Rage of the Gargoyles VR Arrives at Discovery Kingdom

Thursday morning I got a chance to visit Six Flags Discovery Kingdom to preview their new virtual reality roller coaster, Rage of the Gargoyles, which has been added to Kong. This is one of several new VR coasters Six Flags is adding this Fall in addition to the ones they introduced last Spring, all powered by Samsung Gear VR headsets and developed with VR Coaster. This is actually the second virtual reality roller coaster I’ve been on, as I previewed one of the first Six Flags VR coasters, New Revolution, back last Spring and was a huge fan. Unlike the New Revolution, though, Rage of the Gargoyles is fully interactive, with guests shooting at flying monsters throughout the ride. That sounded like an awesome “next step” for the VR coasters. However, I had questions about how well it would work on Kong, a notoriously rough Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC). Part of why it worked well on New Revolution was that as a relatively tame coaster, and the VR helped up the intensity. New Revolution had also been upgraded to use only lap restraints, so would the headset feel OK with the over the shoulder restraints of an SLC? Kong was receiving upgrades to the track and trains to try to smooth the experience, but would it be enough to keep the VR from banging back and forth?  And how well would be able to blast monsters on a jerky coaster?

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For the most part these questions were all answered in the positive. Rage of the Gargoyles was a great experience, and the improvements made to Kong made a huge difference in the quality of the ride. In some ways I feel like the New Revolution experience was a little bit better, largely thanks to the smoother and wider layout, but that might be because it was my first experience, and either way it’s great to have another virtual reality coaster in California. It’s also great to see Six Flags and VR Coaster pushing forward with the technology.

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New and Improved Kong

Before diving into the virtual reality aspect of the ride, Kong got some pretty major TLC as part of the upgrade that impact the ride even when not wearing a headset. Nancy Chan, communications manager of Discovery Kingdom, told me part of the reason for choosing Kong to receive the virtual reality experience over other rides at the park (Medusa was also considered) was because it would allow the park to improve the rough SLC coaster.

“We modified the restraints…trimmed a few millimeters off of each side (of the cheek pads) to accommodate the VR headset. So there’s a little bit more clearance,” Charles Laureano, maintenance supervisor at Discovery Kingdom, who oversaw the upgrades, told me. “We’ve also gone through and we’ve enhanced the track. We actually brought Vekoma in to assist us, so those two things combined result in a better ride experience. Vekoma reprofiled specific sections.  We’re pretty happy with where we’re at now. We actually had to do 3D mapping to do the VR, and in that testing we had to get accelerometer data. We’re really happy where all that data puts us.”

Hard to tell, but the "cheek pads" have been trimmed back on the restraints, allowing clearance for the headsets, and for heads.

Hard to tell, but the “cheek pads” have been trimmed back on the restraints, allowing clearance for the headsets, and for heads.

The improvements were noticeable. The headset fit comfortably within the restraints, and there were also far fewer sections with major jerking, particularly in the front of the train, than there had been before. We took one ride in the front row without the headsets on, and for the most part it was a pretty smooth ride. The extra clearance in the restraint means that on small bumps your head no longer hits the pads. We did note that towards the back of the train there were still some harsh sections, but none of it was as bad as Kong had been in the past. Even without VR , the re-profiling done on Kong should be performed on every similar SLC out there.

The front row was by far the smoothest. You can't wear the VR in it (nothing to calibrate against), but that's OK since it gives the best ride.

The front row was by far the smoothest. You can’t wear the VR in it (nothing to calibrate against), but that’s OK since it gives the best ride.

There were still some rough patches, but it was definitely much improved.

There were still some rough patches, but it was definitely much improved.

The upgrades happened happened in a surprisingly short window for re-tracking and restraint modifications. Charles explained, “we did the track work in approximately three weeks. The orange train is ready now, and the yellow train will be coming on board in the next week or two.”

The VR work itself took slightly longer, although also not too long, which brings us to…

Destroy All Gargoyles

The rough summary of Rage of the Gargoyles is that you take the role of a pilot in an helicopter defending a city from invading beasts. This is basically the same as the New Revolution experience, which involved fighting off alien invaders in a ruined city. Guests strap on their Samsung Gear headsets, tightening a chin strap and top and side straps that tighten the same a hard had would. Much easier than all the velcro straps New Revolution had to deal with. Staring straight forward, the head set calibrates on the eat in front to get the angle and location of the rider. It’s important to note that there’s a focus knob on the top of the headset. We didn’t realize this on our first ride through and were confused why everything was fuzzy. It was much better after we focused it.

Much cleaner looking headset than the New Revolution ones last Spring.

Much cleaner looking headset than the New Revolution ones last Spring.

The action begins during the lift hill as you control the main gun of your helicopter via head tracking. Monsters swarm towards your vehicle. The gun auto fires and points where you look. It’s impressively accurate, allowing you to mow down the approaching gargoyles. As the train crests the lift hill, the action intensifies a the creatures grab onto the helicopter and rip out your co-pilot, sending you careening down into the city. At this point you no longer control a gun (which was destroyed), but when you focus your head on a gargoyle in the sky, a missile locks on and blows it out of the sky.

Still not stylish...

Still not stylish…

While Kong is improved, it still rattles around enough to make it hard to actually focus on something, and you can’t really look around as well as on a ride with only lap restraints. We also had trouble actually spotting the gargoyles, unsure if we just couldn’t see them (brown/grey skinned monsters don’t contrast well on gray buildings), or if there were less than we expected. But it was satisfying when the crosshair turned red and a missile flew out to destroy a monster.

Throughout the ride the VR was perfectly matched with the motion of the train, thanks to the extensive 3D mapping work performed to start the project. “We did the mapping about three months ago,” Laureano explained, “VR Coaster was on site early last week, and we actually spent three or four days with the ride doing the final calibration, making sure the video was syncing with what was happening.”

The final break run provides a nice slow period to fight the big boss gargoyle.

The ride ends with a climatic battle with the master gargoyle as the train pulls through the final brake run, which determines whether you win or you die (so don’t stop shooting). At the end of the ride your score pops up, taking what on New Revolution was more of a VR movie experience to a full VR game experience (this is a good time to read our feature from March about the growing overlap of gaming and theme parks).

Not Perfect, But Pretty Great

Many of the minor complaints I had with New Revolution remain here on Rage of the Gargoyles, although they all remain relatively minor nits. The visuals had the same low fidelity, which I assume is a limitation of the using the phone based VR (which is really the only way to easily do it on a moving vehicle). It looks kind of like an old video game. The lack of sound effects is also disappointing. Although the phone had some sounds (like the guns firing), there weremoments where full audio effects would have made a huge difference. This was particularly true when snarling gargoyles climbed on the helicopter right in your face, or when standing off with the master gargoyle at the end. You expect to hear deafening growls and roars, but instead just hear the roller coaster (or some hissing brakes). And, of course, while Kong is definitely improved, there were still some rough patches especially towards the back of your train. On one ride my headset started to sort of rattle off my face (or at least, shake enough it wasn’t straight anymore), so make sure to tighten them down as much as you can! Finally, there’s still the drawback that riders under age 13 can’t ride, a curse of the VR headsets requirements.

There were still some rough parts, but overall the ride was greatly improved from the track upgrades.

Some of the elements can shake the headset a bit, so be sure to tighten it down all the way.

But, as with New Revolution, I don’t want to overstate these issues. For the most part, the ride was excellent. Prior to these updates, I found King almost un-rideable, I hadn’t actually been on it in probably about four years despite regular visits to the park. It is now definite enjoyable, even without the VR. That alone makes the upgrade worth it. Add in that the virtual reality coaster experience remains a totally unique feeling, in some ways less intense than riding without, but in many ways much more interesting. Rage of the Gargoyles is also a step up from New Revolution, adding the full gaming aspect to the ride. Finally, the park confirmed one of the parts of the VR coaster addition that I was most excited about: the ability to regularly update the story. I was told that they expect to keep Gargoyles on until next Spring, but there’s a good chance that they could get a new experience after that. It’s like getting a new ride every six months!

Rage of the Gargoyles at Discovery Kingdom

Rage of the Gargoyles opens for season pass holders and owners of Samsung phones during the first weekend of Fright Fest, this Saturday and Sunday, September 24-25. The ride opens to the general public the following weekend, starting September 30. You can read more about the ride on the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom website. You can also check out video of the ride here. If you get a chance to ride Rage of the Gargoyles, or any VR coasters, let us know if you agree with our thoughts in the comments below, or share them with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Tim the Gargoyle wants you to tell us what you think of Rage of the Gargoyles and VR Coasters!

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