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The cars for Justice League: Battle for Metropolis are a large portion of what makes some of the rides wilder moments feel real.



The cars were created by Oceaneering, which as a company started worlds away from your local amusement park.  Oceaneering started in the 1960's as a supplier of equipment for deep water drilling rigs.  Remote operated vehicles designed to operate reliably at the extremes in ocean depths is Oceaneering's specialty so it was no big surprise that they got a desperate call in the 1990's to help make the problematic animatronic sharks from the Jaws attraction at the Universal Studios parks reliable.  Making a shark jump out of the water every few minutes had to have been easy compared to designing a reliable ROV that could operate in the depths of the ocean so from that point on Oceaneering has been in the themed attraction business.



One thing that really makes Justice League: Battle For Metropolis stand out is that it is not just a computer generated shoot 'em up, it is not just a simulator ride and it is not just a dark ride.  It is the best of everything all mixed together to create a really amazing attraction.

The steps in this scene actually lead up to one of the screens where the 3D interactive videos that make up a portion of the ride.  In these scenes everything is part of the action.  If you miss one of Lex or The Joker's henchmen and hit a wall there is smoke from where you shot.  If you accidentally shoot a tree, the leaves fall off of it.  The action is not the same thing every time as it all depends on who and what your ride partners shoot.

The graphics were done by a company called Pure Imagination while the gaming aspect was done by Alterface.  A really cool touch Alterface added to really "plus" this ride was to make it so during the 3D action you can see the laser shoot out of your gun and and actually hit your target.  The system senses where the gun is and as the computer generated imagery is created on the fly adds that to the screen along with the rest of the action.  Stuff like that really makes Justice League not your average new ride for a local park.



In addition to all of the high tech wizardry inside of Justice League the folks at Sally Dark Rides added some very realistic stunts like this close call you have with a truck driven by one of The Joker's henchmen.



After my first ride I was really blown away by everything that Six Flags, Sally, Pure Imagination, Alterface and Oceaneering had put into Justice League: The Battle For Metropolis.  It is definitely worlds beyond any dark ride I have ever been on including Disney.
 


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Paul B. Drabek