Nerf Arena Blast

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: November 07, 1999
• Genre: Shooter
• Style: First-Person Shooter
• Similar Games: Doom (Atari Jaguar), Duke Nukem 3D (game.com), Descent (Macintosh), Quake (Macintosh), Descent (IBM PC Compatible), Doom (IBM PC Compatible), Duke Nukem 3D (IBM PC Compatible), Quake (IBM PC Compatible), Doom (Sega Genesis 32X), Doom (Sega Saturn), Duke Nukem 3D (Sega Saturn), Quake (Sega Saturn), Descent (PlayStation), Doom (PlayStation), Doom (3DO), Quake II (IBM PC Compatible), Doom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), Quake (Nintendo 64), Quake II (Nintendo 64), Quake II (PlayStation)

Game Description

Parents who want a kid-friendly first-person shooter for their PC need look no further than Hasbro Interactive's Nerf Arena Blast. Kids can roam eight unique arenas packing one of ten different Nerf blasters and duke it out against CPU-controlled players or up to 19 other kids over the internet or a LAN.

The game is set up like a sport. The story is that every year a group of six professional teams battles it out for supremacy in a Nerf-sanctioned league. This year they've decided to allow some amateurs to join them, but first there's a tournament among the amateur teams which will decide which of them joins the pro league for a year. You get to choose from the four characters who make up the Twisters team and accompany them in their quest to win the amateur competition and face off against the pros.

There are four levels of difficulty in this game. Once you select one, you're off for some training sessions to get yourself acquainted with the game and the equipment. An energy suit and a blaster are standard issue for all recruits. Hits inflicted by other players and damage caused by falls impact the suit's energy level; if it falls to zero, you must re-enter the game from another place. You can pick up powerups scattered around the arena to recharge lost energy.

Other powerups include ammo upgrades to scattershots, rockets and mini-discs as well as personal upgrades to better suits, extra blaster damage, megaspeed and megajump.

There are three events to choose from. In PointBlast you score points for hitting targets as well as other players; the one with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. In SpeedBlast, the goal is to touch seven colored flags in order and be the first one to do it. Finally, BallBlast is a lot like a scavenger hunt in which you must collect seven colored balls and shoot them into special goals. Points are awarded depending on the ball's color and the goal's difficulty; again, the one with the most points wins.

The arenas include one built in a grove of giant sequoia trees, another in a space station orbiting the Earth, one which sits among the towering skyscrapers of New York City, and one which is buried deep at the bottom of the ocean. The final game of the season is played in the Championship Arena, which seats 200,000 fans and has full television coverage.

Let the games begin!

Roots & Influences

While this game's content is far less violent, its roots are in titles such as Doom and Descent, other first-person shooters which also offer multiplayer capabilities over a LAN or the internet and have a similar competitive feel. The groundwork for those games was in turn laid in Castle Wolfenstein and its sequel Spear of Destiny.

Review: Overall

Nerf Arena Blast is an interesting take on first-person shooters. In an attempt to remove the violence from the genre, the designers at Atari Corporation replace bullets with reasonably harmless Nerf foam pellets. Instead of characters being killed, they're merely rendered unconscious and moved to another part of the arena. Thus, without much actual tinkering, the concept behind games like Doom is sanitized for children. Unfortunately, the problem with this "watering down" effect of a very violent genre is that it doesn't really work. At its core, you still shoot people, rack up points and gather bigger and better weapons.

The three events in Nerf Arena Blast are all basically glorified Death Matches like those found in other first-person shooters. In the Point Blast competition, the only goal is to shoot as many of your opponents as possible before time expires. In the Ball Blast event, the goal is basically the same but with an added task of shooting cosmic basketballs into a strategically placed hole. In Speed Blast, the goal is still to shoot enemies while, this time, hurtling through a maze and trying to finish first.

With the exception of splattering blood and flying body parts, Nerf Arena Blast is no different than the Death Matches in games such as Delta Force, Half-Life, Quake and dozens of others. If non-violence is the goal, parents may want to stick with Chutes and Ladders if looking for a game for kids.

While Nerf Arena Blast is enjoyable, it's easy to get bogged down repeating the same events again and again. One badly designed aspect of the game is that you must place in the top three of all events at an arena in order to unlock the next one. While challenges are fun, this particular one is very difficult to achieve during gameplay and leads to frustration. If developers are going to lock away some areas in a game, they should at least include practice or exhibition modes that allow gamers to experience the entire game. Otherwise, games like this are likely to hit the archives sooner rather than later.

Visually, Nerf Arena Blast is slightly above average when compared to its contemporaries. With several arenas available, obviously extensive design work was put into the game. While textures aren't always smooth, the game has a good look and feel that rivals other 3D shooters on the market. The sound is serviceable but not memorable. Light music can be heard continuously in the background and most of the sound effects depict various Nerf munitions being propelled away from characters. With the limited impact on the game, playing your own CD will be just as enjoyable, if not more so.

If you have little patience, chances are you won't replay the game more than a few times. Overall, Nerf Arena Blast is a watered down first-person shooter with a little excitement and a lot of frustration. If you're a parent looking for a kid's game, look elsewhere. If you're a fan of first-person shooters, Nerf Arena Blast won't be substantial enough to keep your interest. But, if you're a big-time Nerf paraphernalia collector, you'll want to add the game to your stash.

Review: Enjoyment

Because the game requires you to place in the top three of all events before unlocking the next arena, it can quickly become tedious.

Review: Graphics

The game is on a par with its contemporaries. It garners a few bonus points for having several extensive arenas in which to play.

Review: Sound

The sound is adequate but almost completely unnecessary. Listen to some real music instead.

Review: Replay Value

Trying to unlock arenas can be challenging but most gamers will become frustrated and abandon it quickly.

Review: Documentation

The documentation gives a good overview of the game.

Production Credits