Laser Force
22585 Ecorse Rd.
Taylor, MI 48180
(313) 299-1300

Lobby

The lobby design was pretty well laid out and looked pretty good. However, they were in the process of redecorating, and it wasn’t yet complete. However, the parts that were complete looked incredible. Probably the highlight, however, was the bathroom design. They were in the same style as the new lobby design, but the dimmer black lighting there greatly increased the effect. The video game selection was quite good, with the stock selection of game styles: racing, fighting, a few misc., and an air hockey table. However, they had one element found in none of the other laser tag centers: a pool table. This is something I have heard several people wish for at other places. Another nice feature was the TV monitor in the lobby, with scores displays from the previous game. Despite the good design, the lobby had a few bad points. First was the lack of seating. With the exception of a small 2 person bench, which actually looks more like a podium, everyone had to stand while waiting for your game, unless the party room is empty. The other bad point was the party room. While it had the same new cool design, it was only separated from the lobby by an open doorway, and lacked an element of privacy.

 

Briefing

Once the game was about to begin, we were taken into the briefing room, which was also decorated in the new style. It was nice that it was separated from the equipment room by a closed door. This keeps an exiting game from distracting a briefing, and helps to ensure that any jackets and purses left in the equipment room were pretty safe during the game. In the briefing room were 3 separate racks for the 3 color teams (red, green, and yellow) which were accessible from both sides. This helped space everyone out and increase accessibility to the equipment during suit-up. The equipment itself had sensors on the chest, back, both shoulders, and the gun. The gun was two handed, with a heat sensor on the front bottom side.

 

Maze

The overall appearance of the maze walls and barriers was good, although it too was going to be redone. The front half of the maze was a lot of twists and turns, probably to help break everyone up in the first 15 seconds. The back half of the maze had a second floor walkway around the perimeter. This provided some good sniping opportunities. However, they were a bit unbalanced. Since the walls were solid, except for some small holes that are useless from below, the sniper above had only gun and shoulders exposed, while the player below was a wide open, sitting duck. I think that some mirrors on the ceiling above the snipers would give the player below a decent chance of actually getting the snipers. There were a few gratings in the second level floor, however, they were in the corners, which were mostly unoccupied, making them not very useful. There were only 2 things that helped remove the snipers. First, the upstairs had practically no pillars or full height walls, making upstairs players very vulnerable to each other. However, this is still no consolation to the players below. The other good point is that all bases were on the first floor, so if the snipers wanted them, they would have to come down, at least temporarily. However, both ramps to the upper level met at the same place, so there was only entranceway, and people who were upstairs tended to get stuck up there. Sometimes you would get a deadlock, where one team is trying to get up, and one team is trying to get down, so they just sit there indefinitely.

 

Afterthoughts

After the match, a few things came to mind. First, the 3 team concept worked out very well. By having 2 opposing teams, you were always outnumbered. This meant there were more targets to go after, making it almost seem like a solo game. Also, this made it harder to secure and hold onto a good position, keeping all teams in check. Second, I thought the equipment worked very well. The sensors seemed pretty accurate and easy to hit. The heat sensor in the gun wasn’t all too inconvenient. I did have a small blurp where it didn’t recognize my hand was there, but nothing major at all. The good point about the guns is that when you don’t have a second hand on it, it flashes a red light rather than beeping. That way you don’t give away your position.

 

The one problem I did have with the equipment was in determining teams. First, the yellow and green were easy to confuse at first, until you nitice that the green looks like a light yellow, and the yellow looks like orange or amber. Also, when a person is stunned (hit in shoulders or gun) their pack flashes all colors, and I have not been able to tell any way to identify what team they are on. This is a pain because sometimes you see someone stunned walk out of a hallway, and you have to decide quick whether you should shoot. I think the best way is probably to shoot anyway, since the score gains greatly outweigh the losses. The only other problem I noticed is that occasionally, the cable that connects the pack and gun either falls out, or doesn't make good contact, so you have to wiggle it.

 

Score Sheets

Upon returning to the lobby to pick up my score card, I was quite pleased with it. It was basically laid out identically to Zap Zone (except with a 3rd team, of course). It was well laid out and easy to compare and analyze scores and information. The score sheets gave game type, score, % accuracy, and finishing position in the game, as well as the hit counts. The hit counts were listed as grand total by sensor, and by player by sensor, with players grouped into teams. The other nice feature was that it gave you everybody’s scores, so that you know whether you were 5 points or 5000 points out of first place. The graphical layout wasn’t as nice as Zap Zone’s, but the multicolor design was definitely nicer.

 

I did have a problem once where we only got scoresheets from 2 of our 5 games. Two of them we didn't get because we played 2 games in a row and they forgot to print them for the first game. They usually only print them if you ask for them, and you have to be sure to ask for them before the next game finishes. Once, I did ask and they still forgot to print them. The other time we didn't get it was because there was a problem with the computer and it lost the scores. I collect all my scoresheet from every game I ever play, so that day was a disappointment. However, the other times we were there, we got all our sheets. Perhaps it was just a bad night. I'll update this information after I play there several more times and see how things turn out with the scoresheet situation.

 

 

Overall Experience

All in all, I would rate Laser Force as excellent. The equipment worked great and the maze was very well designed, with a few exceptions, one of which could easily be fixed. I will definitely be heading back there again. In fact, I just picked up a membership there, and I might be looking at joining their leagues. An excellent place for beginners and experienced players alike.

Note: The review given here is completely impartial. Information contained in it was compiled mostly from the experiences of our small 4 person group, with various input from several other people we met playing there. The experiences we descibe here are based on 9 games played by each of us.

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