So with all the hype recently I downloaded Pokemon Go – mainly because some of my friends were playing it and I was asked to do some investigation into it, after playing a while and then doing some research online the wiki led me to learn about a game called Ingress which pre-dated Pokemon Go. Ingress was made by the same company – and that's Niantic – and that's what led me down this rabbit hole...
Immediately reading the
wiki and the talk of aliens had me intrigued, I researched a little more and a
few days later after finishing my Pokemon project (I got bored with Pokemon Go
in a week or so) I decided to download the Ingress app to see what it’s all
about. Straight away I thought hmmm this is definitely interesting and I
wondered why had I never heard about it before, but thinking back to 2012 I
think I did but at the time had a shit mobile phone with no data so wouldn’t
have given it a second thought.
Anyway yes, Ingress,
what’s it about…
In 2012 it was
discovered that Exotic Matter (or XM as it’s called) had flooded the world,
with portals of energy and exotic matter mainly appearing at historical
landmarks and places of interest. All this stems from the Shapers, an alien
race which is influencing the earth…dah dah dahhhhhhh. On the discovery of XM and
people learning of the existence of the Shapers, humans divided into two
factions…well kind of three because you have normals…ok not normal but the
generic population who don’t play.
So yes the factions…there
are the Enlightened which a pro-alien and believe that the Shapers and the XM energy
will bring about a great positive change for humanity and help it reach its
potential and evolution. Then there are the Resistance, those who believe the
energy and aliens are not quite what they seem and basically think they’re out
to screw us over and do what aliens do in most movies – dominate the earth.
So the concept is these
two groups or teams are trying to capture as many portals at the landmarks all
over the globe, the more portals captured, linked (you can link them together)
and control fields (basically if you link portals in triangles which creates
fields) established does good things for your faction. The more area your team controls
reflects how many people (or as they are known Mind Units) you are protecting
or swayed to your cause. Then the fun part beings which is that enemy Agents will
attack your portals, take down your links and control fields and try to capture
them and set up their own…so it’s basically a secret battle for power that’s
happening in the real and virtual world.
In the game you need
items to capture locations, protect them and of course attack enemy portals,
you do this by hacking any portals you come across, so the game involves lots
of moving, walking, cycling, driving which help keeps you active as well as to
be able to build up your stores and help your team.
As this is an MMO game
you do have links to your team or faction, so no doubt soon after tinkering with
the game your faction will send you a message to join their chat. I highly
recommend this, so far everyone I’ve spoken to online has been lovely, they’ve
been very welcoming and helpful, which is great! It’s always good to play with
a good community.
I haven’t however come
across any enemy Agents IRL yet – I’ve read some things online that it can be
an intense experience but others say it’s just all for the fun of it. I have to
admit now at locations when I’m playing I’m staying alert and looking around to
see if I can figure out if anyone else there is an Agent (or if they’re people just
playing Pokemon Go – as it was developed by the same company it uses the same
locations).
Anyway yes, a lot of the
game is played solo in the real world but the teams do meet up locally and at
larger scale social and sponsored Anomaly events. I have yet to be able to
attend any of these but I hope to get to do so at some point in the future, as
it’s always good to meet other gamers. I can understand not everyone would want
to but yeah it gives some good real life interaction.
So that’s the concept of
the game, man that was long, sorry I got a tad carried away there.
Oh but I should mention
the app was released on Android in 2012 and then released on iOS in 2014 so you
can get out there and play if you have a mobile device – but make sure you have
enough data allowance though as its required!
So now I think it’s
about time to note a few things about the app….
When I first opened the app
I thought it was quite dark and maybe a little dull looking, well compared to
Pokemon Go which is bright and colourful and kiddy. This game however is mainly
black and white, with the portals indicated in either blue (Resistance) or
green (Enlightened) or white (neutral). As I’m a pretty dark individual I
settled into its design very quickly as I don’t really like things too cartoony
or bright – they hurt my eyes.
The app itself is easy
to navigate and use, you just click on the portals and then select things from
a menu that pops up, you can also look at other Agents details if they have
portals, find missions to do in your local area, communicate on various in-game
chats and check your own Agent status. It’s pretty cool in that it notifies you
with any alerts such as when you’re under attack, things that you are doing,
achievements/badges gained or what others are doing in the local area.
Yeah in all the app is
pretty good and stable – it’s not crashed or glitched out once since I started
playing (well apart from losing signal and me screaming nooooooo at it – but
that’s my phone and not the game). I’ve adjusted to the look of it and got used
to it now and am pretty happy with how it runs and plays. As I’ve said it’s
pretty simple looking but it does what it needs to and doesn’t overwhelm you
when you’re on the go.
One thing to probably
note is it does drain your battery within a couple of hours – as you’ll need
your location enabled and then the app to play, so make sure you have enough
charge for emergencies, a spare battery pack or your charger handy.
So that’s a bit about
the app…now onto my thoughts on the game and my experience so far…
Well at first I was like
this is cooler than Pokemon Go – you know me anything with aliens automatically
sparks my interest. Yeah so I picked my faction and started to wander about – I
had an idea of some of the locations where I’d been doing the Pokemon stuff. I
wandered to the nearest portal and it was an enemy portal. At this point I
didn’t really have a clue what I was doing so I hacked it and got some stuff
and it bit back. Then I got paranoid – was I supposed to do that, omg what next
– was someone going to jump out the hedge at me or was my phone going to
explode. Yes there is a tutorial but I didn’t do it right away – come on that
involves instructions lol and you know me I’m a yeah I’ll just wing it kind of
person. Anyway that evening whilst I was stuck at a location I watched some
helpful guidance on Youtube which set me up nicely.
After that and with an
idea I set out again the next day, hacked some portals and then captured my
first portal which was nice…it was very nice. I was a bit excited but not
really that fussed still. I then returned to the first portal I came across
that bit back and saw there was only one resonator and it only had a little
power so attacked it and destroyed it and took the portal for my faction *evil
laugh*. I then went on and hacked and captured some more portals in the area – and
at this point I admit I was starting to get a little engrossed.
I then got attacked! Omg
I thought – I’m getting attacked! My portal! So I snuck out cautiously to go
and investigate what was going on. I was careful after reading some stuff
online which made me very paranoid that I might get beaten up and have my phone
stolen (I don’t think this would actually happen but better to be safe than
sorry). I decided at this point to only attack other portals when I was with other
people or able to perform hit and run tactics. Anyway it looked pretty safe so
I recharged my resonators and then snuck back into the night.
So as time went on I
started playing more and getting more hooked, looking out for and hacking any
portals I came across. When visiting different places turning the game on to see
if there were any portals in the area to hack, claim or attack. Paying
attention to people and wondering if they were Agents…and of course recruiting
more Agents and wandering around playing with them.
…can you see a pattern
forming here???...
Yep I admit it I’ve
found myself pretty much addicted to the game! I never thought a mobile game
would ever capture me as much as this – usually I’ll just play them casually
for a bit and then get bored or not be too fussed as I’d rather play a PC or
console game – but this game is great! It’s got to the point now where I’ve found
myself wanting to check on my portals all the time, arranging different routes
to walk to and from locations so I can pick up portals on the way. My Elder God
I actually want to go outside and explore!!!!!!
Yep I’m addicted! I
admit it! Send help!
So yeah I think that
covers it and it’s about all that needs to be said right now so short and in
closing – it’s most definitely an addictive game and is really fun to play. I’m
very much enjoying my time in Ingress and I can see me sticking at it for quite
a long while. I would highly recommend this app to everyone – go on give it a
try! Do it! Do it! DO IT!!!!!
…man that was a really
long review – you’d think I must really love this game or something haha haha
hahahahaha – right that’s it, time to go and visit some portals! J
Catch you later!
