Reviews / previews
Games like Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament make it apparent that one of the biggest draws to first person shooters remains the deathmatch. Unfortunately up until now there have been very few less violent alternatives that still provide that first-person excitement.
Hasbro Interactive seeing an opportunity has released Nerf Arena Blast (NAB), a first-person shooter based on their extensive Nerf license that delivers multiplayer-styled arena action without the blood, gore or excessive language of more mature titles like KingPin. Released under Hasbro's growing Atari line of titles, NAB could easily be dismissed as a "kiddie" game, in fact it's actually a fairly well put together action shooter-just without the gore.
Powered by the Unreal engine, Nerf Arena Blast features eight colorful arenas and three styles of events for both single and multiplayer games. The settings aren't always easy on the eyes with their day-glow colors and bright neon, but the rendering is excellent and the developers have created some very complex arenas for players to do battle-from futuristic space station to a medieval style fortress.
The gameplay is similar to first-person shooters with players beginning with a basic weapon (in this case a gun that shoots miniature Nerf balls) then obtaining power-ups and additional weapons throughout the arenas. Some of the weapons are based on real world Nerf guns, obviously with better accuracy and range than their non-virtual counterparts, plus high tech guns that shoot energy balls.
None of the guns cause any physical damage to the other characters but instead reduce the amount of "energy" that character has to fire his/her weapons. When characters are "knocked out" they can respawn-in this case recharge-and re-enter the game and continue on until the end of the match. This should easily appease parents who don't want their younger children to play violent video games, while still providing the same type of challenge that Quake III Arena provides.
The three types of games in Nerf Arena Blast are PointBlast, a timed exercise where players receive points for successfully targeting their opponents; BallBlast, a challenging mini-game where players must collect different colored Nerf Balls then shoot them into a target; and finally SpeedBlast, a game that is little more than a race around the arenas.
A downside in single player is that gamers must score in the top three in each of the three game types before being able to advance to the next arena. Additionally, it is annoying that the PointBlast game is limited to ten-minute rounds-the developers should have allowed players to choose a range of times, possibly in the range of five to twenty minutes.
While Nerf Arena blast clearly lacks the intensity of Quake or Unreal as Nerf guns just aren't as threatening as machine pistols and shotguns, it still packs a lot of action. The game's arena competition makes this shooter seem like more of a sportsman competition rather than placing players in a shooting rampage. If players can get past the day-glow neon-without getting a headache from the retro 1980s colors-then this could be shooter to give a second look, after a few minutes it will easily get players hearts beating, almost as if they were in the arena!
-- Peter Suciu / GamePro
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