NERF "N-Strike" Elite is a 3D on-rails shooter that follows the adventures of 4 kids who are involved in some serious NERF wars. The look of the game is bright, colorful, and simple, much like the NERF guns themselves. Everything is tied into the NERF gun aspect without feeling completely like a child's playset. There's not much variation in the scenery, however. Everything pretty much takes place either in a desert canyon or a high tech underground base. Shane, Raven, Tango and Komodo are the main characters of the story, and they're given a simple cartoon-like look to match their surroundings (with NERF logos clearly visible on their clothing, of course).

The voice acting is appropriately emotional and well done for what this game is. The kids act like they're in the midst of a real battle, but exchange little quips and clever one-liners occasionally. The background music is pretty typical sounding action movie stuff. Again, it's like the background of an action-themed cartoon, but decent. It all gets the job done to create an atmosphere of a NERF battle that just got a little more real.

NERF "N-Strike" Elite puts you in the shoes of a group of kids who are fighting against the robot leader B.O.B.'s minions. B.O.B.'s minions are all robots - NERF dart-launching robots. The kids take it all very seriously, even though it's a war entirely fought with foam. I take it all as a day of role-play that everyone eventually got very deep into.

The main story follows the kids' journey to the center of the robot base in their attempt to take down B.O.B. once and for all. This game is actually a sequel to the first bundled gun and game which was just called NERF-N-Strike. It's not really necessary to know the original story since it's easy enough to grasp the concept that these kids are part of an "elite" NERF team and they want to take out the big, bad robot leader.

The Story Mode will take you through several levels with similar waves of robot enemies. You don't really get much in the way of variety until the very latest levels, where you get to fight everything from juggernauts, digging robots called predators, and some very annoying slime monsters. Depending on the character you choose, you'll have access to different NERF guns. Some characters have weapons that favor explosive firepower, while some favor speed or distance. As everything is on rails, the Nunchuk attachment is not used to control your character, and all you have to do is point and shoot.

Throughout the game, there are areas that call for you to use the clear red visor on your gun. The game calls it "Red Reveal" and it should be familiar to anyone who's spent some time playing with those prizes in kid's cereal boxes. Basically, the red filter makes certain areas on enemies or secret panels look brighter so that you know what to hit. Luckily, there are only a few times that you're asked to use this, since it can wear your eyes out having to squint and look through the visor. Some panels reveal codes that you can later input for extra weapons or other bonuses. Other, more immediate uses for the Red Reveal are to find the weak points on enemies and to open up bonus containers.

When you're done with the main story, you can go back through the game to collect points for powerups and new weapons, or you can try the Blasting Range stage where the goal is to gain as many points as possible in a limited time frame. Here, you can choose from 16 different guns, but there is only one Blasting Range stage, so things can get dull rather quickly.

NERF "N-Strike" Elite has three difficulty levels to choose from. The highest difficulty, called "Elite," is probably best saved until you've bought a few upgrades for your weapons or until you have a second player to help you defend yourself. Enemies swarm you and give you little chance to defend yourself while they pummel you with darts. There's a blue glow that appears before an enemy fires, but in this difficulty level, it seems like everything on the screen is lighting up blue at the same time. Lower difficulties are much more forgiving, although I still found myself being defeated on a regular basis even on the Normal, middle difficulty level.

It would also be helpful if you could switch between weapons a bit quicker. You've got to reach your second hand up to the D-pad on the front of the Wii-mote to do this. If that weren't awkward enough, your character just seems to take its time switching weapons. So if you've just had a big group of enemies swarm up, and you've got incoming missiles on the way, a few seconds for switching weapons can mean a big drain on your life bar while you wait. It may not necessarily be part of the difficulty, but since the camera moves on a set rail, you also don't get a lot of time to break out the sniper rifle or scope for far away powerups.

The main draw of NERF "N-Strike" Elite is that you're essentially getting a free NERF gun. Or, depending on your point of view, you get a free Wii game with this NERF gun. The NERF gun is a single shot gun with a simple pull-back mechanism that you pull before each shot. While the gun is high quality and feels sturdy like a regular NERF gun, the grip may be too small and tiresome for larger hands to hold for a long time. It only took about 30 minutes of gameplay to develop an ache in my hands. I prefer the Nintendo branded Zapper attachment for comfort, and also the extra stability offered with the two-handed grip. As far as the coolness factor, the NERF gun may win out on that.

The gun also does not work with the silicone sleeve or with Motion Plus attachment, so you will probably have a lot of disassembling to do when you want to play this game, especially if you only own one Wii-mote. You'll also have to reassemble the gun and place the shooting attachment back in when you want to use it as a NERF dart gun. This may be a plus in some parents' eyes, as you can't accidentally fire NERF darts at your TV while you play the Wii game (perhaps you keep precious tchotchkes balanced precariously on top of your TV, I don't know).

One of the main drawbacks on this shooter is that there is no calibration mode. You'll have to physically place yourself or your TV in a different spot if you're at an awkward shooting angle. To me, there's really no excuse for this, and I go back to Link's Crossbow Training, the game that came packed in with Ninteno's Zapper, as an example of where every shooting game needs to start for the basics. Another drawback is that it can be hard to tell what you're hitting. There's no major flash or damage shown on enemies when they are hit. You will see the points come up in red when you finally take down an enemy, but by that time, it's a little late.

NERF "N-Strike" Elite is a decent enough shooting game, but it's not great. If you're a NERF fan, there are better guns out there. And if you're a shooting game fan, there are better shooters out there. If you don't expect some kind of awesome melding of the two, then you'll be alright with this game.