Ingenious – PC – Review

Ingenious is
a tile-placing strategy board game from Reiner Knizia
that has garnered good reviews in gaming circles. Now, it’s been released as a
PC game. Players can play with up to four players or play computer opponents
in hotseat play, or play others online.

The premise
is simple: place colored hexagonal chips in sets of two in the board so they
match previously placed chips. Points are awarded for each chip in the row,
excluding the chips just placed. The game is over when there are no more
spaces for chips. The winner is the one with the most points in the lowest
scored color.

The board is
attractive and has brightly colored chips of stars, circles and other shapes.
The music choices vary by time era, but there’s not much difference between
the selections, it’s all very “techno” sounding. The interface is easy to use
and understand. There is also a tutorial that will walk players through the
rules, which is nice.

The software
presentation is the same as the board game, but for some reason, just doesn’t
translate that well. It’s not as much fun as playing the actual board game,
even if everyone is around the computer.  It’s more fun if everyone is huddled
around the table. I enjoy casual games and like playing them on the computer
and also enjoy playing board games with my family. It’s hard to say why this
game isn’t as much fun on the computer as games like
Tropix or Cake Mania, but it’s not. Maybe it’s the slowness of pace, or
the unexciting music. Either way, while this is a faithful and well-designed
rendition of the board game, I’m going to pick the board game over the
software version every time.

Review Scoring Details for Ingenious

Gameplay: 6.0
While this game
is well-designed and very faithful to the original board
game, it’s just not all that fun on the PC. And, as that is the point
of playing a game on the PC, that means the
gameplay value is somewhat low.

Graphics: 7.0

The
graphics are nice and brightly colored.

Sound: 6.0

The
music is boring and uninspired.

Difficulty: Medium
The difficulty is
a medium range, and really depends on the opponent’s skill, whether live or
Memorex. The computer AI appears to be of a medium difficulty.

Concept: 6.0

The
concept is nothing new, but the presentation is well-presented.

Multiplayer: 7.0

Overall: 6.5

The
game is designed well and is wholly representative of the board game, but the
fun factor is missing. For just a few more dollars, players can play the real
thing around the table and have more fun.