You're about to get NERFed.

Ever since the birth of the Wii, it had been seen as a different take on gaming that relied on innovative control schemes over the conventional “better graphics” approach to new generations of consoles. Though some scoffed at the approach of motion sensing controls and other interactive schemes (such as the balance board), the Wii has done one thing for sure that everyone appreciates: continued the life of arcade gaming, most notably the light gun shooter, after the slow demise of arcades.

Now, with the Wii having been on the market for just around 3 years, gamers have seen a large number of successful light gun shooters, both old and new. Some of the more recent, notable games come from EA’s new Wii-centric emphasis of development where we’ve seen a number of new games on the Wii from the giant publisher. And, being that EA has formed a large alliance with toy developer, Hasbro, we can expect many more games in the future.

NERF, in particular, is a large subsidiary of Hasbro that has lived on over the last several decades, and has seen some recent games published by E.A. By using the Wii motion controls coupled with light gun games, a novel idea has been created that has prolonged the life of NERF guns through the growing market of videogames: guns that can double as both a classic dart shooter and as a controller for a videogame. Thus is the NERF: N-Strike line of toys, where players can buy the gun or videogame separately or buy the two together as a bundle.

Solid Straight Shooter

The most recent game in the series, NERF N-Strike Elite consists of a very nice pistol with realistic weight and great functionality. I found the gun to be perfect for any current light gun games and I also found the dart gun itself an enjoyable treat (you take out the barrel to swap between darts and a Wii Remote). The game itself is also a surprisingly enjoyable experience that mimics classic arcade games such as Area 51, where players travel through a series of on-rails levels and simplistically do little more than firing at on screen enemies or power ups.

Players have the choice between any of four different characters at any time, each of which consists of a different set of specialized weapons (Blaster Specialist, Demolitions Specialist, Quickdraw Specialist, and Long Range Specialist). Though each character begins with only one weapon available, players can unlock new weapons by either spending canisters, the in-game currency, or by finding secret codes along the way. I found the difference in characters’ weapons to be a very refreshing experience throughout the game and found that I could alter my play seamlessly at anytime throughout the game.

What I found to be particularly in-depth was the level of customization that each weapon contains: Using the aforementioned canisters as currency, players can also upgrade their current weapons in a number of ways to suit their needs: Guns can have their individual stats upgraded up to three times (damage, rate of fire, reload rate, maximum ammo); individual aspects such as different scopes, beams, and barrels can be bought; different types of ammo can be purchased that have different effects on the bullets (such as heat sinking or area attack); different crosshairs can be bought; different clips allow you to hold more ammo in each reload; and colors can be customized. Overall, the amount of customization for each weapon added small amounts of RPG elements to the experience and kept it refreshing throughout.

The Good…

As for the catch to the game that separates it from previous NERF titles, E.A. found a way to play on the need for a bundle even more as this specific gun has a unique element that add to the gameplay that other guns may not have: with a red colored scope, players can use the gun to decode messages on the screen that can only be seen by looking through a red lens (the obvious solution to not needing the gun, though, would be to buy a cheap red lens or buy the old fashioned 3D glasses and look through one eye). I found this addition a novel idea but at the same time a bit of a hassle: I enjoyed decoding messages I found throughout the way but during heated battles, it was difficult to quickly use this feature when necessary (some enemies must be hit in certain spots to hurt them and these can only be seen using the scope). I found this feature to be very similar to that of the visors from Metroid Prime but only a little less accessible.

For the most part, the game follows the on-rails style of gameplay but I found that the inclusion of secret, optional areas was another major plus to the game’s appeal: If you’re quick enough at finding extra areas to shoot, your player may be able to move to a different part of the level than you would normally travel. For instance, on one level there was a water way between my area and another area with a multitude of power ups and canisters. I really wanted to get over there but on the first time through, my player just moved on and I thought you couldn’t make it there. However, the second time through, I realized that I could shoot the stalactites on the ceiling, forcing them to create a three step bridge across the water. Once I did this, my character actually moved over the water and I was able to acquire extra canisters, ammo and health refills, and a new code to attain a new gun.

The Bad…

Overall, I found the experience to be a great mix of light hearted, enjoyable light shooting, and progression throughout the game. However, that’s not to say that it didn’t have some small quirks that I ran into from time to time. For instance, during some portions of the game, you’ll be forced to shoot switches on the wall to open doors. On one part in particular, you have to shoot a switch repeatedly to cause a door to gradually close (but if you stop shooting the switch, it will gradually open back up). The issue was that hordes of missiles continually pass through the door and at you, which you must take the time to destroy before they deplete all of your life.

Now, I’m no slouch at videogames and I wasn’t even on the hardest difficulty setting, but I just could not seem to finish this part with my current character and his current arsenal of guns (after 5 minutes of trying, my character finally died). Using the blaster specialist and three modified guns unlocked, I just didn’t have a gun that could fire fast enough to make any significant amount of progress on closing the door. There would be no issue if your other teammates did anything helpful throughout the sequence (co-op would eliminate the issue as well) but alas, they make no effort to destroy any of the missiles or hit the switch. Thus, you’re left to do both at the same time, which proves fruitless unless you’re using the rapid fire guns of Komodo, the Quickdraw specialist. Quitting the level and starting the over is a pain as well since this sequence happens at the end of the level.

The (Ugly) Uninspired

Aside from the story mode, the game lacks in extra material. The only extra mode is a firing range mini-game. Here, you can choose any gun with maxed out stats but they all play the same on the same target practice field. Your goal is to do as much damage as possible by destroying an endless supply of robots and boxes throughout the range. According to the different things you destroy, you’ll be awarded a certain amount of points. Players can attain different medals according to their sharpshooting prowess but I couldn’t find any reward for your efforts.

Finally, the ugly part of this game is its price point. You’re receiving a short, on-rails, light gun experience (something around 5-7 hours) and a generic NERF dart gun for an MSRP of $59.99. This is the price of a high end PS3 or Xbox 360 title, but most certainly more expensive than even the best Wii games. I understand that NERF guns costs some serious money but I couldn’t see the game itself priced at anything higher than $20 (I know that the Resident Evil and Dead Space shooters on the Wii are fairly expensive but they’re more immersive, while House of the Dead is more like this experience and either of the titles, House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return or House of the Dead: Overkill, are at MSRPs of $29.99 and $19.99 respectively but drastically reduced on Amazon to $17.49 or $19.49 respectively). That means you could buy either House of the Dead title, Nyko’s Perfect Shot gun for the Wii ($9.49 on Amazon), and NERF’s N-Strike Maverick pistol ($9.88 on Amazon) for around $20 less than this bundle price (reduced to $58.99 on Amazon). I know the gun includes the red lens functionality that kids might enjoy but I just would rather have separate items at a lower price than all of them bundled in one box at $20 more.

Summary

NERF: N-Strike Elite is a solid light gun shooter for the Wii that is obviously targeted towards a younger audience. Despite some hiccups here or there and a short experience, the game itself has some nice customization elements as well as some very solid shooting along the way. My biggest quip with the game, however, is that it lacks extra material and the bundle itself is a bit pricey. At around $20 less, I would recommend this bundle to any family looking to buy gifts for their children and/or anyone else just looking for an old fashioned NERF Style laugh (at the expense of your unsuspecting friends).