By Genevieve Mc Bride
Looking for a fun afternoon of fun games and great food under an air-conditioned roof? Look no further than Dave & Busters in Tempe Marketplace.
D&B’s new offerings in interactive entertainment include a 2-seater racing game, a 4D zombie co-op first-person shooter, full-size versions of two popular mobile games, addictive tests of finesse and harpooning luck.
We had the pleasure of meeting with B.K., one of D&B’s knowledgeable tech staff for a quick tour of the most recently installed. Fun fact: all tech staff must have a working knowledge of all the games in the center to not only be able to fix the machine when it’s broken but also help you with tips to level up or beat the game.
The first new game was two-seater racing gamee called Dream Raiders. Choose your dream ride and raid as many treasures as you can while fending off attacks by enemies. Ride a dragon, pilot a UFO, get on horseback or put on your super suits and head for the skies! The combination of intense motion, wind, sound and visuals combine to give players a ride dreams are made of.
One of the more intense games I’ve ever played is Dark Escape 4D. I am not a fan of zombies to begin with but games that let me shoot zombies can be fun. Dark Escape 4D takes the co-op first-person shooter game to a whole new level. With bursts of air and 3D surprises complete with rumbling seats and vibrating controls, this game is as thrilling as it is stressful. And the game will tell you just how panicked you are by monitoring your pulse through the controllers and comparing your rate to your partner. My partner for the game told me he found my reactions more startling than the gameplay.
For a more relaxed game, try Black Out. Once you get over the unique see-through touch screen display, you’ll get addicted to this tricky game of finesse. With a flick of your finger tips you launch 5 happy little paint creatures at the sun. The more sun you cover with the paint creatures, the higher your blackout percentage. The higher the percentage, the more coupons you collect.
The Dizzy Chicken is another game of finesse, with your success tied directly to how hard you hit an egg. On a dizzying circular track of lights , the game randomly picks a bulb to turn green. The object of the game is to tap the ball hard enough for it to circle the track to come up next to the green light. The closer you get, the higher your number of coupons. Go past the green light and the best you get is 10 coupons.
The game our party of 4 quickly became addicted to is Harpoon Lagoon. A tabletop game that seats 4, each person must aim their harpoon and fire it at a plethora of sea creatures. The goal is to harpoon an impressive weight of prey. From all types of fish to octopi and squid, and even a heavily guarded shark, there’s plenty to target. During our quick preview of the games, B.K. mentioned every once in a while a jellyfish pops out of the treasure chest in the middle of the seafloor. He said he’d never seen it. We set our sights on the huge shark which taunted us by swimming across the display every few seconds, surrounded by smaller fish. The guys were able to harpoon a couple (the trick is in taking advantage of an opening th person next to you makes when they harpoon one of the escort fishes).
Almost as addictive is the new Milk Jug Toss – an old-fashioned game inserted between the skee-ball lanes. With a taunting carnie to judge your every attempt, one can spend quite a few card swipes to find the perfect toss to get the 500 point jug. Try banking it off the carnie’s face. Didn’t always work but there was some satisfaction in aiming for his face.
If you’re a fan of Temple Run or Cut the Rope, you’ll be happy to find full-size version of both games that reward you with coupons. Cut the Rope adds a timed element to the game, so the faster you solve the puzzle the more coupons you get, whereas Temple Run follows the same format as its mobile version but uses a trackball to control movement.
When you’re ready to take a break coupon-collecting, D&B has added some tasty must-try entrees. But of course we had to start with appetizers first. We had nachos, potato balls, pretzel bites and pretzel dogs. All filling by themselves, so pace yourself if you want to indulge in heartier fare. The Balsamic Chicken with roasted vegetables is a fairly light and healthy but savory dish. For something not as healthy but definitely flavorful, there’s also the Potato Chip Crusted chicken breast. The winning entree was the Bacon-Wrapped Steak Medallions which two of our party each gave two enthusiastic thumbs up. Both said they’d never had more perfect steak.
For dessert we shared in a chocolate fondue with strawberries, marshmallows, brownies, pound cake and graham crackers as the dippers. This was a great dessert to share, but there are plenty of other options that include cheese cake and donut holes.
So need to fill the afternoon with some fun and good food? D&B is definitely the place to go.
