Serenity Plaza – Juggernaut Just Gets It
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
I was playing a game late Saturday night with some good friends when I was sent an invite into Home by another friend. I looked at the invite, and though I was really having fun playing, when I saw the word “plaza” in the invite. I immediately said my goodbyes and followed into Home. It was Juggernaut’s new Serenity Plaza, and I had been biting at the bit to see it since I read Terra’s article the other day.
I was not disappointed.
This space wasn’t even supposed to be here until next week, yet here it was, an early and accidental Fourth of July present for all of us to enjoy. When you first go in be prepared for a long load. It took quite awhile for me to get there, and others have frozen attempting to get in, but the wait was worth it. The space is huge – like Central Plaza on steroids – and it has a lot of things to do.
It sits on what appears to be an island in a vast lake or ocean, something lacking in the last plaza, water is a prevalent feature here, and they have added all of the sounds it has to offer. Upon arrival, you’ll get some rewards, and if you stick around, more will be added to your stash – nice ones too.
Now granted, Acorn Meadows is just as big and just as beautiful in it’s own way. There’s quite a bit to do there as well, when the games are working, which they haven’t been for me since it showed up. But Juggernaut hit the nail on the head with this space. The MiniBots Arena game worked for me the first time I tried it, and it looks like it is going to be a heck of a lot of fun once there’s more people to play with, as there was no one there this time. There is a scoreboard outside the starting place, and naturally that means there will be people jostling for first place for a long time to come.
There’s also a door near the well wrought dance floor, where the Party Machine plays electronic music that says Champions Club. This tends to make me think that those who reach the heights of the leaderboards will be allowed an exclusive area eventually to congregate. While this idea isn’t a new one, it adds to the excitement and the amount of effort that people will put into playing the game.
As for the game itself, it’s a very cool arena, filled with hidey holes, crates and weapon upgrades to find. It had several other choices for customized layouts that will need to be unlocked by the players as they advance. The game had all of the weapons and gadgets there for me (as I own all of them), but those who haven’t bought the games or the upgrades that it offers will have only the basics. This will – hopefully – drive sales for the game, which is a brilliant strategy, as it’s one of the most underplayed and underrated games that Home has to offer. It’s just a lot of fun and people are missing out.
When Juggernaut gave everyone in Home the MiniBots Training personal space for free, many of us thought it was a mistake. They had given the milk for free, so why buy the cow? But now they have done this, the results will be overflowing into Juggernauts coffers. It is a bold strategy and one I hope works for them. The fact that the game gives a plethora of rewards won’t hurt either, I am sure.
There are a lot of other things here in Serenity to give all who arrive many diversions. They have used this to promote all of their product lines – a smart move – and yet it feels like you are in a true homage to Central Plaza. From the central fountain, sans Saucer Pop game, to the little path over the water where you find their spring line of carousels, swings and hopping bunnies.
You will get a true feeling of nostalgia when you get here, at least those of us who were here during the CP age will. There is a great topiary of Juggernaut products near the spring line products. Juggernaut has thought of every detail.
The windmill that has Bramblenook products near it seems a bit out of place in this modern day plaza, but yet it fits right in at the same time. The baby pig, lamb and chick wander about at your feet, and like all of the other areas, there is a store to take you directly to the products they are representing. All of their product lines are represented here, even a genie floats in front of a store to bring you to Palace of the Seven Winds,
One of the things I found to be the most fun on first try was the reactions of the many MiniBots and other gadgets wandering about the place. When you encounter them, they are interactive with you. They bow or wave, and just like their companion and game counterparts, they emote in various ways. One trips and falls – Furious Cabbage beats his chest like a gorilla. All of these antics fill the place with life, something that was sorely lacking in the old Central Plaza.
There are sounds to be found everywhere, from the rotating windmills gears to the dance floor to the water jets in the fountain, and they all have their own areas that give you many choices of the moods you you can experience – from hectic to serene, hence the name of the space. The entire center is dominated by the sounds of water and birds and an occasional whizzing car-type gadget that pops out of little doors built into the various walls. There are plenty of varied seating to be found all over the space.
All of these things add to the ambiance they have mastered and it shows us that Juggernaut just gets it. We wanted a new hangout space, like the old Central Plaza and they gave it to us, in spades.
This is going to be the new go -to space in Home for a long time to come. If I had a hat I would take it off and salute you Juggernaut.
- They nailed it!
- Lots to do
- Great scenery
- Great games and music
- Huge area to wander and ride locomotions in
- Nada
June 26th, 2013 by Burbie52 | 8 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
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Juggernaut managed to create a showcase but made it a good place to hang. The Plaza will surely draw some Accorn meadow regulars.
Turning mini bots into an “open tournament” will defenetively earn them a couple sales. There’s already some addict there.
Only concern I have is how many good hanging public place can the community support?
ohh.. And I heard theres a special bonus for killing Jugbots_one!
I was one of the lucky ones who got to visit the “unreleased” space. I do wonder whether making it accessible was an accident, or an unofficial “stress test”. Either way, it is a fun, attractive space, and a worthy heir to the vanished Central Plaza.
My only complaint so far is that the wandering Minibots, vehicles and farm animals have “collision” turned on, so if they bump into you in their random walks they push you around. I really see no reason why this should happen. Perhaps it can be patched later. But if that’s the worst issue the space has, it’s close to perfect.
As of this response, I’m enjoying the tasteful music that’s in the channel but something inside of me misses the spamming of “Chain Swing”.
The layout is much the same as the original Central Plaza but is definitely serene, attractive, and overall a visual piece of candy.
definitely worth the 5.0 score.
There really needs to be a “Central Plaza” boombox with all those old favorites. There shouldn’t be any intellectual property issues, since Sony owns all those tracks, right?
I went to this place a few days ago, and I was floored. I loved the old Central Plaza, and really mourned it’s passing, but Juggernaut hit this one on the bull’s eye! It is perfect. I don’t care that it is a showcase for their line of products. It is made so well and yes the mini-bots game worked from the get go and that was a relief, though I was beat like a drum by the folks I played against.
The place was made to look a lot like the old CP and that’s amazing. The smallest detail is a call back to the CP, even where the dance floor is in relation to the spawn point. The 5 you gave this place is right, just too bad there were not more stars or thumbs up or scratch-n-sniff stickers to give this place. I love it and it is an epic win in terms of giving us CP mourners a CP replica. Great job Juggernaut…again! Great read Burbie.
Thanks for the review Burbie! I think this space will fit that hole that the Central Plaza left quite nicely. It was alot of fun to hang out here and I hope it becomes a busy place!
Ive recently swapped my ISP and was told it would be a “seamless transfer”. Four days without internet at my work later and it seems every developer and their mum are pushing out cool content -- think Ive already missed all the to-be-removed-so-giving-it-away-free stuff in the Gift Machine and won’t get to see this new CP for however much longer it takes to send me some plastic either.
Typical.
After reading this, Im even more grumpy about the whole thing. Damn yoooo Unicom!!!
This time last year we were waiting for no man’s land, mercia, home tycoon and uproar. This year we get serenity plaza, digital leisures old west space and granzellas plaza by twilight, with acorn park released all these are social spaces with mini games included. Actually think there’s more to look forward to this year than last