I totally understand why Thorpe went for a 'spectacular' ending as they did, but the graphics really aren't up to scratch. The ride needs to feel immersive, and believable in it's own fantastical way. I think that if the second half was re-fixed for next season to provide something more akin to the first, yet more climactic, the ride could be a minor classic.
This is something that often frustrates me. I've been on so many simulators / 4D cinemas / "screen" dark rides where animators throw the kitchen sink into the action sequences. I can't help thinking that if they showed some restraint and adopted a "less is more" approach, these kinds of rides would be much more believable and engaging.
On your standard simulator film for example, there are usually several unsurvivable drops, brushes with huge explosions and sections where you get bounced around the environment like you're the ball in a pinball machine. It creates this sense of weightless invulnerability, partly because the physics engine is probably a bit woolly but mainly because the motion base can't hope to produce anything close to matching the spectacle on the screen.
If the suspect physics aren't enough to break the illusion, they often feel the need to take you on a whirlwind tour of all the world's natural habitats and ecosystems. There's a jungle section, an underwater section, a desert section and at some point, you will inevitably find yourself miles underground floating in a sea of magma. It all happens slightly too fast to take in properly, as if they didn't quite have time to cram everything in but just left it in anyway.
I'm not saying that simulators have to be 100% realistic but when you reach a certain point and the CGI starts going mad, the suspension of disbelief is simply shattered. You just can't shake the feeling that what you're looking at was made in a computer.
If there's one simulator that I think has managed to tread the line between believability and fantasy well, it's Star Tours. It stays largely in the same setting, the action is thrilling but not over the top and it makes sense in the context of the story line. I went on the Paris version before the refit and it was a much better ride than many simulators I've been on that are 20 years younger.
I haven't been on DBGT yet so I can't really form a full opinion until I ride it. This is more a point about rides that feature digital media in general.
