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March 19, 2024

Sensory cinema: From shaking seats and scents to room-filling visuals, which experience fits you?

Dark Ride XD Opens

L.E. Baskow

Chad Hiratani with Dark Ride XD prepares players for their ride at Gameworks at Town Square where they are unveiling the new 7-D cinema experience on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017.

Dark Ride XD Opens

Wind blows the hair of players shoot at the bad guys during a Dark Ride XD ride at Gameworks at Town Square where they are unveiling the new 7-D cinema experience on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. Launch slideshow »

A decade ago, Las Vegas was full of so-called “motion rides,” attractions that combine projected visuals with seats that shake and sway, plus sensory effects like mist and wind. But like many family-friendly Vegas attractions, most of them are long-closed.

Enter GameWorks at Town Square, which just opened Dark Ride XD, a 3-D motion ride that recalls the days of the Magic Motion Rides at Excalibur or Race for Atlantis at Caesars Palace, with an added interactive game element that’s right at home among the arcade’s more traditional video games.

For the ride’s Jan. 26 debut, I strapped in alongside one other player/viewer — the theater has room for eight — to take on “Werewolves,” one of three titles available (the others are “Road Fighters” and “Los Banditos,” and the selection rotates among 10 titles). Each show lasts 4-7 minutes, depending on game play; players accumulate points and compete against each other. The simple animated show is more like a game than a movie, and after a brief introduction to the steampunk-style world, we were flying around the Victorian city, shooting werewolves with laser guns. There’s not much skill involved, but it’s fun to be thrown around the crazy environment while trying to take out bad guys.

As far as interactive movie experiences go, Dark Ride is more for gamers than cinephiles, and might work best for large groups who can spend the ride trash-talking one another. Here’s a rundown of immersive movie experiences around town:

4-D (and motion rides)

• Experience: Seats move along with 3-D visuals to create the feeling of being in motion, and effects such as wind, mist and sometimes even scents add to the visceral immersion.

• Content: Dark Ride XD at GameWorks features a choice of 10 short animated games; current Adventuredome 4-D motion rides star SpongeBob SquarePants, “Ice Age” and “Pacific Rim” characters; the Marvel Superheroes 4-D experience at Madame Tussauds stars characters like Spider-Man and the Hulk

• Target audience: These attractions are aimed at kids and teens, but adults can have fun as long as they don’t expect too much in terms of cinematic style and storytelling.

• How to enjoy it: Treat the experience like riding a roller coaster: remove loose items from your pockets, fasten your seat belt and skip the ride entirely if you have a tendency toward motion sickness.

• Find it: GameWorks at Town Square; Adventuredome at Circus-Circus; Madame Tussauds at the Venetian

IMAX (and large-format screens)

• Experience: It’s just like a movie, only bigger! That’s pretty much it; no glasses or extra accessories required (although some IMAX and similar XD movies also are shown in 3-D).

• Content: Large-format presentations are available for many major studio releases, most often action movies with elaborate effects and stunts.

• Target audience: More so than 3-D, IMAX and large-format movies often appeal to more discerning moviegoers, because they can provide accomplished filmmakers with the largest canvas to practice their craft. But plenty of teen-focused popcorn movies play on these screens as well.

• How to enjoy it: Find a movie shot with IMAX cameras. Otherwise, you are just paying extra to watch a regular movie blown up on a bigger screen. The IMAX screen at the Palms’ Brenden Theatres is the only one in town with the dimensions first developed for IMAX theaters when they were only in museums and other specialty venues, and is thus the best place to watch a movie shot in that format.

• Find it: AMC Town Square; Brenden Theatres at the Palms; Regal Cinemas at Red Rock Resort, Aliante and Sunset Station; Century Theaters at Orleans, South Point and Santa Fe Station feature Cinemark’s similar XD screens

3-D movies

• Experience: Most 3-D effects are mild, adding a little extra oomph to the viewer’s depth perception without the stereotypical objects flying out of the screen.

• Content: Many major studio releases are shown in 3-D, most often animated movies and effects-heavy action/sci-fi movies.

• Target audience: Movies appealing to kids, teens and young adults are most likely to get the 3-D treatment, although occasionally more mature films from major filmmakers use the effect for artistic purposes.

• How to enjoy it: If you’re going to spend the extra money for 3-D glasses, try to find a movie that was envisioned as a 3-D presentation by the filmmakers and shot with stereoscopic cameras, rather than converted to 3-D in post-production to rake in some additional cash.

• Find it: Movie theaters citywide

D-BOX

• Experience: D-BOX is a sort of middle ground between a motion ride and a regular movie experience; seats vibrate, shake and sway during certain scenes of intense action or other movement, designed to sync up with what’s happening onscreen.

• Content: Select studio releases, during various scenes spread throughout the movie.

• Target audience: Action-movie fans who really want to get involved with their favorite movies; franchises like “Star Wars” and superhero movies are typical choices.

• How to enjoy it: The D-BOX experience can be distracting when you’re trying to focus on a movie’s plot or character development (which may be why those elements are minimized in motion rides), so it might be best to save the experience for a second viewing of a movie you particularly enjoyed.

• Find it: Galaxy Luxury+ Theatres at the Cannery

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