iFactor Reviews

After starting the game I quickly realised that there is no single-player mode, despite the game being included in the single-player category. At release the game was broken for all players, because no files would download. It took three days for the game to get fixed, despite multiple discussion topics and a prominent review describing the problem. Maybe there is a good game here somewhere, but the terrible support and misleading description have ruined it for me.

iFactor is a two-player multiplication-based strategy game, where you're given a 6x6 grid of numbers that can be created by the multiples of 1-9. The goal of the game is to take control of numbers on that grid by multiplying two numbers from 1-9 together to form the number you want to take control, and you win when you form a contiguous line of four numbers that you control. The gameplay loop is formed by the way you choose what numbers to multiply - you can only change one of the numbers used in the other player's previous turn. For example, if they did 5x6 to take control of thirty, you have to change either the 5 or the 6 - you can not change both. This adds an interesting level of strategy to the game, as you need to keep in mind that even though a move may be immediately good for you, it could also open up an option for your opponent to win that otherwise would not have existed. Broadly speaking, for a dollar, it's an interesting puzzle, but it unfortunately does have a huge failing in that there is no AI to play against. In a game that has an all-time peak concurrent player count of 2, this means that unless you can convince a friend to play it with you, you will not be able to play. It does have local co-op, so they don't need to own it themselves, but that's still a major limitation. While the game itself does not have any glaring bugs or faults any more, it is an unfortunate reality that for most people, any multiplayer-only game with no playerbase is not going to be worth the purchase. If you can convince someone to play this with you, you might as well pick it up - it is only a dollar - but I unfortunately can not recommend this game otherwise. NOTE: When this review was originally written, the game did not exist. If you purchased it, it would download a 0 Byte update and not run. [b]This was fixed after about three days[/b], but the original "helpful" ratings and comments on this review reflect that.