Stuck in Your Twenties in a Virtual World
From jumping off a plane to shooting the living dead
CTRL V Hartzel Road
A few months ago, my friend, KD, was driving down Hartzel Road in St. Catharines in his neighbour hood, when he noticed signs for a virtuality reality place which would be opening, with a giant sign saying “COMING SOON”.
For months, as we drove by, we’d check the stats of this mysterious place, to see if “Coming Soon” had transitioned to “Now Open”.
KD was so excited for CTRL V Virtual Reality to open in St. Catharines, as he loves superheroes, action movies, aliens, and all things I consider to be “man stuff”.
I was excited too. I find virtual reality fascinating, having taken several courses on gaming in university as part of my Media Studies degree. From my studies I gained a keen interest in Hans Moravec and the theory of transhumanism– the belief that the human race can evolve beyond its physical and mental limitations by the means of science and technology.
Although the idea of transhumanism is a bit too much for a 26-year old brain to want to dabble in on a Friday night, testing out CTRL V Virtual Reality was not.
KD and I each booked an hour session, where we tested out side-by-side VR stations. Following a brief introductory video by a cute little floating robot named Trevor, the CTRL V team members helped us get set up with a 5-piece VR gaming system- it included “an HTC Vive head-mounted display (to see your new reality), two wireless full-motion controllers (to interact with the virtual world) and two infrared base stations (to track your movement in this world).”
After gearing up with my headset, I stepped into a virtual room, with cubes for different games appearing in front of me.
The one which had caught our interest on the website was “Space Pirates”, as my friend loves anything to do with outer space, and is convinced he was a pirate in a previous life… Just to let you know, this is a guy my age, not a kid that I am babysitting. We are both eternal kids who refuse to give up fun as part of growing up.
Dodging bullets with my shield, and firing away, I felt like a true extraterrestrial buccaneer! I quite enjoyed firing targets, so I tried another shooting game where I had two guns and was shooting at soldiers as they came to me from every direction.
“Smash Box Arena” takes a combat-style spin on dodgeball, as you use sniper rifles and hand grenades to attack your opponents.
When I entered a new room called “The Lab” I was able to choose to explore places, like Outer Space and the Human Body. KD was pumped to tell our neighbour that ‘he finally went to space’ when we got home. Standing beside the massive sun, you can see just how ginormous this bright blob is compared to each of the planets in the solar system.
One of the most thrilling games I tried was “The Last Sniper” where appeared inside a fighter plane, and had to JUMP OUT with a parachute! It was so realistic that although I knew it was real, I could hardly bring myself to “jump”- pretty sure I let out a HUGE embarrassing scream on that one. Yeah- you’re never going to catch me signing up to go sky diving.
You can even become a character in Steven Spielberg’s action-adventure,”Ready Player One”.
The CTRL V team helped me and KD to join each other in a multi-player game called Arizona Sunshine. This is by far the best game if you play with friends- but the team tries to get you to test out solo games first, as it’s easy to get drawn in on this one-of-a-kind adventure.
In Arizona Sunshine, you appear in the desert, surrounded by abandoned cars, cactus, and a lot of confusion.
“WOMAN?”- I heard a voice in my head set. It was KD. I looked over to my virtual world to see a strange looking character wearing a ski mask. I laughed telling him his duck-billed, hunched over avatar looked RIDICULOUS, as he was convinced he must be playing a suave-looking solider (like shown in the game’s trailer). Not knowing what I looked like either, he told me I looked goofy. Later on we realised we both looked like the furthest things from GI Joe and GI Jane which we assumed we were in our heads.
Together we had to rifle through cars, search the world, and shoot zombies to conquer our mission.
The experience was so realistic I struggled to get the dam car door open – just like in real life- and actually fell over on my butt in the real world…oops. I’m pretty sure the CTRL V owner came over to help me stand up again.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, you are limited to your space inside the virtual world, so if you forget to “launch” yourself virtually to a new spot by the use of the controller, you will easily walk into the wall of your virtual gaming booth. KD and I both did this a few times.
This was by far our favourite game. Next time, I’d love to play a whole 1 hour session of Arizona Sunshine.
Before we knew it, our time was up, and it was time to go “back to reality”. The feeling you get once leaving the world is pretty weird- imagine colours and an eeriness where you question if you’re still in the game.
CTRL V is by far one of the best attractions offered in Niagara- great for parties, dates, or a random night out. The Hartzel location just got a new and improved update to the Arizona Sunshine game, “Dead Man DLC”. This version is the days just before the zombie apocalypse, and includes several sweet updates, including the option to customise your avatar!
I’ve had enough of this so-called ‘reality’…. I can’t wait to go back!
Love from Lala.
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