Let me tell you how serious I am about Nerf wars in the office. I proposed this to the higher-ups at my company as a good way of relieving stress because certain co-workers were not getting along and somebody needed to be shot, howbeit with a foam dart or mega missle. We are adults (I'm 37, and we're a bunch of grown men in different departments from 25-45) playing with Nerf guns around the office!
It's been several weeks since we added Nerf Wars to our corporate culture, and so far nobody has died and productivity seems to have improved. We even cleared out all the Nerf Mavericks from our local Toys 'R Us. (Since I'm the Nerf Procurer, I feel like Santa Claus - or an arms dealer - going around the office and peddling these Nerf Maverick's to the employees, and then teaching them how to lock 'n' load.)
The Nerf Maverick smallarm is downright cool-looking and became our "standard" in the office for several reasons. First, anyone can afford $11.00. Second, six darts isn't bad. Third, reasonable range (I know they diluted the power of these guns so that they don't put anyone's eyes out. Of course, I'll be trying to figure out how to mod the Maverick to increase its range). And forth, the darts don't fall out of the gun by accident. Those are the pros. Cons: the gun does jam once in a while. You have to make sure the darts are tucked into their holes. The whistler darts seem to go father than the suction-cup ended ones, but they seem to puff out of their chambers more in the revolver and jam. But clearing the jam is easy. Hey, jamming happens in a firefight. Adds to the laughs.
Some people wonder what place Nerfs have in the adult life. Most want to do paintball fights. This isn't practical in the office. And if you're not properly attired, paintballs can hurt. Foam darts don't hurt; they might sting if you modified your nerf-style gun.
So, get this: I walked up to one of the Engineers and asked him if he wanted to take part in the company spirit. He said no. Then I put a Nerf Maverick in his hand and told him to fire at the white board. He fired not only one but all six darts. Something awoke in him. "Yes, put me down for one!!!" And that's all it took. I'm a Nerf-evangelist!
And so it begins: a search for an "ultimate" Nerf-style weapon without many modifications, hence my review of the Nerf N-Strike. My background in the Nerf Wars go back about 8 years when I was first exposed to them while working at The 3DO Company. I remember the Ultimators and Chainblasters and maybe a Balzooka or even the Arrowstorm. Today's nerf-style weapons are varied in quality and power. So here's my re-entrance into the Nerf community.
The N-Strike, as you can see from the advertisement is three weapons:
1. A massive rocket launcher (the Titan)
2. A small sidearm
3. A semi-automatic weapon (the Hornet)
Please pardon my not using their proper marketing names accurately. As I said, I'm 37. I don't care what they're called; I just want to shoot the guys in the office with them.
Weapons 2 and 3 integrate with the rocket launcher to form a mega weapon. The interesting thing is: how do you manage them all? Well if you're a kid, you look insanely powerful. If you're an adult, you look insanely powerful until some employees laugh at you, and then you'll look insanely dorkey.
The integration of all three weapons is not just physically combining them and locking them in place. They have secondary buttons that if you press a button on the main unit (rocket launcher) it will cause the nerf darts on the secondary weapons to fire individually! A very novel idea.
Things to consider when reviewing:
1. Does the ammo slide out of the unit?
2. Does the ammo jam the weapon?
3. Is the unit ergonomic? (Any sharp edges that might cause discomfort?)
4. Is the unit attractive looking? (No sense in looking like a dork around the office.)
ROCKET LAUNCHER: THE TITAN
First, the rocket launcher. This is the first and most closest thing to the original Ultimator. I recall that some family consumer magazines attacked the Ultimator because after firing it at a small kid, the small kid was half a block away. Not good if you're a parent and that's your only kid and you can't make another. In terms of aesthetics, the launcher is downright cool-looking and scary when you bring it to the office because that big foam missle has got to hurt. But it takes twenty freaking times of pumping before you can build the proper air pressure into it. That's a bit of a workout. And in that time, you have to duck everyone's fire. Yes, you had to pump the ol' Ultimator up a bit. I no longer have my Ultimator so I couldn't say if the foam missles of the N-Strike would work with old Ultimators out there. The missles look very close to those of the Ultimator.
The fins looked tilted and then I notice all three were tilted that way to cause the missle to rotate. It just didn't seem like it travelled fast. The launcher itself requires a silencer-styled red tube to be screwed onto the mouth of the unit. The unit has vents through which air escapes when the trigger is pulled. But then air has to go down approx. 8-9 inches through another series of vents. I wonder if the airflow would improve if I used a Dremel tool and ground them all off. I notice that at the tip of the "silencer" the vents cause air to come out in opposing directions. Those who understand airflow physics: please feel free to comment.
In short distances the missle would travel quickly. In longer distances it was okay. A bit slow bit it made it about 24 feet.
In terms of pumping, the manual says to put it on the ground, step on it and then pump away. If you're an adult, forget it, just pump it with your arms.
Overall this is an attractive and reasonably ergonomic unit but the pumping takes the fun out of it. Once you fire, you'd better have a second foam missle/rocket on your person. I cannot help but wonder if Hasbro intentionally designed the flight of the missle to be slower. But when you have this honkingly huge missle going towards your head and you're trying to duck out of the way and other office employees watch you try to save your own life against a foam missle, that's half the fun of Nerf Warring. ;-) The thing I don't like is having to pump this twenty times. The Lanard Blast Bazooka requires 4-8 pumps and though the missle is lighter (and replacement ammo seemingly more difficult to find) the missle it fires not only whistles but travels a lot faster.)
SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPON: THE HORNET
Have you played Halo? This unit reminds me of the Needler - the Covenant weapon that fires energy needles. It's a medium sized weapon that looks extremely cool and is ergonomic. The Hornet requires pumping (again 18-20 times) but it makes a good grip for your second hand while your first hand is handling the trigger.
This has the potential of being an "ultimate weapon" for me but I think it falls victim to bad design.
The unit requires that it's "cocked" first. If you don't and start pumping away to build air pressure within the unit, you'll only be able to fire one dart. If you cock it, then pump 20 times, you have the potential of firing this like a select-fire / semi-automatic weapon. VERY COOL. So when some employee you're trying to get nails you with his Maverick, you take your Hornet and zap him. And before he knows it, another comes, and yet another, and yet another.
Another cool feature is a big orange button on either side that when pressed will launch all six at your enemies.
Now here's the down side. The orange foam darts that come with the unit have a tendency to slide out or even fall out of the forward tubes, so when you hit the trigger the air pressure just "fuffs" and there is no firing. When cocked and primed, if one dart fails to fire, if you pull the trigger yet again you can fortunately fire the next dart in sequence. And there is a sequence. It's good to memorize it. But if you realize your mistake and try to re-insert a dart that has slidden out a bit, it may not come out at all.
Or is there a sequence? Sometimes when I pull the trigger, nothing happens, but then when I fire again, a dart does go out -- just not when I intended to fire. This can be disconcerting in a firefight. You're not sure if your gun works or not, and you're not sure if a dart has slidden out an inch or not.
One solution is to use the refill pack ammo which use black foam. The black foam darts seem to be a very slightly bit larger and slightly more durable than the orange ones. They hug the space in their barrels a little better and have a lesser tendency of falling out.
Imagine my delight with six whistler darts in the chambers and firing perfectly in sequence. But to have it fire perfectly requires some work: cocking it and pumping it 20 times, then making sure no dart is slipping out. It's a pain to have to micromanage the weapon.
Out of the box, the orange-colored soft-plastic site was bent. No biggie, because it does very little to improve your aim anyway. A knife could cut the bent part off easily.
Overall the Hornet has the chance of being an ultimate weapon but falls short. The Maverick has little to no tendency for the foam darts to accidentally slide out of the barrel because when not being fired the chamber is not aligned with the barrel of the gun and this keep the Nerf dart from falling out.
SIDEARM
The sidearm echoes the feel of a real life sidearm with a laser site beneath the barrel. But the red and gray theme shows it's a toy. You can keep one in the barrel for firing and an extra two nerf darts in the available storage holes beneath the barrel. You cock it and then fire. The range is fair. I can get a dart about 12 feet but to hit things carefully I have to fire at an angle and hope it arcs over the cubicle walls and hit my co-worker on the forehead.
It's a reasonable sidearm. It integrates with the Titan on the side, and by pressing a button on the Titan the one round in the sidearm will fire.
Overall, it's an attractive looking sidearm. Maybe simplicity is best here. If I had a big pocket or fanny pack full of ammo, I could have a lot of fun with the sidearm.
CONCLUSION
There is a great misconception that Nerf guns are only for kids. For us professionals who work in Silicon Valley's hi-tech industry, it's a wonderful means of stress relef. For you engineers out there who don't exercise (yes you) this may be the only exercise you actually get. You should thank anyone brings Nerf Wars to the office, otherwise your butts remain numb sitting in front of the computer 9-12 hours a day.
One may gawk at the $39.99 price since the Nerf N-Strike Maverick 6-round pistol retails for $10.00 + tax. You are in fact getting three weapons, not one. How much you value them individually is a different matter. In terms of ease of use and practicality, the sidearm ironically is the best of the three.
The Titan is unfortunately too unwieldly to use in a firefight when everyone's armed with a Maverick pistol and can unload 6 darts onto your forehead while you're trying to pump it.
The Hornet requires too much micromanagement. Being able to launch six whistling darts at an enemy is very, very satisfying, but the preparation and the management to get it to fire quickly makes this toy more frustrating than joy-bringing.
This experience has been valuable. Had we not entered the consumer-end of the market through the Nerf Mavericks we would never have considered a baseline or standard to compare other nerf-style weapons against.
Thanks for your time and feedback.
Edited by CSMaclaren, 04 April 2005 - 02:13 PM.
