Soft launched yesterday, Sega Republic is the latest addition to Dubai Mall’s ever growing list of entertainment venues. According to the website,
SEGA Republic is a high-adrenaline indoor theme park for the whole family. Conveniently located at The Dubai Mall, the 76,000 sq ft park has five themed zones featuring 9 thrilling attractions and more than 150 games, from cutting-edge motion simulators and virtual experiences to one of the region’s largest assortment of redemption games. Developed by Emaar Retail in association with Japan-based SEGA Corporation, one of the global leaders in high-tech entertainment, SEGA Republic brings you a thrilling, unforgettable experience that’s sure to have you coming back for more.
Thrilling? Yes. Unforgettable? Yes. Coming back for more? We’ll have to see…
The park is split up into five themed zones. Here’s a look at some (we didn’t go on all, thought we’d save a few for our next visit) of the rides we went on.
Speed Zone
Filled with some great racing simulators, speed junkies (and we know Dubai is full of them…) will love this zone! Lets hope they don’t try any of this on Shk Zayed Rd.
Storm-G: A high speed bob sled ride (along the lines of Wipeout) that twists and turns 360°!
Outrun 2 SP: Classic Outrun, head to head against 4 other players.
Oh dear… well, it is a soft launch. Lesson to be learned folks, say NO to Windows.
Redemption Zone
You earn points for every game played in this zone (higher the score, higher the points) which can then be redeemed for gifts, sega merchandise, etc… fair warning though, you’ll need to rack up a LOT of points to get anything decent. By the end of the night, I won about 50 odd points which I could redeem for… BUBBLEGUM!
Adventure Zone
Def my favourite zone, there’s an indoor rollercoaster ride, rock climbing wall and three brilliant simulators Wild Jungle, Wild Wing and Let’s Go Jungle.
Sports Zone
Simulators for almost every single sport you can think of – Virtual Bowling, Ping Pong, Golf, Football, Bill Bow (interesting hybrid between Billiards and Bowling) and a life size snowboard half-pipe simulator.
Cyberpop Zone
Didn’t get a chance to take any photos of this zone. It had a couple of arcade games like House of the Dead and some photo sticker machines… nothing too exciting.
Catboy and the crew from Dubai 92 also visited Sega Republic yesterday. Here are some of the rides that tried out:
Click here to see HD version.
I enjoyed my time at Sega Republic, while I have my doubts on it’s long term appeal (once you’ve done all the rides, there’s not much to make you come back) overall, it’s entertaining, will score you big brownie points with your kids and is a welcome indoor reprieve from the summer heat!
For more info on rides, ticket prices and opening hours visit http://www.segarepublic.com.
