It takes a pretty big team of crime fighting crusaders to maintain justice in a huge place like Metropolis, and Six Flags took a huge leap forward in the immersive attraction game, bringing the new 5 acre Metropolis section of their park to life – complete with the actual Justice League Hall of Justice.
It’s similar to many ride offerings in the area, Universal’s Transformers:The Ride, and Knott’s Voyage to the Iron Reef, and yes similar versions of this attraction already exist at other Six Flags Parks, but this is transformative for the aptly named “Thrill Capitol of the World.” This is a real experience built by the Sally Corporation, that puts Six Flags on par (if not exceeding) many of the other motion base experiences you can find at the local theme parks that have been creating similar attractions for years.
As you enter the front door of the imposing Hall of Justice, you are alerted to the fact that half of the Justice league has already been captured by the vile Lex Luthor who has partnered with the ultimate chaotic evil in the DC Universe, The Joker, to take control of the whole city. Immediately deputized into the Justice League Reserves you are quickly trained by Cyborg on the vehicles and “stun” weapons you will use to battle the baddies and placed on the street in a remote control crime fighting vehicle.
Which brings us to the motion base itself: Built by the wizards from Oceaneering Entertainment Systems, this particular ride system is smooth. No I’m serious…really smooth. And that makes a real difference, because while it’s getting you through the show spaces you can focus on being spun like your riding in a teacup or actually experience the simulated explosive blasts without focusing on how hard the last banked turn the show route had to take and how it jarred you out of the experience. It also provides a stable enough game platform to actually aim the laser blaster you have in your hand on the enormous variety of targets that appear in every scene.
Our Midsummer Scream Family
This is a 3D attraction for most of the show elements, and I applaud the creative team for striking a balance between the cartoon and video game worlds of the DC comics. These are some of the clearest, sharpest, and least nausea inducing 3D motion base scenes you are likely to encounter here in Southern California, and there were only a few brief moments of transition where the clarity of projection or depth was lost causing a feeling of discomfort (when your vehicle turns sideways to turn you out of one of the larger projection rooms to place you in another.)
The load platform from the ride vehicle.
The game play and variety of the targets is impressive. Major hint here…most of the time on shooter attractions I prefer the front row, but the back elevated seat of the two row vehicles actually gives you a huge advantage in seeing the hard to hit (and higher value) targets that permeate the edges of the game scenes. And the game play comes in rapid waves, with only the very brief respite to The Joker’s new laughing gas factory (the captured Star Labs…yeah it’s a DC Universe geek thing) where a fully animatronic Joker rides atop a laughing gas cannon ready to douse the whole car with a deadly mist.
Which actually is one of the few downsides of the attraction. We are told in the briefings and on the scoring charts that we can shoot the containers of laughing gas, yet in that scene I was hard pressed to find anything that would register a point (despite being surrounded almost floor to ceiling by the dangerous Joker weapons.) I also heard a few of the press people grumbling about the fact that there wasn’t much story development in the actual ride portion of the experience. This was honestly a huge win in my book, because once you have the blaster in your hand it should be more PlayStation and less follow the plot line.
Exit through the gift shop.
And if you are wanting to ride this over and over again like I did, that’s another huge downside, as the whole system itself seems a tad slow in load/unload and the capacity seems quite low. So I anticipate long lines and huge wait times. Is it worth it? Oh Yeah! I haven’t had so much fun in a dark ride since Universal’s Men in Black attraction. And once you get into the building you actually have two pre-show rooms in AC to cool down and prepare to do battle.
If you want to see our 360º video of the opening ceremonies, CLICK HERE!
The creative team and management that have brought this new attraction (along with the new restaurants and shops that round out this massive expansion) should really be congratulated. It’s very out of place for Six Flags Magic Mountain in the best possible way. I love their Rollercoasters! Don’t get me wrong, but I sincerely hope they will follow this new direction up with more “fully immersive” attractions. This one is definitely worth the long drive up the hill, and the long lines to ride it.
