. Boom. (Literally.)

No minigames to mix things up, but that keeps the focus solely on the actual game, which is itself a more-than-acceptable approach to the mechanic. (Seriously, I get that a lot of people loved Human Revolution's hacking mechanic, but it never really clicked with me. I'd have been just fine with the first game's approach to hacking doors open.)

That said, something relatively quick and basic like Skyrim's lockpicking mechanic works fine by me as well.
 
SevenToSix said:
Didn't really like how Assassin's Creed Unity did it. Especially after the 100th chest. It's just boring and tedious.
60fc4_Assassins-Creed-Unity-Lockpicking-Money-Tips.jpg
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As long as you didn't go over your level, they were pretty easy. The key was to not rush. Numerous times when I only had the rank two unlocked I could pick level three chests/doors and only break one or two picks. I got the belt that gave me like 28 picks and I rarely had to worry.
 
Shadow Hog said:
This was what I came to post.

Want to access an ATM but don't have the password? Click "hack" and wait a bit. Boom, hacked (although you're on a time limit and won't get as many credits as you would with a proper login).

Want to hack a terminal that's keeping a door locked? Grab a Multitool and left-click until the hacking number reaches 0. Use another Multitool if it expires before the number does. Boom, hacked.

Want to pick a lock? Grab a lockpick and left-click until the lockpick number reaches 0. Use another pick if your first one breaks before that. Boom, picked.

Want to skip that shit? Break out the GEP Gun and rocket the door down. Boom. (Literally.)

No minigames to mix things up, but that keeps the focus solely on the actual game, which is itself a more-than-acceptable approach to the mechanic. (Seriously, I get that a lot of people loved Human Revolution's hacking mechanic, but it never really clicked with me. I'd have been just fine with the first game's approach to hacking doors open.)

That said, something relatively quick and basic like Skyrim's lockpicking mechanic works fine by me as well.
Click to expand...

Yep agreed. The original Thief games also understood the use of lockpicking, but the need to keep serving the greater game, instead of bouncing to a completely separate game.

In Thief, you have two lockpicks. One will work on the door, and it'll begin picking. It'll either eventually flick open, or 'click', signifying you need to now start using the other lockpick. Repeat until the door is unlocked. In Thief, because it's all about evading guards on a patrol cycle, the lockpicking is there specifically to slow you down, adding a barrier of tension and suspense. The game doesn't pause during the process, so it works similarly to Alien Isolation in that way, (but without literally becoming a game within a game). It also forces you to pay the slightest bit of attention to the lockpicking, as you might have to switch them from time to time but you also have to pay attention to what's happening around you. Is a guard coming? Are you in darkness or would it be best to slip into a shadow while the guard walks past and resume the unlocking afterwards?

So it's got an actual purpose. A lot of these other examples often feel like "Well, the player's gotta do something here, otherwise it won't be a challenge!" If the challenge doesn't directly relate back to the core mechanics of the game, and you find yourself being tricked into playing hours and hours of Pipedream, something ain't right. In Thief, it served the needs of the game perfectly without going overboard into needlessly abstract and unrelated directions.
 
Leafhopper said:
Hacking terminals in Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction.



SIXAXIS TILTING TO HACK. I know it was an early PS3 game and they wanted Sixaxis in everything but damn it.

Whoever thought that shit was a good idea needs to be smacked a few times, not that it was hard, just annoying at times.
Click to expand...

You can turn off the six axis controls for those tho.
 
I'm still not sure if Alpha Protocol had one of the worst or best.

ap7dbuso.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urhnx2XrySQ

Looks totally overwhelming at first but after a while you get the hang of it

SevenToSix said:
Didn't really like how Assassin's Creed Unity did it. Especially after the 100th chest. It's just boring and tedious.
60fc4_Assassins-Creed-Unity-Lockpicking-Money-Tips.jpg
Click to expand...
That the game also doesn't have an adaptive tutorial and simply tells you every damn time that you're supposed to hit the blue bars doesn't help. You can even see the popup in the screenshot you posted.
 
Alien Isolation's hacking and lockpicking definitely appeals to me the most I must say. Yet to play it but it looks great in that regard.

Watch Dogs was by far the worst and least fun for me.

Shout out to Splinter Cell too, great stuff.

Kinyou said:
I'm still not sure if Alpha Protocol had one of the worst or best.
Click to expand...

Quite enjoyed it myself.
 
Alpha Protocol was OK, and so was Skyrim.

Still, personally I'd much rather have a simple skill check in a long RPG than a minigame which repeats dozens (or hundreds!) of times.
 
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