Nintendo Wii Nerf N-Strike Video Game Review
Hasbro's Nerf Blaster First-Person-Shooter Targets Kids
Jan 8, 2009
Following the lead of Traveler's Tales and Lego, Hasbro and Electronic Arts, Inc. team up for another product-placement game targeting kids. Pros: this fun Nerf game is rated E for Everyone (10+ for Fantasy Violence, controls are simple enough for younger gamers), and players only shoot at targets, inanimate objects, and robots.
Cons: it's merchandising at its best, and parents may feel the pressure to buy more Nerf toys as a result of this game.
Convertible Blaster is Made Specifically for the Nintendo Wii System
Lovers of the classic Nintendo game "Duck Hunt" will have finally found the Wii version they've been longing for. With the additional Nerf Switch Shot EX-3 Blaster, players even have a gun to satisfy that itchy trigger finger. The Switch Shot has a removable plastic cartridge portion to make room for the Wii remote. Pulling the trigger presses the B button during game play.
The plastic cartridge itself includes three Nerf darts, and can fire up to 15' with a single pull to "cock" the toy blaster.
The Nerf N-Strike game and additional Blasters can be purchased separately, but they are more commonly marketed together as an "Action Pack". Multi-player mode can handle up to four Wii Remotes. If there are four children at play, it may be necessary to forgo the blaster entirely, or to purchase additional Switch Shot Blasters for fair game play.
The game is easily played using just the Wii remotes without the blaster, but it is less realistic, and perhaps not quite as cool.
Multiple Game Modes for Nerf "Elite N-Strike Elite Agents" to Test Skills
The Mission Mode introduces the personalities of the six characters users can select to represent them in Free Play and Multi-Player modes. Parents will notice a mini-homage to "The Last Starfighter" mixed in with Shane's discovery in the arcade. The story follows Shane through his recruitment through the levels of the current N-Strike Elite. A mildy diverse group including comic-booky Asian and Latin pre-teens: code names Komodo, Jackal, Raven (the girl), and Tango.
Within each of the Mission Mode levels are increasingly difficult gauntlets each designed around the same basic games:
- Magnospheres - players learn about action & reaction and to bounce the spheres where they want them
- Blockade - logic and physics puzzles that require accuracy and patience, some sniper skills are a plus
- Onslaught (and Onslaught Eclipse, which is the same thing - in the dark) where various robots come at the stationary shooter in a non-stop barrage
- Look Alive (in later levels this is called "Revolt!" when the robots are not neutral testers anymore) This is the first-person shooter game walking through the halls of N-Strike and shooting at robots, while avoiding the monitoring robot, B.O.B. This game is all about reflexes, and reloading your weapon during downtime.
- Recognition (and the more advanced speed-shooting versions, "Stand-off "and "Draw") require the shooter to listen to instructions, and shoot only the targeted robots by color. Speed, precision, and careful attention to detail all come into play.
There is also a Blasting Range located on each level for practice without scoring points. The "Mission Mode" is played by one player at a time, as is Free Play.
Multi-Player mode can support up to 4 Wii remotes. First, players select which character they will each play, then they choose together up to ten events to comprise their own personalized gauntlet.
Consumerism more of a Concern for Parents than Violence
The main menu has an option for entering cheat codes which unlock additional blasters during game play. Registering your copy of the game online with EA Inc will be rewarded with hints and tips (and maybe a cheat code), but most of the codes can be found in the Nerf N-Strike Products. As the Maverick, Vulcan and other top-secret blasters are "declassified" and sold in stores, kids can find cheat codes for the video games in particular toy packaging.
Since players are never aiming at one another, the violence is minimal. The robots shoot Nerf darts at the players "shields" and strike the inside of the television screen with a little suction cup, momentarily obscuring the view of the field.
Because the characters are competing for "elite" status against one another, they have pre-recorded "smack talk" that can get repetitious from one round to the next in Mission Mode. If your kids are already talking tough, you may want to keep the game on mute!
There are some learning and decision-making skills involved with this game, because the blasters have varying speeds, dart capacities and power. Each level, the player must select from among available blasters which one will suit them best in the coming challenge. The logic and physics of the blockade and magnospheres levels are also great puzzles for kids just discovering science.
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