Have any of you ridden this yet?
Link to review
03.19.2004
Review: "Borg Invasion 4D"
(Note: There is no identification of the author of this review)
Star Trek: The Experience has gotten a new shot in the arm — if not the neck — as the destination of choice for Star Trek fans making a pilgrimage to celebrate their favorite entertainment franchise.
"Borg Invasion 4D" joins "Klingon Encounter" and the Deep Space Nine Promenade at the Las Vegas Hilton as an opportunity to get totally immersed in the future-world of Star Trek. It's an elaborate 18-minute show with such scope that there's no way you can visit it only once.
The scenario starts out innocently enough as you're about to pay a visit to a space station on the border of the Delta Quadrant. Walking through the corridor toward the entrance, you find out from your first Starfleet-uniformed host that you've just been scanned for your genetic profile (that section of the corridor has a series of rotating lights, but being in Vegas, you hardly notice). As you enter the first room, "Lt. Stevens" welcomes you to Copernicus Station, an advanced research facility working on a variety of special projects. You (and the rest of your group) have been selected to take part in "Project Resistance," the brainchild of the legendary Emergency Medical Hologram who has just completed his tour of duty on the Starship Voyager.
The Doctor (Robert Picardo) then comes on the monitor to continue the orientation. He reveals that the bio-scans he took earlier confirm that a "significant number" of you are likely to possess a rare base-pair sequence in your DNA which provides a natural immunity to a wide variety of alien viruses. He believes if he can isolate this genetic fragment, he can develop a biological defense against Borg nanoprobes, and thus the Federation can fend off its deadliest enemy — all thanks to you!
But just as the humble Doctor starts patting himself on the back for his brilliance, the orientation is interrupted with a warning that an unidentified vessel is approaching at high warp. A visual soon establishes it as a Borg Cube, and the station goes on red alert. Suddenly, things start to get bad. The Doctor gets back on the monitor and tells you to evacuate into the shuttle Olympia.
Soon you find yourself aboard the shuttle, having been handed "safety goggles" (which, conveniently, contain polarized lenses), but of course, the danger is only beginning. The action continues on the viewscreen where the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) makes her famous disembodied entrance, saying, "So you're the humans who hold the key to defeating the Borg." Well, being that resistance is futile, yadda yadda, let the assimilation begin.
The reason you'll need to go through this thing more than once is that so much is going on around you at any given moment, you're bound to miss something if you happen to be looking the other direction. In the "shuttle," the main viewscreen demands most of your attention, but there's also a screen above you and two on the sides, greatly enhancing the immersive 3D experience. Once you're captured by the Borg, the scope of what you see is breathtaking. But it's nothing compared to what happens when a certain Starfleet admiral comes to the rescue.
Of course, then there's that touted "4D" element. You'd think, being a Star Trek ride, that the extra dimension would have something to do with a parallel universe or alternate timeline, but no, here it's a tactile dimension we're talking about. And that comes in the form of a few surprises during the shuttle ride. The "ride" itself — the motion simulator — is quite a bit gentler than the TNG ride next door, but the other sensory aspects of the experience make up for it.
If there's any real complaint to lodge about the show, it's that it's too short! It builds to a climax, then suddenly it's over — you dock safely, you're congratulated for beating the Borg, and told to exit to your right! What if you don't want to? Oh well — probably best to leave you wanting more.
The story of the ride takes a few liberties with Star Trek "canon" to take advantage of the format. For instance, the Borg have found a new way to inject people with nanoprobes. Flying dart-like objects flutter about like the Son'a "drones" we saw in "Star Trek: Insurrection," threatening to get you in ways the walking drones can't. But, it's not a stretch to argue that since "Endgame" the Borg have simply evolved their assimilation methods.
Another observation — strictly subjective, maybe saying something about this writer — is that the ride is supposed to "chill" you with the "terrifying" prospect of assimilation. But you know, after going through this adventure, joining the Collective doesn't seem all that bad! It actually comes across like it'd be kinda cool!
But again, that's just one Star Trek geek's impression.
Link to review
03.19.2004
Review: "Borg Invasion 4D"
(Note: There is no identification of the author of this review)
Star Trek: The Experience has gotten a new shot in the arm — if not the neck — as the destination of choice for Star Trek fans making a pilgrimage to celebrate their favorite entertainment franchise.
"Borg Invasion 4D" joins "Klingon Encounter" and the Deep Space Nine Promenade at the Las Vegas Hilton as an opportunity to get totally immersed in the future-world of Star Trek. It's an elaborate 18-minute show with such scope that there's no way you can visit it only once.
The scenario starts out innocently enough as you're about to pay a visit to a space station on the border of the Delta Quadrant. Walking through the corridor toward the entrance, you find out from your first Starfleet-uniformed host that you've just been scanned for your genetic profile (that section of the corridor has a series of rotating lights, but being in Vegas, you hardly notice). As you enter the first room, "Lt. Stevens" welcomes you to Copernicus Station, an advanced research facility working on a variety of special projects. You (and the rest of your group) have been selected to take part in "Project Resistance," the brainchild of the legendary Emergency Medical Hologram who has just completed his tour of duty on the Starship Voyager.
The Doctor (Robert Picardo) then comes on the monitor to continue the orientation. He reveals that the bio-scans he took earlier confirm that a "significant number" of you are likely to possess a rare base-pair sequence in your DNA which provides a natural immunity to a wide variety of alien viruses. He believes if he can isolate this genetic fragment, he can develop a biological defense against Borg nanoprobes, and thus the Federation can fend off its deadliest enemy — all thanks to you!
But just as the humble Doctor starts patting himself on the back for his brilliance, the orientation is interrupted with a warning that an unidentified vessel is approaching at high warp. A visual soon establishes it as a Borg Cube, and the station goes on red alert. Suddenly, things start to get bad. The Doctor gets back on the monitor and tells you to evacuate into the shuttle Olympia.
Soon you find yourself aboard the shuttle, having been handed "safety goggles" (which, conveniently, contain polarized lenses), but of course, the danger is only beginning. The action continues on the viewscreen where the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) makes her famous disembodied entrance, saying, "So you're the humans who hold the key to defeating the Borg." Well, being that resistance is futile, yadda yadda, let the assimilation begin.
The reason you'll need to go through this thing more than once is that so much is going on around you at any given moment, you're bound to miss something if you happen to be looking the other direction. In the "shuttle," the main viewscreen demands most of your attention, but there's also a screen above you and two on the sides, greatly enhancing the immersive 3D experience. Once you're captured by the Borg, the scope of what you see is breathtaking. But it's nothing compared to what happens when a certain Starfleet admiral comes to the rescue.
Of course, then there's that touted "4D" element. You'd think, being a Star Trek ride, that the extra dimension would have something to do with a parallel universe or alternate timeline, but no, here it's a tactile dimension we're talking about. And that comes in the form of a few surprises during the shuttle ride. The "ride" itself — the motion simulator — is quite a bit gentler than the TNG ride next door, but the other sensory aspects of the experience make up for it.
If there's any real complaint to lodge about the show, it's that it's too short! It builds to a climax, then suddenly it's over — you dock safely, you're congratulated for beating the Borg, and told to exit to your right! What if you don't want to? Oh well — probably best to leave you wanting more.
The story of the ride takes a few liberties with Star Trek "canon" to take advantage of the format. For instance, the Borg have found a new way to inject people with nanoprobes. Flying dart-like objects flutter about like the Son'a "drones" we saw in "Star Trek: Insurrection," threatening to get you in ways the walking drones can't. But, it's not a stretch to argue that since "Endgame" the Borg have simply evolved their assimilation methods.
Another observation — strictly subjective, maybe saying something about this writer — is that the ride is supposed to "chill" you with the "terrifying" prospect of assimilation. But you know, after going through this adventure, joining the Collective doesn't seem all that bad! It actually comes across like it'd be kinda cool!
But again, that's just one Star Trek geek's impression.