TUAL
TS
AL
VR has polarised the events industry, but a
Star Wars immersive experience has turned
many to the light side of the force
was blown away. You just have to experience it,”
a friend told me after leaving Westfi eld mall in
Shepherds Bush. He was not, however, fl abbergasted
by the luxury retail experience. He was waxing lyrical
about Star Wars: Secrets of The Empire , a ‘hyper reality’
experience from Lucasfi lm, ILMxLAB and The VOID, nestled
near the centre’s cinema complex.
I hadn’t witnessed such enthusiasm for an entertainment
experience for a long time, both anecdotally, and on social
media.
After experiencing the gamifi ed VR game for myself, it
struck me, like many of the commentators in this feature,
that this could be a ‘tipping point’ for the medium.
Secrets of The Empire was timed to coincide with the
release of the penultimate Star Wars fi lm, The Last Jedi.
And, while cinema tickets for the blockbuster fi lm retailed
at around a tenner a pop, customers were falling over
themselves to pay £30 for the virtual reality experience.
The premise of the simulation's narrative is simple. Well
sort of. You, and your team of four, don interactive suits and
VR goggles to enter a galaxy far, far away where, under the
orders of the budding rebellion, you travel to the molten
planet of Mustafar to recover Imperial intelligence vital to
the rebellion’s survival.
Disguised as stormtroopers, your team must navigate
through an enemy facility alongside the pragmatic – and
frankly lovable – droid K-2S0. There’s stuff to shoot, puzzles
to solve, and even giant lava monsters.
Vital to the experience being believable is using
technology creatively, (Anna Valley owner) Shooting
Partners’ head of facilities Shaun Wilton told Access . “The
Star Wars VR experience does a few things especially well.
The concept of layering was great. They handled the 3D
depth cues perfectly, and the audio comes from different ››
ACCESSAA.CO.UK
FEBRUARY 2018 31