The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience
I am often on the hunt for different experiences in London as a way to fill the evenings after comic con - especially since a lot of these trips tend to be solo trips. My past exposure to the War of the Worlds as a radio play or movie was very limited going into this half-VR half-haunted house style experience but it looked interesting and slotted in well to my Saturday evening in the city.
The experience itself runs for about 2 hours and, as it progresses from room to room, they are very flexible with start times. There is a themed bar/restaurant that you can spend some time in before and after. I arrived a little bit earlier, ordered some (mildly expensive) pizza and just enjoyed the vibes before our group was called up to start.
This experience involves a mixture of real sets and VR sections where they hook you up to the helmets. Each room giving you pieces of story but, to be honest, I wasn't getting the full enjoyment from the story as I had little knowledge of the source material. It definitely skips a few beats here and there but you get the gist and I don't think that getting the full "war of the worlds" story is the draw here.
The real sets were all really cool though with some fun actors, good lighting and effects going on. There is a particular room where you sit down for a few minutes, the lights going off and the aliens stomping around outside was a fantastic experience.
The VR sections are nothing spectacular. I suppose at-home VR has come such a long way that the wow-factor wasn't quite there for me but I did enjoy these sections and they do their best to blend virtual reality with practical effects around you which adds to the experience overall. I think that I might not be the target audience in this sense - if you are going for a few drinks with your friends and have never done VR before, these sections will be great fun.
My biggest takeaway from the experience was the integration of Jeff Wayne's music. The rock opera album adaptation of War of the Worlds was not something I had previously heard about but I walked away a new fan. It's very catchy and has a really fun classic sci-fi feel to it.
When you compare the price of going to the West End these days I think this is a great way to spend an evening in London. It's something different and, if you have any affinity for the original story you will definitely enjoy this.
