New Arcadia: Revolution

By: Eric Jason Martin

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin, Matthew Mercer, Erika Ishii, Sam Riegel, Dave Fennoy, Marin Ireland, January LaVoy, James Urbaniak, Emily Lynne

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In the not-so-distant future, a deadly plague has forced billions into their homes, and locked them up tight. Hope may soon arrive in the form of an effective new cure from the mega-global Chum Corporation, but not before they decide their customers are ready for it.

That’s why they’ve created New Arcadia—a real-as-life virtual-reality game designed to bring the isolated people of the world together again.

After its successful launch in New Arcadia: Stage One, the game is being updated and expanded with a new rhythm-game mechanic to bring players together on the dance floor. No longer just for 1990s arcade fighting-game fans, all ages are being welcomed to the virtual party now.

For Prime Beta Tester John Chambers and his friends in New Arcadia, the stakes have never been higher. As the original players of the game, they feel a duty to ensure the new arrivals in New Arcadia adapt successfully to the world and prove to the Chum Corporation that people are ready to come together again in real life.

But there are other players within the game who have a more sinister objective—and they’ll do anything to ensure that the online experiment of New Arcadia is doomed to disaster and the people of the world continue to languish in solitude for a long, long time.

To succeed, John and his friends will have to conquer the mean streets of New Arcadia. And kill it on the dance floor.

Starring:

• Eric Jason Martin (Heads Will Roll)
• Matthew Mercer (The Legend of Vox Machina)
• Erika Ishii (Cyberpunk 2077)
• Sam Riegel (The Legend of Vox Machina)
• Dave Fennoy (The Walking Dead)
• Marin Ireland (The Umbrella Academy)
• January LaVoy (Law and Order)
• James Urbaniak (Venture Brothers)
• Emily Lynne (Heads Will Roll)

Also starring:

• Ray Porter (Zack Snyder's Justice League)
• Emily Woo Zeller (Cyberpunk 2077)
• Jon Gabrus (101 Places to Party Before You Die)
• Dana Snyder (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
• Connor Ratliff (Dead Eyes)
• and Jeff Gerstmann (The Jeff Gerstmann Show)

With Scott Brick, Suzanne Elise Freeman, P.J. Ochlan, Travis Baldree, Betsy Sodaro, Tara Sands, Neil Hellegers, Justin Michael, Rachel Butera, Seth Allen, Gary Furlong, and Alison Rosen.

"New Arcadia Theme" by Lloyd Cole

Original soundtrack by Casey Trela

Original song: "Dance of Life":

• Written by Casey Trela, Ann Algorithm, and Eric Jason Martin
• Performed by Emily Lynne

Postproduction by Mumble Media: Jake Young, Jaymeson Catsouphes, Renee Vargas, Cara Ehlenfeldt, and Felicia Dominguez

©2022 Eric Jason Martin (P)2022 Sound Off Productions

2nd Book even better than 1st in series!

I received a free copy from audible. Overall, I enjoyed the audio book and production. I am not a gamer, but I was in college in the '90s and enjoyed the retro aspect. The production quality is amazing! I loved the full cast of actors for each character, sound effects and music. It's right up there with ReadyPlayerOne and Battlefield Earth in that aspect. l am looking forward to the 3rd book!

Great Listen!

The story line is fun and the actors for the characters do a wonderful job. looking forward to book 3!

Excited for the 3rd book!

Like the Captain America movies, New Arcadia keeps getting better and better! This book is so much fun!

Outstanding sequel

I love the humor and multi-talented narrator team performing this series. The story kept me engaged to the end and I look forward to the next! So many laugh out loud moments in this. Thank you for the entertainment!

Can't wait for the next one!

The only bad thing about this book was that it had to end. As a person who grew up in the '80s in '90s, you've got to love the throwbacks. It's very well written, and the voice actors truly pull everything together! After the first book, I couldn't wait for the second book to come out, and now I feel the same way. I can't wait for the next episode!

Five stars aren't enough!

I absolutely loved this book! After listening to the first book twice last year, I contacted the author to ask if he was planning a sequel. He actually replied to me and said he was hard at work on it and anticipated a 2022 release. I had searched for it periodically and finally saw that it had been released a month ago. I was so pumped!

And I am so blown away! I think this one is as good as the first, possibly better. I'm certainly not going to spoil anything, but I think if you enjoyed the first book, you shouldn't hesitate to get this one. It's so good! I think my favorite part was when Winona mentioned Blaze and Beata (or was it Berta?) responded, "Like the fire?" I think I actually cackled. Or maybe it was when Blaze actually got his head on straight and sorted through some of his anger issues... Yeah, that actually happened in this one! (I don't think that's much of a spoiler.)

I've read reviews on Goodreads about the first book being a ripoff of Ready Player One. I think that's absurd. RPO was a fun read, but it lacked the awesome humor of New Arcadia. Also, while Will Wheaton did a great job on it, I don't remember the last time I listened to an audiobook that could match New Arcadia in terms of production value.

The full cast was amazing (even Travis Baldree and Ray Porter were there!) and I loved every moment of it. And Emily Woo Zeller? Fantastic! Honestly, everyone involved did such a great job, I was blown away by every performance; I just have to point out the new voices that I immediately recognized. The cast definitely grew as the New Arcadia player base expanded.

Now I can't wait for the next one!

Interesting continuation

I could not get into to dance part of the story, but that was because I never was into to dance revolution games growing up. I loved the sound effects and music. The knock off of popular brands was interesting, it made me think of what they could be. And I agree Furbys are creepy, I have one in a box, I pulled the Batteries fast.

Silly? Yes. Still loved it? You bet.

Honestly, when I try to explain to other people why this book is so entertaining, they keep looking at me like I'm super lame. This book is just as awesome if not more so than the first. Can't wait to listen to another in the series.

Delightfully 90s, yet with a true flavor of 2022-23, if COVID was still a problem. -And if Amazon took over and was the savior of mankind. Could have happened...well maybe not the Ready Player One part where we can all escape into a completely immersive Oni-ware world that acts like a 90s Beat Em Up game.

Right after listening to the first book, I fell into beat em up arcade style games on Nintendo Switch and played Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Final Fight, Streets of Rage and Ninja Turtles, among others.

Sweet idea bro. This book was a wicked good addition. The German Pop stars were a bit annoying, but I get it. Kudos on bringing zombie brands into the fray. Nice touch. Super weird to hear Frylocke yelling and kinda pigeon holed Dr. Rusty Venture's voice in the character of Brick, but so fun to hear those voice actors.

I'm a fan of the full cast with soundtrack. Party on Wayne. Party on Garth.

New Arcadia is back, and better than ever!

If you enjoyed the first stage of new Arcadia, then believe me when I say; YOURE GONNA LOVE THIS ONE!!
With the need to open up the New Arcadia game to a wider audience, a new Dancing mechanic is added to the game. So while being a classic arcade beat 'em up, it's also got a mix of DDR thrown in... much to blazes disapproval.
I adore anything having a "living in a video game" premise, and this book blew me away! It's like ready player one but instead of an 80s obsession, it's a 90's obsession! This book is totally awesome, do yourself a favor and get both in the series and await the third with me!

So good.

I really can’t think of anything that I didn’t love about this. I loved the first book, which had great performances, a great audio aesthetic, and brought back all kinds of nostalgia. It also told a really relevant story for our new Covid-19 normal.

Isolation and reconnecting through games is a great premise. And with the right exposure and use, games have been shown as an effective therapeutic medium. So, it spoke to me.

This installment not only ups the ante in every way with more great characters, higher stakes, and a more expansive world, especially of the in-game world within the story, it brings in more and new chip tune music including an original song.