EAG Expo 2019 Arcade round up @ EXCEL London

3DSBlessed had the opportunity to visit EAG Expo 10th Anniversary event at London’s EXCEL Centre. The event is made up of arcade and gambling machines for advertising (mostly the latter), but there were plenty of arcade games to be played. Various companies like SEGA, Bandai Namco and RAW Thrills had their arcade cabinets on show for consumers and players alike to try out.

House of the Dead 5: Scarlet Dawn (SEGA)

The latest installment to the famous House of the Dead has its own arcade cabinet where up to two people can sit in and experience killing off hordes of zombies in what some would describe as a 5D experience (with having sub woofer speakers, bass shaker, air flow and vibrating seats). Players can choose either story or path mode. Players also have the option for selecting two weapons alongside the standard machine gun with 5.56 ammo, giving people a different experience each time. Playing this in the cabinet gives you a unique feel to the game as opposed to playing on a console or even a standard cabinet. Masses of hordes of zombies in different shapes and even a rocker zombie come at the players and the graphics are amazing. I only played through a couple of levels, but others have told me that the story mode (with cutscenes) can last for up to an hour, so in an arcade setting that will be loads of pound/2 pound coins to keep continuing.

Hot Racers (SEGA)

Hot Racers is aimed toward the younger audience with its cartoon graphics and characters with a dual screen for up to 2 players. On one side is a police car handle and the other is a motorcycle handle. The objective is to score as many points in the time limits and collect items to add up points. There was a boss section and due to the demo’s time limit was impossible to defeat it, however in the full retail version this will not be an issue.

Here is some footage captured by myself showing a brief example of the gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgP0RILUym0

Virtual Rabbids The Big Ride (Ubisoft)

While not a game and more of a rollercoaster VR experience, Ubisoft’s the Rabbids are the main feature of this VR ride in which people put on their VR set to experience the surroundings of the Rabbids’ universe. There are three different scenarios to try out, and each gives the player the full 360 visual surrounding. The cabinet has a screen so that spectators can see what the players are seeing on their VR sets. The seats are surrounded with speakers and D-Box motion platform that gives the users the actual rollercoaster/sledging/swimming experience. I had the Alpine experience, that started out on the sledge and trying to avoid the crowds of rabbids around the place. Then it shifted to an Indiana Jones setting where we were going backwards and watching a Indiana Rabbid running from a boulder and failing. Afterwards, we went to the underwater swimming around the depths of the sea and through only to end up…..in a toilet which a Rabbid plunges us back in and the simulation ends.

I can see this being a hit in bigger arcades and amusement parks (Butlins).

Beat Saber (Beat Games)

This VR game has been out on the PC and even the Playstation VR for some time, but has been it’s arcade debut recently as of late 2018. Beat Saber is attendant free, meaning that players can put on the VR headset and play through without needing a dedicated assistant on standby, although at EAG there was someone assisting with those new to VR. The objective is to slice the red and blue boxes with the VR Handle which act as lightsabers. Building up a combo requires slicing the box in the directions of the arrows and on occasion moving left/right and even ducking to avoid the upcoming walls.

I tried out Normal and $100 Bills and liked the mechanics of swinging the sabers around and moving to dodge.

Like with many VR arcade games, Beat Saber lets people watch what the player is see with a huge vertical screen. Beat Saber allows all players to try out with difficulty ranging from easy to expert (for you all DDR, rhythm game experts).

There were other machines such as Mario Kart Arcade GP, Tomb Raider, Injustice (Card) game and even Slither.io, yes that Slither.io!!!

The next EAG Expo will be at EXCEL London on 14th January – 16th January 2020.

Arcade Links to check out:

• www.eagexpo.com
• https://www.lasvegasarcadesoho.co.uk/
• https://arcadelion.uk/