If you have ever wanted to join a massive community in the sake of defending the entirety of Earth, then welcome to Ingress. With its multi-million supported community, this game will literally keep you on your toes against aliens and against your enemies.
What is Ingress?
Ingress started out as a small conspiracy and it was brilliantly designed to lead the community to believe that the U.S. government was hiding some horrific secret and that secret was going to be unleashed on the world. After nearly half a year of teasing, the mobile application of Ingress came out on Google Play and people started choosing sides. If you thought the aliens were here to improve the human race then you would find yourself fighting the individuals who thought the aliens were here to destroy the human race. Since the beginning, it’s been a very close battle of half supporters on both sides.
The point of Ingress is to travel to locations and capture areas by fighting against the machines there. You team up with others in order to have an advantage in both numbers and technology. The game was the first of its kind, taking people outside and creating massive communities that built long-standing relationships within the factions.
Graphics and Visuals Score 2/5
The graphics are terrible, really. For being the first game of its kind, Ingress shows its age by being no more graphical than a new version of asteroids. You walk to an area and then play this new version of asteroids against other players. You aren’t really using the smartphone application for much else, but it has encouraged quite a number of individuals to go outside and help their allies. There are benefits to this game, but don’t expect to be impressed with the graphics.
Hardware Requirements Score 5/5
Any smartphone that has come out within the past five years should technically be good enough to play this game, provided that those smartphones were the medium or top of their time. Smartphones that are built cheap and don’t have a lot of power in them might not be able to play this game, but I have yet to find one that hasn’t been able to handle it since the graphics are so low grade. It is available for both iPhone and Android.
Fitness Score 2/5
This game can only be played by going to locations and playing with others outside. A good amount of the time you will be walking, running, or biking to your location, whichever you choose to do. There’s quite a lot of individuals who have lost weight this way and kept in shape because the travel distance to the location is usually quite big. In addition to fighting enemies, you also have to go to specific locations in order to collect team resources, which you will quickly run out of if you decide not to go. Ultimately, it’s another game that gets people off their couches, but that’s about all it does for your fitness or health.
Gameplay Score 3/5
The game is easily adaptable and readily made for nearly anyone with a phone, which is why Ingress is so popular. Not only this, but it was the first of its kind in augmented reality video games and brought forth the genre as we know it today. This game is free, but you can purchase things inside the game and the cost can rise to $100 depending on what you buy.
Overall Score 3/5
While being the first of its genre, Ingress is far from a complete gem. It has a large community and many dedicated players primarily because it was the first and you might find that a lot of individuals who play Ingress also play Pokemon Go due to similarities. This game is a good incentive to walk around and play when you have the free time, but it could be much better.
-Tommy Mertell
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