Its 2012, Thorpe Park opened The Swarm, Chessington opened A new themed land; Africa and Alton Towers have opened Nemesis: Sub-Terra.
Nemesis: Sub-Terra is a £4 Millon dark ride manufactured by ABC rides, It is themed around the discovery of a nest of eggs from the Nemesis creature.
The moment you see the rides daunting building, your intrigued, The Phalanx operatives patrolling the area really add to the mystery the ride creates, the very moment you enter the queue, you are bombarded by multiple televisions screens, they vaguely explain the rides story, it uses a series of clips from the original Nemesis promotional film to explain the story to the riders. Once you have got to the end of the queue and given your bags in, you are ushered in to a room and told to line up infront of lifts, after a full group is inside the room, a pre-show starts, explaining the story in more detail, I thought the pre show was great, I really liked the clips which showed the Phalanx actually fighting the Nemesis creature, after the pre-show, you enter the lifts, The lifts do a great job of simulating your descent into the central core, inside the lifts, another pre-show plays, explaining that we are now going far underground to witness the spectacle of a single Nemesis egg.
Once you exit the lifts, you are lead down a corridor into the ride area. The ride areas theming is spectacular, The beeping heart monitor, the lights, and of course, the egg itself. Once your seated, yet another pre-show plays, telling you that, although they thought the egg to be dormant, it has recently been showing signs of life, the lights suddenly go out, multiple sound effects are played and you are sprayed with water, once the lights come back on, the egg is hatched, strobes start to flash and then all of a sudden, You drop.
The drop takes you into an underground cave, this cave is the nest of the other eggs which you were warned about in the pre-show, The lights go out again and you are then poked in the back and feet by, what is supposedly, the newly hatched creatures tentacles, the ride is then raised back into the main chamber, strobes are flashing in the chamber and you are told to be evacuated, you are then rushed into another lift to take you to safety. Once you are in the lift it starts to "go back up to the surface", The lights in the lift then go out and the lift starts shaking vigorously, Once the shaking stops, the door open and a Phalanx operative tells you to leave.
I really enjoyed Sub-Terra, I think its a great expansion on the Nemesis story and a solid dark ride, I found the drop to be quite forceful and the effects to really add to the experience.
8/10
Best guest comments of the day
(During the first Pre-Show) "Is this real?"
(After the ride) "I thought it was a rollercoaster"