Know before you go
Name: Avengers: Damage Control Review
Location: The Void at Cinemark West Plano
Rating: 4 out of 5
Running Time: Approximately 20 minutes (depending on how you play)
Price: $30/person *Note that if you have a Cinemark monthly membership, coupons or free tickets- none of those apply yet to the Void Experience*
Warnings: Loud action with all the same risks as regular VR equipment (motion sickness, visual over-stimulation, etc)
Quick Summary
Avengers: Damage Control is a VR experience that follows the timeline following Avengers: Endgame. As new trainees, Shuri (from Black Panther) walks you through how your suit works which acts as a tutorial. During training, the facilities are attacked by flying robots and you must help protect the building. More details can be found in the plot summary and will contain spoilers.
An incredibly unique virtual reality experience, unlike any other that we have come across! We were very impressed by our experience.
Quality of Experience:
Avengers: Damage Control does a fantastic job of convincing your brain you are in the story. Two items in particular stood out during our experience. One was descending a staircase. Several of us were holding on to the rail, as you are completely convinced you are descending several flights of stairs. The other was stepping out onto a small platform. It took us a minute to get everyone out on the ledge as we were all fully convinced that we were on a small platform. You also feel heat from an explosion and snow. Short sleeves are recommended as it will make it easier to experience the physical elements like the snow.
Graphics/Design
The graphics were realistic enough that it was not a distraction but they seemed more on the cartoon side of things. This is understandable considering the graphics are being rendered for up to four people simultaneously and from different angles. The game also included elements of smell and touch in addition to the usual sight and sound elements found in video games. This made for an immersive experience like nothing else out there. The ability to feel cold air and snow coming through a window made for an unforgettable experience. While the Void is an amazing experience I would say its just that. The void does not fit into the video game category but rather an interactive VR experience. This is due to the pre-determined structure of the storyline, the way the scenes moved forward and it felt like we were just along for the ride, also the effort that goes into suiting up before and after makes it impractical for at home use in the future.
Plot Summary (Contains SPOILERS)
As mentioned in the quick summary, you are a trainee being prepped by Shuri. During training, the facilities are attacked and you are thrown into the action. Dr. Strange creates a portal to his domain and walks you through your mission. Ultron has returned and has brought a large army of robots with him.
Throughout the rest of the experience, you are shooting robots and shielding yourself using different physical poses. The story culminates when you encounter a 50 foot Ultron. You, your team, and several of the Avengers must team up to bring down this enormous enemy!
Avengers: Damage Control Review
Review from the Hobbit
Because you are so much a part of the story (and it moves fairly quickly), you do not take as much time to simply interact. You are immersed in the story and just interact as needed to get through the quests. The virtual environment lends itself greatly for an interesting replay simply to be able to interact more with all the little nuances.
Having been through one “story”, I also find myself much more intrigued by the possibility of doing others (The Void has done Star Wars, Avengers, Wreck it Ralph, etc. Anything owned by Disney is a potential story). The Void will be presenting Jumanji: Reverse the Curse starting November 27th ,2019. It is a safe assumption to make that the quality of immersion for different stories would be similar in each. Having done very little virtual reality, it is difficult for me to judge the quality compared to other VR experiences. I can say that their promise, “You just don’t experience the VOID, you are in it” is true.
Review from the Ranger
The Void was the most thrilling and immersive experience I have ever had when it comes to VR. We played the Marvel Superheroes game, where you are in an Iron man type suit, fighting robots alongside your favorite Avengers. The level design was conceptualized in an intuitive way, it used a small space which was reused in different parts of the game. This created a seemingly vast world for the player to walk through while staying within about a 15ft. space. The use of hand tracking was impressive considering the system tracked your hands instead of gloves or controllers, but this did create problems when trying to shoot and use abilities because the hands did not always appear right away. It was a clever idea putting the names of each person on their character, it was a small touch that made it easier to engage with each other during the game.
We have heard that with each new experience they have perfected the technology- so Star Wars is going to be the most basic, followed by Wreck it Ralph and now the Avengers experience.
Overall, it was a great experience that we would highly recommend. As it pertains to the gaming and arcade world, the system is still in the early stages but we think they are onto something and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Check out some of our other reviews:
–Avengers: Endgame
–Spiderman: Far From Home
–Captain Marvel
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