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Now you may ask, why is thesportsgamer.com looking at a game like NERF N-Strike Elite for the Nintendo Wii.

Simple. I grew up with NERF. NERF was a big part of my formative years, playing outside with the the squishy, foamy football and of course, playing war as we formed teams with our wide array of various NERF blasters.

NERF promotes active outdoor play among kids and family, and I thought it’d be the perfect game to review for our family weekend theme here at TSG.

NERF N-Strike Elite is essentially a rail shooter (think Virtua Cop, Time Crisis). These games have become more prevalent on Wii after being most phased out in the current generation. The game is a sequel to last year’s NERF N-Strike, which was a somewhat of a surprise hit (according to EA it was their second best selling Wii game of 2008). This year’s game releases on the 40th anniversary of Hasbro’s NERF brand.

The bundle includes the NERF Switch Shot Ex-3 blaster. I actually found this particular blaster at a local Wal-Mart the other day – sans Wii remote compatibility. This particular blaster can be used outdoors (as it comes with three foam darts) or can modified to fit the Wii remote for on-screen shooting. It also comes with a “Red Reveal” decoder lens which is used during gameplay to solve puzzles. It’s a pretty nifty little toy and young NERF hounds will probably get a big kick out of it. The game bundled with the blaster goes for $59.99 (essentially a $40 game + a $20 blaster, since the blasters sell separately for $19.99 if you want extras for multiplayer).

I had some time to play the game over the past couple of days and recorded a few gameplay videos for your enjoyment. I recorded the first two missions to show just how much you can change and upgrade weapons in between and the differences in blasters (of which there are many). The last video is of the blasting range (shooting gallery) mini-game. Watch for my final thoughts and TSG-Cast commentary later this week…