Thief: The Dark Project (Gold) – The time is ripe for a bit of burglary.

Hell, yeah! This game is dear to my heart, and I'm about to tell you why. The Thief games, arguably, have changed my life, with the most obvious product of my lurking in the shadows being this blog. As a matter of fact, the original Thief games were so good that the newest part of the series, simply called Thief, comparatively, was such a huge letdown that I felt the need to raise my voice on the internet, resulting in this blog.

Garrett is not the best fighter, but if a guard finds him,
it's sometimes the only option left. Awkward!

The Thief games are a part of my gaming experience and part of the reason why I feel confident in talking about atmosphere, quality and what makes a game fun to play in the first place. Recently, I restarted Thief: The Dark Project (Gold Edition; Looking Glass Studios, 1999) to find out whether it still holds up to today’s standards or if it’s just not as gripping and interesting as it was when I was a teenager. And what can I say? It holds up, easily. But what makes the game so compelling apart from ob(li)vious nostalgia?

 

A Unique Setting

Thief: The Dark Project introduces Garrett, the sarcastic master thief who prefers minding his own business over anything else but somehow gets involved with a conflict prophesied by his patrons, the Keepers, a silent society remaining in the shadows of The City. The game combines fantasy with horror and steampunk elements, set in a predominantly medieval world – you will encounter sword wielding guards in mansions with fully operative alarm systems. Originally, Thief: The Dark Project was supposed to become a Cold War zombie-fighting game under a different name, then it turned into Dark Camelot, a fantasy game with a conspiracy story around King Arthur, a mad Merlin and a suspicious Holy Grail, but as the developers weren’t able to come up with an interesting combat system, The Dark Project was born. 

Now back to the (final) story. Ever since a long, long time ago, there has been a conflict between the Hammerites and the Pagans. The Hammerites are a mixture between protestants and freemasons and worship the Master Builder, a deity whom they believe to have gifted fire and craftsmanship to man. In contrast, the Pagans worship nature and the Trickster, whose design is inspired by the Greek God Pan. And, of course, there is the City Watch, the police. Each part of the Thief series sees one faction rise to power, which Garrett must prevent. In this first installment, Garrett deals with the Pagans’ ambitions to seize power not only over The City, but over the entire world (oftentimes synonymous in the Thief games). Unfortunate Garrett, driven by his greed and unaware of his actions’ consequences, causes most of the trouble he later has to fix himself and pays dearly for it. 

Angry Hammerites. Option 1: Run. Option 2: Die.

The game starts off with a tutorial and some cutscenes with standstill pictures, which sounds worse than it is, because these cutscenes are beautifully drawn. They are narrated by protagonist Garrett himself in a Film Noir-inspired style. After some introductory outlines, the player is dropped into the level.

 

Sneaking and Listening

 

As the game is a stealth game (in fact, one of the very first of its kind), the audio is a much-needed medium for Garrett (the player) to know when to strike and when to remain in the shadows (a light gem in the HUD (head-up display) helps the player to see how well he is concealed by the shadows). The sound of a lock picked, a crate dropping, a guard coughing, or just Garrett eating an apple – they all feel immediately real and are among the most characteristic sounds in video game history. 

 

The player gets to listen to guards chatting about fat lords stuffing their bellies, spectacular bear fights and other gossip. As soon as these dialogues are finished, the guards return to their duty of patrolling the corridors of their lord’s mansion, and Garrett, a weak combatant, can sneak up on them and hit them over the head with his blackjack and steal valuables nearby. As he does so, he should hide the body, because otherwise the comparatively smart AI (Artificial Intelligence) of other guards will be alarmed as they find the body. Furthermore, the player also has to avoid loud surfaces such as metallic surfaces and marble floors, as a noisy Garrett will rouse suspicion and guards will search for him. The player, however, has many devices to deal with any given situation, such as moss arrows (create a soft surface to sneak on), water arrows (to extinguish torches and create darkness), broadhead arrows (for a quick kill), flash bombs (to blind the enemy or kill the undead), healing potions, etc.

This zombie used to be a priest.

After a quick break-in into the Manor of Lord Bafford following the tutorial, Garrett decides to visit an old “friend” who owes him money but unfortunately is imprisoned in a (un-) dead mine. The choice of the developers here is interesting: After having a relatively easy level with human-only enemies (apart from two very small spiders), they decide to drop the player into a level featuring not only zombies (slow but hard to kill) but also Hammerites, who are very strong and fast opponents. Upon replaying I found the level quite hard for a beginner, because there also are quite a lot of (loud) metallic surfaces. So not only has the player to adapt to the zombie situation but also, when he meets the much faster Hammerites, the ground situation. 

Some people have stopped here, as either the zombies were deemed to creepy or the hammerites to difficult to beat. From an educational point of view, the Cragscleft Prison certainly is not the ideal second-to-beginner’s mission, nor is the Bonehoard, the level afterwards. However, it cannot be stressed enough: This game is not about walking in and shooting everyone in sight and being massively overpowered. It is about sneaking your way through, and unfortunately, it just happens to be a 90’s game with some maze-like level designs. It does not give you quest markers or detailed maps or lazy quick-time events. This game is challenging, and it is okay to get lost once in a while – you will find your way, eventually (and there is no shame in consulting playthroughs on Youtube).

The Bonehoard - Many an adventurer's grave. Source.

Environmental Storytelling Done Right

 

Each level tells its own stories. Take for example the Bonehoard: Garrett is, once again, in dire need of money. Thus, he decides to rob the tombs of the rich, but some other thieves have been there before. The player might expect to find only little loot as he goes through the first few tombs and suddenly finds himself in a tunnel network. Some tombs are isolated and protected by traps; the player gets an idea of the abandoned nature of this haunted place. In the course of his journey he learns from the fate of his less fortunate friends through diary entries and the objects he finds on the ground: Blankets, a pickaxe, and the occasional corpse. Some parts of the level were flooded, but the absurdly wide confines of the catacombs allow for multiple floors and dangerous heights as well. Every once in a while, the player is rewarded for his troubles with precious gems located in the warmly lit rooms in the vicinity of the level’s grand prize, the Horn of Quintus, which releases ghostly, melancholic tunes. 

This is how you tell a story through something as simple as a map. Source.

After that, it’s back to a not-so-nobleman’s mansion. In its missions, the game shows quite a good variety, a healthy mixture of archaeology-like Tomb Raider levels with traps, monsters and undead and break-ins into people’s castles which are, of course, not any short of terrible secrets either. Each of the sprawling levels offers generous amounts of loot and readables revealing the background story piece by piece. 

 
Another level that is worth mentioning is The Sword. No videogame in recent years has even come close to the amount of madness showcased in the compounds of Constantine’s private mansion, but the horror is much subtler than you might expect. In contrast to the marvellously creepy Haunted Cathedral, this place is less concerned with classical gothic horror, but instead relies on surreal effects and a perfect, unsettling soundtrack. It is one of the reasons why videogames should be considered a form of art. 

Not without Flaws

 
The levels of Thief: The Dark Project already work quite well on their own, and the Gold-Edition levels may add more to explore, but they are exhaustive in their size. The Thieves’ Guild is easily the worst level and some players argue that the game would be better off without its seemingly unending sewer tunnels. The Mage Towers, while interesting, are also of excessive size. The Opera House, in my opinion, is by far the best of the 3 additions, but overall, the Gold Edition's worth lies predominantly in fixes and improvements for the base game.

 

Over the years, not only the controversial Gold Edition, but The Dark Project itself has received lots of criticism. Many people pointed out that the developers should have made the game even “sneakier” and less like Tomb Raider, which I agree with to some extent. However, I would not go as far as to banish the horror levels from the game as some have suggested – as I explained, they have their very own right to exist and without its supernatural inhabitants, the Thief  universe would be incomplete. However, a thing that I could perfectly live without are Burricks. Burricks are man-sized lizards that in some cases cannot be avoided (although, as I recently found out, can be blackjacked!). They have way too many hitpoints and are silly and can be found in my least favorite level, The Lost City, which is a lava-fuelled mess.

Good luck surviving this place. Source.

A True Classic

 

Nevertheless, Thief: The Dark Project (Gold Edition) remains one of the best games of all time – for the following reasons: The gameplay is versatile (you can ambush people with mines, kill them with your sword, blackjack them and hide their bodies or ignore them altogether), the story is gripping (and shall not be spoiled any further!), the setting is sinister and mature, and the protagonist is most lovably sarcastic. Can you ask for more? You certainly can! – And my review of Thief II: The Metal Age shall follow soon. But for now, I will leave you with this treasure. Enjoy!

Further reading/watching:

Trailer. 
Before the Dark Project, there was Dark Camelot.  
Thief vs. AAA Gaming 

Kingsman - Manners Maketh Man

Kingsman: The Secret Service, released in 2014, is possibly best described as a mix between Kill Bill and Austin Powers, but there is just no sufficient answer to the question what this movie actually is. First and foremost, it is a comic adaptation and a James Bond parody (directed by Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn). However, it is not as goofy as most parodies in recent years, and not really subtle either, but less quirky. In contrast to a James Bond movie, not everyone here is a gentleman, but everyone certainly tries to be. And in the middle of it all, you will find yourself inside a kind-of zombie apocalypse. 

Harry "Galahad" Hart (Colin Firth) doesn't like having his conversation interrupted. Pub: Very Bri'ish. Source.

 

The movie starts off with a young man (played by Taron Egerton) from a troubled family who gets recruited by a mysterious organization directly alleged to the British Crown. He, the proletarian underdog among his highly educated peers, has to undergo a brutal training somewhat reminiscent of the Hunger Games, but – spoiler alert! – fails. In the meantime, a criminal mastermind – Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) – prepares everything to secure the success of his evil plan. Jackson portrays an interesting mixture of apple-generation entrepreneur and tacky hip hopper: A distinctly American villain. His style mirrors our street-smart hero's origins and bourgeois aspirations at the same time. 

 

His plan (which won't be spoiled here) seems more sophisticated than most other evil plans, because it has a more profound vision overall (he has a bit of an Agent Smith vibe going on). In fact, it might make you think, and although Valentine’s designs are still, well, pretty evil, his motivation is not purely selfish. The ruthless temptress at his side (Soufia Boutella) plays a perfect counterpart to Valentine who, highly ironically, cannot stand watching physical violence. 

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton) and evil genius Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) meet for the first time. Source.

The movie is fast paced, has just the right amount of humour and comes up with a lot of fresh ideas (the narration is rather conventional, however) and enjoyable mind-blowing plot twists. Otherwise, it is a rather standard action movie coming with a neglectable number of minor logical flaws. Kingsman is, nevertheless, among the best the genre has to offer and certainly knows how to entertain. Highly recommended.

The Left Hand of Darkness – Playing Shifgrethor

The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel written by Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in 1969 (this review is based on the 2010 edition). But it is not a cyborg-war-in-the-matrix kind of science fiction. Technology only plays a minor role. 

 

The most prominent aspect of this novel certainly is the gender topic: Human ethnologist Genly Ai is sent to the planet Winter to study the aliens there, who are basically hermaphroditic humans with a mating cycle called kemmer, which allows them to become male or female and mate heterosexually. The rest of the time, the Gethenians, as they are called, remain asexual. Also, their planet is mostly covered in snow and ice and there are no other mammals and technology is comparatively underdeveloped, they don’t have any spaceships unlike their visitor Ai.

The novel starts right in medias res, and first, you will find it difficult to find your way in this strange setting You are witnessing a royal procedure in the kingdom of Karhide. Later, you will learn that you read from two perspectives: Some chapters are narrated by Ai, the human whom the Gethenians regard as a “pervert” for being a male-only and thus in constant kemmer. Our “pervert”, however, doesn’t consider reproducing. Aprt from his scientific studies, his goal is to convince his Gethenian contacts to join the intergalactic trade union. Other passages are narrated by Estraven, the only Gethenian to offer Ai a helping hand (and thus putting himself in danger).

 

The Left Hand of Darkness (2010, Ace Science Fiction).

Unfortunately for Ai, most of the Gethenians are terribly ignorant and refuse to believe that he has come from a different planet. They just regard him as a weirdo, and even their leaders don’t recognize the opportunity to profit from an alliance with his people. In order to avoid further tensions, he withholds the fact that there is another spaceship in the orbit with more of his kind on board.

 

This promptly backfires as both Karhide, the oppressive kingdom and Orgoreyn, the equally oppressive socialist state, send him away, seeing only a loner whose sheer existence means potential trouble:

’Fear you?’ said the king, turning his shadow-scarred face, grinning, speaking loud and high. ‘But I do fear you, Envoy. I fear those who sent you. I fear liars, and I fear tricksters, and worst I fear the bitter truth. And so I rule my country well. Because only fear rules men. Nothing else lasts long enough. You are what you say you are, yet you’re a joke, a hoax. […] Now take your traps and tricks and go, there’s no more needs saying.’ (42).

On a long, long journey that is strenuous both for the narrators and the reader, Ai and Estraven form a deep friendship as both outcasts are exposed to extreme weather conditions – freezing tears included. The reader learns a lot of folklore and backstories in between their narration. 

The Left Hand of Darkness is a novel mostly worth reading for its musings on the nature of man and alien. When Ai reflects on the nature of the Gethenians, he likens them to mammals in their inability to make war. Karhide and Orgoreyn are in a Cold War – literally, as the icy weather is more threatening than their puny disputes. Later on, however, an armed conflict between Karhide and Orgoreyn seems inevitable – all signs point to disaster as the malintent Tibe, cousin of the king of Karhide wants to invade a disputed piece of land. He starts utilizing the radio for his nationalist propaganda speeches, reminiscent of the use of the Volksempfänger in Nazi Germany. 

The style is, fittingly, quite blunt and straightforward, and both Ai’s and Estraven’s reports are somewhat similar as they are both outcasts. They, especially Estraven, use a lot of strange sounding names, evoking a feeling of otherness on this weird planet in the reader,  the most prominent probably being shifgrethor. Shifgrethor is something that can be “played”, and it basically is a form of courteous conversation but at the same time a way of challenging the conversationalist’s pride, a kind of rhetorical competition.

 

The Left Hand of Darkness is an interesting novel, with a lot of thought-provoking ideas, although it certainly has some tediously stretched moments, especially the final journey at the end of the book, but otherwise, it has aged fairly well. Le Guin’s style of writing is very plain and direct, which prevents the story from shifting into a fantastic fairy tale in spite of the absence of futuristic technology in a world (still) dominated by the forces of nature.

Total War: Warhammer – I will not stand idle!

Total War: Warhammer is the first game of the Total War series I’ve ever played and the first one with a non-historical setting in general. I can honestly say: It was a wholly new, mind-blowing experience. You see, I have played strategy games before. Among those are Age of Empires 1-3, Starcraft 1 and 2 and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War – games I loved and cherished. But the sheer depth AND spectacle (usually it's one or the other) will keep my fascinated for a long time to come.

Preparing for War

 

First, you start out innocently enough on a turn-based campaing map. There are buildiungs to build, heroes to recruit (they can obstruct enemy movement or assassinate characters), and armies to move, represented by the general's avatar. Then there is the diplomacy screen, where you can find trading partners, declare war, or bribe your way into peace and eventually join forces to overcome a common foe. Another feature that you should definitely use is the tech tree, where you can improve your civilization both economically and in battle.

Speaking of battles: They are enoromous, involving hundreds of brave soldiers and fierce creatures, and quest battles even come with a cinematic intro. The scale is truly epic, and using different kinds of terrain adds a lot of depth that other strategy games are missing. The cornucopia of tactics includes, but is not limited to: Ambushing enemy infantry from a forest, nosediving dragons into artillery crews, or harassing zombies with mounted gunmen on an open field. All this is fairly easy to learn, but hard to master, and ensures long-lasting fun.

 

Greenskins on Boars. Source.

The Factions: The Good, the Evil, and the In-Between

 

Total War: Warhammer comes with 5 factions: The Empire, the Dwarves, Greenskins, Vampire Counts and Chaos Warriors. The Empire, most similar to the armies playable in historical Total War games, not only command your usual sword'n'board types of infantry, but spice it up a little with wizards, Demigryph Knights and a Steam Tank, which is absolutely lethal at any given distance. They are lead by a bloke called Karl Franz, who has about the same character complexity as Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator. 

The Dwarves are stout little soldiers who don’t use cavalry or sorcery but have some fatal artillery and Gyrocopters armed with bombs. They are easy to start out with, but hard to master. Their eternal rivals, the Greenskins, feature brutish Orcs and Goblins riding giant spiders; also, they have to fight almost constantly, otherwise they start killing each other. The Vampire Counts use necromancers to summon zombies and the like but also throw in some feral night creatures: Bats, Dire Wolves and mutated vampires (Vargheists). As you can imagine, they are not hugely popular with the other factions, and have a hard time approaching others diplomatically. 

Finally, there are the satanic Chaos Warriors, who bring the apocalypse upon the land (the End Times) and are the hardest to play, because they are nomadic and are, hardly surprisingly, even less popular than the Undead. Also, you have to buy a "day-one" DLC to unlock their campaign, which had fans run amok in the forums, as the forces of Chaos are a crucial part of Warhammer and shouldn't have come with an extra price tag attached. Speaking of DLCs: The Bretonnians, a human race that focuses on medieval cavalry, have been announced to be featured in a free DLC in the near future and are already playable in multiplayer.

Steam Tanks are Love. Steam Tanks are Life. Source.

As you can tell by now, both in and off the battlefield each race acts differently, which makes the campaign very interesting, even if you find yourself on the same (admittedly huge) campaign map each time you play. However, once your soldiers and monsters – be they pegasus knights, or giants – are on the battlefield, they all look pretty, pretty small. It is only later that, as you feel more confident, you will find time to sit back or zoom in and watch beautifully animated toy soldiers bash each others’ heads in, a very enjoyable spectacle. 

 

Public Disorder

Although fighting is – as the title suggests – one of the most important things in Total War: Warhammer, there are many other concerns that may not be neglected, and less important fights can be auto-resolved by the computer. An issue I stumbled upon a few times is “public order”, particularly important with the Empire faction. If your citizens are not happy, they will start marching on your cities, lead by traitors. But because of how distracted I was with all the other stuff to worry about – diplomacy (10+ human factions alone), income, army size, army movements (limited per round), buildings, technology, hero skills – I initially didn't understand how to gain favour with the common folk.

 

I knew that it was a clever thing to deploy one’s general in a troubled city – enforcing law and order – but that wasn’t enough. When I reduced taxes (much as in real life, Warhammer citizens love that), things got out of hand because now I was facing bankruptcy. So I went online and found out: You can build a tavern and people will chill (also, churches help in reducing vampiric or chaotic corruption). Thus, micromanagement becomes important. If you cram your city with military facilities, there won't be enough space for economy and recreation (that is, until the city grows another level, which takes a loooong time). For beginners it is thus advisable to start out with a tavern and a harbour if possible (which generates money) before fully committing to building an army. 

A battle between Vampire Counts and the Empire - Things are about to get messy. Source.

My experience as a newcomer is: Total War: Warhammer is not a game that you will fully comprehend within 15 minutes. But if you are willing to slowly discover the game’s core mechanics, you will be rewarded with plenty of hours full of fun. The advisor does a good job of teaching you the basics, but nevertheless would it be helpful if the game didn’t spam you with events where you have to make tons of decisions at once.

 

For instance, the game would have been much easier to learn if diplomacy would have started in round 25 instead of around 5. But after you have made a mistake or two (NEVER join a war if you’re not 100% ready), you will be able to enjoy the game’s complexity. In addition to the single player, Total War: Warhammer features coop campaigns as well as custom battles between players and/or against the AI.

 

A Feast for Warhammer Fans

 

Having such an excellent strategy game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe really is a blessing to me. As someone who has no time to go to tabletop tournaments, I deeply enjoy collecting and painting Games Workshop’s miniatures, but used to prefer Warhammer 40,000, as Relic Entertainment's Dawn of War had offered me a videogame experience along with the miniatures.

 

It is probably partly due to this lack of onscreen representation that Warhammer Fantasy became less popular overall, prompting Games Workshop to do a makeover called Age of Sigmar, which resulted in redefining and in some cases outright cancelling entire model lines. Just imagine the disappointment of Total War-inspired newcomers when they learn that the Bretonnians they know and love from the videogame simply don’t exist as miniatures anymore.

The campaign map. Source.

However, I am unwilling to end this review on a negative note, particularly so since Games Workshop’s missteps are not the game’s fault. Total War: Warhammer’s tactical battles offer tons of fun and authentically represent the tabletop universe. The Total-War layer on top of it perfectly fits the setting, and events that spontaneously pop up add to the experience, regardless of whether Averland declares war on Talabecland, the Winds of Magic change direction or the gods get angry. The game provides a lot of variety and winning battles and progressing in the storyline is very satisfactory, making Total War: Warhammer my top game recommendation for this summer, and probably my personal game of the year.

Neuromancer – Ein Spielplatz für Irre

Wer wissen will, was genau Cyberpunk sein soll, der sollte sich William Gibsons Klassiker Neuromancer von 1984 vornehmen. Gibson soll die Meinung vertreten haben, „Japan ist einfach Cyberpunk“, und so erscheint es nur folgerichtig, dass die Handlung seines wohl bekanntesten Werks in Japan beginnt. Wer sich in die Welt des ehemaligen Cyber-Cowboys Case hineinbegibt, wird aber bald feststellen, dass es zwar hier sehr bunt, aber auch verdammt brutal zugeht. Die Straßen sind so rau wie die Dialoge zwischen den einzelnen Charakteren, und der Leser wird bald das Gefühl haben, permanent den Lauf einer Knarre in den Nacken gedrückt zu bekommen: "Seine vom Oktagon ausgelöste künstliche Tapferkeit bröckelte vollends ab. Er schob die Kobra in den Schaft und flitzte zum Fenster, blind vor Angst, mit kreischenden Nerven." (Seite 49).

Case selbst ist ein Wrack. Seine ehemaligen Auftraggeber, für die er eine Weile lang als Hacker gearbeitet und stolze Summen erbeutet hat, erwischten ihn eines Tages dabei, wie er den eigenen Anteil großzügig aufrundete und bestraften ihn dafür, indem sie sein Nervensystem derart schädigten, dass an eine Fortsetzung seiner Karriere als Hacker nicht mehr zu denken ist. 

Die Trilogie, erschienen bei Heyne. Heute ist Teil 1 dran - Neuromancer.

Nun erbeutet er Kleinstbeträge, ist mit einer Prostituierten verbandelt und hat auch schon drei Menschen auf dem Gewissen – alles nur, um selbst am Leben zu bleiben in einer Welt, die der menschlichen Existenz, insbesondere der fleischlichen, feindlicher nicht sein könnte. Gibson legt dabei eine ganz besondere Liebe fürs Detail an den Tag, egal ob es um den Wirt in Cases Lieblingsspelunke geht, dessen Arm halb fleischlich, halb metallische Kralle ist, oder um eine minutiöse Beschreibung einer Handfeuerwaffe: „Shins Pistole war eine fünfzig Jahre alte vietnamesische Imitation eines südamerikanischen Nachbaus einer Walther PKK Double-action. Sie hatte einen schwergängigen Abzug und war für 22er Gewehrmunition umgerüstet. Case wären Bleiazid-Explosivgeschosse lieber gewesen als die einfachen chinesischen Hohlspitzpatronen, die Shin ihm verkauft hatte. […]“ (Seite 50). 

Tatsächlich ist Gibsons Vision, die sich zuweilen in solch ausufernden Beschreibungen zu verrennen Gefahr läuft, in diversen Bereichen des menschlichen Lebens erstaunlich hellseherisch. Nicht nur einem selbstfahrenden Mercedes begegnet der Leser, sondern auch dem Organhandel im bereits erwähnten Japan und geklonten Menschen im Weltraum, diverse Dinge, die heute Tatsache sind, möglich oder in naher Zukunft machbar erscheinen.  

Case führt sein Abenteuer weit um den Globus und tief in die Vergangenheit seiner Mitstreiter. Doch er begibt sich keinesfalls freiwillig auf seine Reise; dahinter steckt Armitage, ein stumpfsinniger Militär, der einmal Corto hieß, aber auch er wird (nun zum zweiten Mal in seinem Leben) zum Spielball größerer Mächte. Case bekommt seine Hacker-Fähigkeiten zurück, aber ein Gift, das sich langsam in seinen Körper entlädt und dessen Beseitigung nur sein Auftraggeber beherrscht, bindet ihn an Armitage, für den er – an der Seite der verführerischen Kopfgeldjägerin Molly – eine waghalsige Mission ausführt.

Während Case sich durch Datencluster hackt, ist Molly für das Grobe zuständig und nimmt den Kampf mit Sicherheitsdiensten und anderen Hindernissen auf. Der Roman verhandelt dabei nicht nur Entwürfe einer dystopischen Zukunft und Themen wie Verrat und Liebe, sondern auch Leben, Tod und Bewusstsein in Zeiten eines gnadenlosen, globalisierten Raubtierkapitalismus. Exzentrische und psychotische Charaktere (hier sind vor allem Julie und Riviera zu nennen) sorgen für jede Menge Spannung und scheinen durchaus nicht fehl am Platze, denn diese Zukunftsvision ist ein Spielplatz für Irre.

Der Roman ist mit seiner Fülle an Details und seinen zuweilen verwirrenden Wechseln zwischen virtueller und physischer Realität („Er steckte aus“ […] „Er steckte ein.“) durchaus kein Sonntagsspaziergang für Gelegenheitsleser, doch macht er solche Mängel durch Spannung und Tiefgang wett. Dabei ist die deutsche Version (Heyne 2002, vierte Auflage) noch erstaunlich lesbar geblieben, doch es begegnen einem immer wieder kleinere ("Bacon", Seite 81) und größere („Negermädchen“, Seite 109) Übersetzungspatzer. 

Der erste Teil von Gibsons Zukunftsvision ist surreal, finster und gesellschaftskritisch, und die Lektüre wert.