French theme park and zoo, Le Pal, has launched its first interactive, media-based ride.

Called Smash & Reload, the dark ride features a story built around "crazy mushrooms" and mixes humour with a sustainability message to engage modern audiences.

Replacing an ageing 4D-cinema experience, the new ride was designed in partnership by BoldMove and Triotech.

Featuring rotating vehicles, riders on Smash & Reload enter a mission of saving a village from an attack of the mushrooms that have been transformed by industrial pollution.

The four-minute ride features five different scenes, during which the riders must defend the village by smashing the mushrooms using gun-type pointing devices.

According to Bruno Campon, Le Pal's operations director, the attraction presents the "very essence" of a dark ride, with a strong focus on family fun and a well-balanced mix of interactivity, storytelling and IP use.

Smash & Reload utilises the IP license “TooMush”, produced by the French graphic studio Polymorph.

Cambon said: "A deciding factor for our choice was the very high throughput of over 400 persons per hour across five vehicles, which allows us to spread visitors and reduce waiting times during busy days.

"Many visitors will be encouraged to return and improve their game so they can move up their position in the high score ranking.

" Another key element for us was that the ride has been designed to fit the space we have available in the building, which means no major construction work.

"The entire attraction is a turnkey project that will be delivered by the BoldMove and Triotech teams. BoldMove will also take care of the creative and experience design so the queue line and building facade will gear up visitors towards the actual experience.

"We are very charmed by the IP, as well as the intuitive interactive system: simply push the button to 'reload' and pull the trigger to 'smash' the mushrooms."

Located in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Besbre, Le Pal combines a theme park and a zoo and houses more than 1,000 animals and a wide range of rides and attractions.