Nerf N-Strike Elite (Wii)

NERF N-STRIKE ELITE is the followup to last year’s on-rails shooter based on the popular Hasbro Nerf toy franchise. Just like last year, Jackal, your NERF agent commander, calls the rough-and-ready four-member squad together to take on the malevolent B.O.B. and his constantly-marauding robotic minions. With 16 new Nerf Blasters at the ready, Shane, Tango, Komodo, and Raven shoot through various outdoor missions, in environments  full of massive canyons and water features. The game comes bundled with a real Nerf gun into which the Wii controller fits.

Nerf N-Strike Elite's play mechanic of shooting through wild environments can be an exhilarating ride -- if you haven’t played last year's Nerf N-Strike. With no blood and no humans dying, it fun to see what crazy damage the Nerf guns can do in this sci-fi world. The big change this year, aside from refining the formula, is a Red Reveal lens that shows you where to shoot enemies and highlights access codes so you can move forward through locked doors.

Especially pesky is green goo called Vileplasm that globs onto your blaster and sucks energy until you shake it away. But without online play and an open world which you can explore instead of ride through, the game has limited worth in the replay realm. Then again, you can always re-imagine the scenarios with the included Switch Shot EX-3 Nerf blaster gun away from the game console, since this controller also shoots the famous, safe foam darts. Finally, it’s unfortunate for last year’s buyers that you can’t simply buy the game; instead you have to purchase the new gun and game together.