I wasn’t allowed to have toy guns as a child (I mean, I did, but I wasn’t supposed to). Back then every toy gun said the same thing – “do not fire at people.” Thankfully, we live in a golden age and Nerf gives us all sorts of soft, safe darts for our children to shoot each other with. Right. Our children. At each other. I totally did not wake up my sleeping teenager via Nerf blaster. Not ever. Nope.
Three of the Nerf Spring 2016 blasters were sent my way, and it was my pleasure to run them through the paces.
Source for all images: Nerf.
The Modulus Recon MK II Blaster is, bar none, my favorite of the batch. The pump-action and cartridge-loading are simple to get a handle on. Even cooler is that this blaster has modular add-ons (hence the name). You can add larger clips, a sniper kit, a stealth kit, and more. This is absolutely the blaster for the “collector” type who wants to have all the possible options.
The only issue I ran into at all with the Recon is occasionally the foam darts got jammed. I suspect this had more to do with my five-year-old than the blaster, though.
Speaking of the young one, while Nerf Blasters are for users ages 8 and up, he absolutely fell in love with the next one.
The N-Strike Elite Dual Blaster is a great “first” blaster. Firing two types of dart, it is easy to load and to master. My son and I set up a shooting gallery and he quickly got the hang of it. After using the Modulus it felt almost simplistic, but that’s a good thing. Also, I was shocked at how comfortable it was to use. As another sign of how loved this was: my son wanted to take it to bed with him.
The N-Strike Elite Mega Bow is, indeed quite mega. I actually had to debate if I should take it on the subway with me one day because it really is just hard to carry discreetly. However, it’s also very easy to use. The archery blaster has a different “feel” to it, of course, but is very good in its own way. I’m not the archery fan in the house, but my daughter is and loved the bow. A quick note though – the “8 and up” thing on this one is a must. My son got his hands on the Elite Mega Bow and broke it right away. It’s simply a more advanced, more precision device.
These three aren’t Nerf’s only new blasters for the spring, but with any of them (or say, all of them), you are well on your way to building some fun, ballistic memories.
Nerf sent me these blasters for review purposes. Yeah, the blasters were free, but now I’m scouring Amazon for Recon add-ons and extra bullets. The first taste is always free, kids.
