App Review: Ingress
Arts & Entertainment

App Review: Ingress

download (2)By Kayla Perkins—If you are looking for an app that interacts with the world around you, Ingress is the app for you. Ingress is a GPS-based multiplayer online augmented reality game created by Google.

By interacting with the world around you, this game keeps the player moving and thinking. With an intricate plotline, and a unique gameplay, it is a game anyone can enjoy. This app is available for Android and Apple.

Ingress is a competitive real time game that involves traveling to various real life locations in order to play. Upon starting the app, it asks if you would like to join the “Resistance” or the “Enlightenment” faction. It’s a personal choice preference but it will determine how users play the game.

Users must travel to various “portals,” such as public art displays, landmarks, monuments, even college campuses. Portals are blue, green, or grey, depending on if they are claimed, and by who. The “scanner” on the app will show a map of nearby portals users can travel to.

Once in the proximity of the portal, players can either claim it as their own using a “resonator,” or attempt to steal it from someone by attacking. Up to eight resonators may be placed on a landmark. Players can also “hack” landmarks to get rewards, and add defenses as needed. Once players claim multiple landmarks, they can connect them, therefore increasing their defenses. The goal is to have the faction with the highest score.

The app has well over one million downloads, and people of all ages play it. Ingress is very popular in bigger cities, and more so on big college campuses. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a huge fan of the game, with many of its students playing regularly. Morningside College still lacks a strong number of players.

Personally, I joined the Resistance faction, and explored campus with some friends to claim some landmarks. Places like Lewis Hall and the fountain are a couple examples of places that can be claimed. I thought it was fun, but there is not a lot of competition on campus. In fact, many of the portals on Morningside’s campus at the time were not claimed.

I think the game could be much more enjoyable with more players. The plot is very intricate, and can be somewhat confusing if you aren’t careful. I have to say, though, that the plot is definitely original. Ingress is unlike anything I’ve seen before, where it keeps track of where you are, and reacts based on your location. I have to say I give this app an 8.5 out of 10. There are just not enough players on campus yet, so it’s hard to play the game competitively.

January 29, 2015

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