From the Armory: Snapfire and N-Strike Elite Rumors

This week, Kernel Sanders examines the Nerf Snapfire and speculates on the N-Strike Elite.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL RIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTT!!!!

Its been awhile since we’ve heard from the armory, but now that the year has turned over and had a few months to run, we’ve got some fun stuff to look forward to. The first of which comes from Nerf’s somewhat beleaguered Dart Tag range. Nerf made one of the greatest guns ever when they built the Dart Tag Fury Fire, because it was simple, modable, and had a high magazine capacity. The generation after this one contained the bomb known as the Quick 16, a massively over complicated slam fire blaster designed with an integrated magazine for sixteen Taggers.  This gun was marred by very weak construction and weak performance, oh, and did I mention that it jammed whenever another player sneezed? The point is, the Dart Tag line took a nose dive, but now Nerf may give the line some life with the Snapfire.

Of the guns that came before it, this one takes most after the old Barricade, the gun that introduced this generation to flywheel construction in Nerf blasters. Both are true semi-automatic blasters, where one pull of the trigger will fire one of the darts. Now, to make this possible in the Barricade, the trigger operated an arm which pushed the darts into the spinning flywheels which launched the darts. This gun seems to make use of a standard plunger system and an eight round turret, all of which is operated from the trigger!

That’s right, pulling the trigger in this gun both advances the turret, primes the plunger, and fires the gun. ZOH MY GODS! No motors, no batteries, no pumping, just a pure semi-automatic pistols, the dream of a dual wielder……….or is it? Ya see, other guns which has trigger operated turrets include gems like the Maverick. Though Nerf has improved these trigger operated turret systems, they are still plagued by weak components which causes misfires and jams. And indeed, with the brief video I found of its firing, it did appear to jam. It was, however, a low quality vid, and the gun itself could be a pre-production model, so we’ll see to reliability when it hits stores. Also something new on this model, adjustable spring tension. There is a switch on this gun which can ease spring tension, reducing range and increasing rate of fire, or increase it for the inverse affects. That is actually a really smart idea, it gives the player options which can make the difference between life and death in game. I will, however be curious to break into one and see how they are accomplishing it. In any event, I expect this to be highly effective close range sidearm, I can’t expect this thing to have great range out of the box. Assuming the reliability is up to par, or can be modded to be, this could truly be one of the greatest running blasters Nerf has made.

So what else is new? Well, watch this.

That’s right Nerfers, Hasbro has finally let Nerf make their awesome looking guns perform as well as they should, or so they claim. Really, it is to wonder how they’re going to accomplish this. Well not that much of a wonder. As a Nerf Modder myself, I spend my nights and weekends making blasters shoot farther, or faster, or both. But in the process I often as not make them more dangerous. Either making them sting a bit when they hit, or cause bruises and welts on unprotected skin. With Hasbro and Nerf being so conscious about law suits, just like everyone else in the business, it would make no sense to create guns which would cause more damage than their current line. But then it goes back to that preview, and the claim that it makes, 75ft ranges. Now really, when one is measuring a range like that, they’re measuring the range from the muzzle of the blaster to where it lands, so really the effective range is between 5 and 10 ft less, though that is probably going to be rather low. So I would count on reliable ranges out to 60-65 ft. In any event, those guns have to be more powerful, unless Nerf has modified the ammo somehow.

Oh, I forgot to mention the ammo. I want to buy the gun just for the ammo, on the surface they seem to have repainted the standard streamlines with a blue shaft, WHICH LOOKS AWESOME! Though Nerf mentions this special ammo, so maybe they’ve FINALLY rebalanced the weight in the streamline to correct the fishtailing issues which have plagued them since their birth.

How they plan to accomplish this miracle is all speculation at this point, as Nerf is being tight lipped until the release date later this year, but I’m going to keep watching the New Zealand and Australian sites for more updates and bring them to you as I find them. But here’s the bottom line, Nerf seems to be finally listening to its adult fan base, which is not insignificant, and making blasters which can do the job they need them to do. So in summary: The Snapfire the N-Strike Elite ranges are new more tactically oriented Nerf blasters with greater rand and usability in mind. These blasters appear, from preliminary data, to be highly effective as tactical weapons in Nerf Wars. We’ll see what actually stack up, but the Snapfire gets a preliminary rating of 4 out of 5 for its full semi-automatic firing and lack of a loud motor, and the N-Strike Elite range as a whole receives 4 out of 5 darts for offering a variety of tactical options with ranges equivalent to modified blasters.

From the Armory: Nerf Vortex Line

Hi all, Master at Arms Mack Attack here with technical reviews of all your favorite Nerf weapons. Today we’re talking about the Vortex line.

Now to answer the question some of you may have, the Vortex line is a new series of our guns released by Nerf in September. There was a lot of noise over the summer about these guns jumping the pond, mostly because of their new ammo. Nerf advertises it as using special “long range technology,” and if by long range technology they mean Frisbees then that description is spot on. The Vortex guns fire small foam and plastic discs molded like a Frisbee. The bottom in concave creating a pocket for air which allows them to stay in level flight longer than normal darts. They are essentially little foam Frisbees, but the funny thing about them is they actually work. Unlike a lot of Nerf’s N-Strike line, the advertised range of the Vortex guns are actually true, while still being safe for children. Its rather impressive really, how the simple change in aerodynamics has revolutionized Nerf weaponry as a whole!……or has it?

I’ve tested the Vortex line extensively and found their ranges to be excellent, but at a cost. The disks spin in the air like a Frisbee, and like a Frisbee they tend to curve in the air (insert your own Wanted joke here). In a simple test of mid-range effectiveness, I shot at an 8.5 x 11in. Target on a bulletin board from about 15 ft away. First with an old Nerf Dart Tag Fury Fire, and then with the Vortex equivalent, the Praxis. Both are 10 shot pump action weapons, both have a good carbine feel to them, and both are effective mid range weapon. But while the Tagger darts in the Fury hit mostly home from that range, I was having trouble consistently hitting the target from that range with the Praxis. The disks were hitting to the right or left very close to the target, but never too high or too low (except for the shots where I screwed up my aim).

So that’s it, its a game breaker, the Vortex line is a pretty idea that, like the CS-6 Deploy, turned out to be all show and no go. Not so fast. I went into this expecting a new class of ammo which could be launched rapid fire with rifle like accuracy. That was a bit much to expect from Nerf, and I as engaged these weapons in combat, I found them quite a bit more challenging. Though they are larger than standard darts, their thin cross section makes them harder to see, and they move deceptively slowly, so you don’t realize how close it is until it hits you. This combined with their erratic trajectory makes them difficult to dodge if fired en masse, such as from an pump action or automatic weapon. I can tell you, there is nothing scarier than seeing a corridor filled with these things. Some of the more accuracy oriented players would complain that it takes on average more rounds to kill a single target than other weapons, but for suppressive fire tactics, its highly effective.

This ammo also gives a certain edge in long range. The trajectory of a disk is more consistent over more of its range than a dart, which when fired from a high powered weapon has a tendency to fishtail and barrel roll before crashing into everything else but the thing its aimed at. This greater level of predictability gives you a higher chance of being able to compensate for the drift and launch a more effective long range strike.

The blasters on the whole seem to be very well built. They’re chunky and the plastic is in general thicker than their N-Strike counterparts. They feel like you can run out of ammo, throw the gun at your opponent to distract him, then pick it up and keep firing. They also have fewer parts under high tension so the internals should last overall longer than guns modded to the equivalent range. Though there are more moving parts than most other guns, many are extraneous as they constitute spring loaded safeties which can break and be removed and not interfere with the proper operation of the weapon.

There are currently four blasters in the line: The Proton, Vigilon, Praxis, and Nitron, and we’ll be discussing those in detail in the coming weeks.

In summation then, the Vortex line is a set of well built weapons which offer great advantages over traditional dart based systems for out of the box range. However, their accuracy and greater bulk than traditional Nerf blasters bring them down as effective combat weapons. Overall I give the line 3.5/5 Darts, excuse me, Disks.