NERF N-Strike Review - Wii

6

Gameplay: 6
Graphics: 4
Audio: 3
Multiplayer: 6
Innovation: 6

Introduction

It is a rare game that appeals to the tastes of gamers both young and old, and also manages to be simple enough for the littlies while having depth for mature players. The Mario Kart franchise is one of the best when it comes to fostering this universal attraction. NERF N-Strike does not try to have the best of both worlds – it’s squarely focussed at a child audience – but it nevertheless holds some appeal to older players.

It is worth noting that the game comes packaged with a real life NERF gun and three darts. You can slide out the firing mechanism and slot in the Wii remote, at which point you can use the trigger to press the B button and shoot in the game. Sure, it adds nothing to the game, but as far as the marketing goes, it’s bloody genius. They’ll be including codes in real NERF guns that you buy in stores that you can enter into the game and unlock for use. Like I said, marketing genius.

Gameplay

NERF N-Strike is a first-person shooter, but since it’s tied into the NERF brand, your weapons fire foam darts. Unfortunately for the myriad of mechanical monsters you’ll face off against, they have a crippling weakness to medium density foam, and will explode with a few hits. Actually, it’s not entirely an FPS. In the main Mission mode, you progress through four arenas ruled over by a variety of comically racist stereotypes in a loose plot told in comic book cutscenes.

Each arena has five challenges, and while all involve shooting, they are not all simply action. Taking a cue from that other EA property, Boom Blox, there are some physics based puzzle stages that are genuinely fun. One, called Blockade, hides a goal block in the centre of a fort, and you have a certain amount of time to uncover it by destroying the surrounding pieces. Others task you with clearing away blocks while leaving others behind. Then there’s the Spheres mode, which is kind of like pinball, either tasking you with shooting at balls to knock them through doorways, or hammering them with enough shots to make them explode. Both are great fun.

There are also the more traditional modes. Onslaught, as the name suggests, pits you against wave after wave of enemies, while Recognition is more like a shooting gallery, and requires you to pick out particular coloured robots in limited time frames. The foam darts are not like guns – they travel more slowly and arc through the air. You need to shoot where an enemy will be, rather than where they are, or you’ll miss them completely. Once you’ve beaten the reigning champ in all four of the arena’s tasks, you face off in the Revolt mode, and enter a labyrinth in an on-rails shooter. Rinse and repeat with harder challenges through the four arenas, and then face off against the final boss after a long labyrinth stage.

There’s nothing really wrong with NERF N-Strike. The controls ...