Ingress is a very different type of mobile game in that it doesn’t have angry or flappy birds, bad piggies, or even your novel retro 8-bit graphics – and yet it has managed to capture a modest but staunchly loyal fan and player base. Ingress is an augmented reality (AR) game where doing things in the real world – like travelling to places – gains you points and experience in the mobile game.
For a while there, Ingress was all the rage – coming out of closed beta and making the game available for all. The game hinges around the players’ control over an element called XM (Exotic Matter), and the game overlays itself on real-world maps. The goal is to put up “portals” around these XM – usually located in major landmarks and public locations. Two factions fight over these territories – players get to choose one – and portals increase your controlled territory.
The Android app – apart from showing the map overlay – lets players communicate with each other. As the developers have recently announced, a new element for Ingress will roll out soon, and it is called “Missions”. This new addition will feature like “side quests” which will be familiar to most RPG gamers. Players are asked to visit a series of places and complete game actions to gain in-game advantages. For this feature, Ingress is using the dataset from a hugely popular location-based app called “Field Trip” – so players will need to expect trips to locations which are connected to history, art, architecture, outdoor activities, shopping, dining, and the like.
Will this continue to boost Ingress’s playability and keep its players from being bored? Most likely. Gamers usually take to side-quests with a lot of zeal and bravado, so you can expect this feature to be nice and popular. Will it make you want to play the game though, if you have not been playing it? That really depends if you are convinced that this is your idea of fun. But if its, then this is all good, right?
SOURCE: Ingress
