Ingress

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Game Information
Release Date: 11/16/12
Developers: Niantic Labs
Publishers: Niantic Labs
Platforms: Android and IOS
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1-?
Rating: 7.9/10

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Synopsis

Ingress transforms the real world into the landscape for a global game of mystery, intrigue, and competition.
Our future is at stake. You must choose a side.
A mysterious energy has been unearthed by a team of scientists in Europe. The origin and purpose of this force is unknown, but some researchers believe it is influencing the way we think. We must control it or it will control us.
The Enlightened seek to embrace the power that this energy may bestow upon us. The Resistance struggle to defend, and protect whats left of our humanity.
Install Ingress and transform your world.
The World is the Game
Move through the real world using your Android device and the Ingress app to discover and tap sources of this mysterious energy. Acquire objects to aid in your quest, deploy tech to capture territory, and ally with other players to advance the cause of the Enlightened or the Resistance.
Strategy
The struggle is being played out globally. Track the progress of players around the world, plan your next steps, and communicate with others using an Intelligence map

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Plot

This story is kind of cool and gets your ready for the journey you are about to take. A company called the CERN Lab, which was a smaller company within the Higgs-Boson research, discovered and transformed a new substance called exotic matter. Exotic mater was believed to be ordered data. In large enough quantities this substance was able to completely control the human thought. Now you have the choice to either take over the world, or set it free from this new substance.

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Gameplay

This is one of the first augmented reality games that I have ever seen on the app marketplace and I really find this game really cool and unique. What's even better about this game is that it makes you go outside so that you can travel around your area in order to find new bases and destroy others. Right off the bat you have the choice to either be on the resistance or the enlightened team. The resistance team focuses more on controlling humanity and enslaving people with the Exotic Matter. The enlightened team seeks to use the power of the Exotic Matter for good use and to evolve mankind. Once you pick a side there is no going back so you will have to choose wisely. Once you choose a side you will go through a small tutorial explaining how things work and such. From there you will have to travel around your community finding portals to control in order to link them to control fields. You will most likely find portals near landmarks, statues, or any other place popular in your community. Claiming portals that have been taken by the other team is a lot harder for you to accomplish and can take a bit of time. Having control fields can allow you to obtain more points for your team and the more densely populated that area is within the control field the more points you get. What I like is how you can talk to many people from around the world in order to achieve your goals. It really makes it a fun and exciting game. With over seven million people playing you will have a blast meeting new people in your area and trying to control new bases. This game does take a lot of dedication, but it really does reward you when you cooperate with your nearby teammates to control and check out new land marks. You are able to upgrade your portals and also do missions to keep you occupied as well. Overall this game is something I have never seen been done before and I really like how this game turned out to be team based.

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Graphics

The graphics in this game are really nothing to get to excited about as this game is more based on gameplay. This game is played from a birds eye view and it uses 3d models to show where you are and where everything else is. Lights are spread across the map to show where portals are and to help guide you. When lights are more saturated in one area that lets you know that there is a portal nearby. There are only a handful of colors used in this game and it looks nice. Portals are very noticeable as they tend to shoot particles into the air and are surrounded by statuses and other objects. The user interface is in my opinion a bit confusing to look at when starting out, but once you keep playing you will get a better understanding of it. Animations look very smooth and nice. When two teams are fighting it out and controlling cities and towns it does look pretty cool. Overall, the graphics are simple enough to make this game more enjoyable to look at while playing.

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Controls

The controls in this game are very simple and are not hard to understand at all. In this game you basically tap the screen in order to do pretty much everything. By tapping the screen you can click on portals, modify portals, or even hack them. Pinching in and out makes you zoom in and out in order to view different things. And when tapping and then holding the screen on your marker it will allow you to do many things such as taking a picture of a new landmark to use as a portal, firing your xmp which is used for hacking portals, or to even just navigate to things in your area. Overall, the controls are very simple and make this game a lot more easy to play.

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Ratings (Personal)
Plot: 7/10
Game play: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Overall: 7.9/10