The NERF line is one of the most popular toy brands out there, earning nearly half a billion dollars annually.  It includes not only foam sports balls, but also toy blasters that shoot out foam darts and other safe projectiles.  And now you can play a first person shooter game based on the blaster toys.  You are selected to compete in NERF challenges on a futuristic island.  Go at it alone in obstacle filled challenges where you must zap robots, solve puzzles, and bypass obstacles.  Or you can challenge others online in multiplayer matches.  NERF Legends is available on nearly all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

I don’t have a PS+ account so I didn’t try the multiplayer modes.  But the single player campaign is very extensive.  Controls are like any other first person shooter.  The weapons that you use are presumably based on the toys, just more futuristic and use hologram lasers instead of foam darts.  In the single player mode you’ll be tasked with shooting down robot crabs, flying drones, and humanoids, sneak past laser turrets, solve simple switch puzzles and bypass jumping obstacles.  There are tons of levels and you can earn medals based on how well you score.  I found the controls difficult and the obstacles tedious, but then, I’m not a big FPS fan.  But I’m sure there’s better games like this out there.

Kid Factor:

NERF Legends is rated T for Teen with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  This is one of those games that I feel the ratings should be a bit lower.  Yeah you shoot guns, but they’re fantasy sci-fi guns made to look like the NERF toys, and all you shoot out of them are holographic foam darts.  In the single player campaign you shoot mostly robots who just fall apart or dissipate when defeated.  When you lose all your energy, you just dissolve and respawn at the last checkpoint.  If your kids are old enough to play with NERF toys, they’ll be OK with this game.  It may be a good compromise for kids who want to play FPS games, but the parents feel like most other games in the genre aren’t appropriate.  I would say younger gamers would have trouble with the more complicated controls, but seeing how kids can easily grasp stuff like Overwatch and Fortnite, maybe not.

Tags: Game Reviews