Exploit (video game)
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''Exploit'' is a
Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...
browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on c ...
by
Gregory Weir Gregory Avery-Weir is an American game designer and writer, best known for the 2009 browser game '' The Majesty of Colors''. Avery-Weir lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Early life and education Avery-Weir received little formal ...
. It was published in December 2008.Release date: 2009-03-04
/ref> As of October 2011, Exploit has been played over 700,000 times.


Gameplay

Each level consists of a rectangular grid with different elements (nodes) in some of the squares. The player controls orange "ports" which shoot "packets" into the grid. The different elements react to the packets in different ways. The goal is to hit one of the green "Root Nodes" in each level, though most levels have got only one Root Node. The other elements are red "Blocker Nodes", purple "Divider Nodes", yellow "Buffer Nodes", blue "Directory Nodes", cyan "Latch Nodes", white "Port Knock Keys" and lines connecting Buffer Nodes to Blocker Nodes. In each chapter, you can use one Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS). If a chapter is too difficult, the DDOS lets you skip this level. Apart from the story mode, there is a tutorial, a challenge mode, and a puzzle editor. Users can publish levels made with the editor. The main game (story mode) consists of three chapters, with over 50 levels. Between the levels, you get e-mails, by a character named "sk3tch" and other sources. The events of the story are set to the fictive dictatorship "Locha", Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina (Gregory Weirs hometown).


Plot

The main character, a computer security
cracker Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films ...
, get an e-mail from one of his friends using the nickname "sk3tch". He is asked to break into the computer network of the nation Locha, a fictive military junta with a resemblance to
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, as a test for his hacking skills. While drilling deeper into Locha's firewalls, the player discovers that a famous Lochan blogger and political activist, Li Yolei, has been recently arrested and awaits execution for "trahison and Western propaganda." Using their skills, sk3tch and the player manage to free him and his cellmate Gadao Koi, another inmate in death row for suspected terrorism, and to have them board a plane to Los Angeles; but as soon as they land in American soil, the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
arrest and send them to the Camp Zulu detention camp on one of the
Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
(which opened after the closure of Guantanamo Bay), suspecting them to be terrorists as the relation between Locha and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
becomes sour. The player manages to free the two prisoners and send them to sk3tch's house by bus, only to find that only Yolei arrived. After some research, sk3tch discovers that Gadao was a Lochan spy, who used Li's evasion to get into America for an unknown purpose. It is later found that his goal is to commit a terrorist attack on the
headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
of Ameribank, a multinational bank located in
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
, by using thermite bombs. Gadao also hacked the central server of Charlotte's fire and emergency department to delay any help, to maximize the damage and casualties of the attack. While sk3tch warns the FBI, the player manages to fix the fire department system, warn security about Gadao (who is already in the building, disguised as a delivery boy) and traps him in an elevator when cornered by the FBI and security. Gadao accidentally kills himself by using thermite to break through the elevator, which catches fire and burns him to death. After finding documents about the true goal of Gadao, the US decides to grant American citizenship to Li, and when the UN decides of new sanctions against Locha, sk3tch and the player celebrate their victory by discussing new targets to hack for the good cause.


Reception

Kyle Moore of Jay is Games stated "...this is going to be a good year for both Weir and all of us who enjoy great games." Michael Rose of IndieGames.com stated ''Exploit'' is "...a great little game..." which initially appears complicated, but leaves the player feeling "...rather clever from figuring it out." Tom Fronczak of
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...
praised ''Exploit'' as "...one hell of a fulfilling flash game", describing the game's music as "decent" and highlighting the option for players to create their own levels. Despite this he stated that the style of game has been seen before, but that the plot sets it apart since it contains internet-derived humor while maintaining focus on "...the serious topic of net censorship."


References

{{reflist


External links


Exploit
a
Mobygames
2008 video games Hacking video games Flash games Freeware games Video games developed in the United States Art games