VR is the upcoming pillar in entertainment in the world and for a good reason. VR ( virtual reality ) allows its users to immerse themselves into any world imaginable, and I was so excited to finally get to experience the craze for myself with Alien Zoo in Westfield Century City. Today’s Story is Sponsored The Alien Zoo; however, all opinions are my own.
Before we geared up, the Dreamscape team had us fill out some information in the lobby and choose our avatars; I picked a female avatar because I didn’t feel as if any of the male avatars suited me. After that, we were led into a room where a team of people geared us up with these special backpacks, motion sensors for our hands and feet and of course a VR headset. At first, I was worried I’d have to take my glasses off for the experience, but to my surprise, plenty of VR headsets are designed to fit around glasses, so that was nice.
Not too long after that, the VR experience had officially begun. My group and I, consisting of 5 people stepped onto a platform and were able to see our avatars in a mirror in front of us. Most of us stayed still and waited for further instruction, but I decided to wave my arms around and gesture at the others in my group as my avatar. Sadly enough, the rest of my team wasn’t all that enthused.
My group and I’s adventure had just begun, and we marveled at first glance of this world we had transported to. Aliens that looked similar to dinosaurs came up to us, a few of us reached out and actually felt their hide in our palms which was bizarre. As the trip progressed I could feel the wind blowing on us, we entered a cave, and I could smell the cavern we traversed inside of. There were bubbles in the cave that we could reach out and pop as a narrator relayed what we were experiencing.
After some time, we got lost, our story took a darker turn into uncharted territory where we came face to face with a more hostile alien species. We had flashlights that we could wave around and point at the monster to follow it’s traces, the beast hissed at us, and at that moment I felt mist begin to spray me. Eventually, we escaped from the beast and went on with the rest of our journey.
The crew had us step off of the platform and return to our stations where they patiently waited for us to take our gear off, assisting those who were having any trouble. I have to, I had a blast and would participate in a VR experience like this again. It took me by surprise and was way more enjoyable than I thought it would be, and I would recommend it to ages 12 to 52..
Until Next Time
JJ King
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