Jan Luis Trejo
4/12/23
For many people, playing video games is a hobby, a time to disconnect yourself from the world, but at National Laser Tag and Games at La Plaza Mall, they take that hobby to the next level.
In the eyes of Cesar Barbin, owner of National Laser Tag and Games, Laser Tag, and VR games are more than video games, they are a lifestyle. He was so friendly and helpful when I arrived at the place, but he also explained that it was a brand-new building.
They just opened a day before Easter. The arcade includes a game of mini golf in which pieces of the ground move to create challenging obstacles, a basketball game with a theme of zombies, and other games that have never been seen in the Rio Grande Valley before.
But two games are the game changers: Laser tag and a VR game zone. As a 22-year-old VR, it is something new to me, and I felt old not knowing how to use it. He explained to me the game zone shown in the picture.
To warm up they put you in their virtual arcade to practice, which is CRAZY; an arcade inside an arcade. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Initially, you feel strange, but after a few minutes, you will be used to it.
In the virtual arcade, you can play basketball, win prizes at the claw machine, play some arcade games, and eat pizza and waffles. Before the game begins, you lose track of time. We started at six and finished at nine pm.
It’s UNBELIEVABLE how the time flew. I played two games: the first game that I played was a “Call of Duty” strategy game of making barriers and surviving the waves of zombies. During the game, the zombies got difficult to kill, and to win the game you needed to kill the boss, and as a rookie of VR I made it to the boss level and lost.
The second game that I played took place in medieval times. You have to use a bow and arrows to protect the tree of life from a skeleton army, the same result I made it to the boss and I lost. To get better, I have to play more.
As we finished playing in the VR zone, Cesar Barbin, the owner, told us that they were planning a laser tag tournament, but this tournament will have a big twist. Every team will have a ranking on a board, and a leaderboard will rank the player with the most kills over the course of the event. At the end of the tournament, the first team and the kill leader will win awards.
Being inside the laser tag was amazing, the sound of the guns and the kinds of music put you in a mood similar to “Call of Duty”. I had a lot of fun, and the interesting thing about this laser tag was that you had to aim at your opponent, precision was one of the most crucial aspects of the laser tag that I’ve participated in. In other laser tags, you don’t care about that, you just shoot like crazy, but here you need to keep your eyes on the opponent, and your assistant station manager finally won the game.
It is definitely one of the best afternoons of this year. All of this can be experienced at La Plaza Mall. You will have a good time with good people, good food and good games.
For more information, you can visit their Facebook page National Laser Tag and Games.
