Developer: FUN Labs
Publisher: GameMill Entertainment
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Nerf: Legends – Review
Most of us will have played with a Nerf gun during our childhood (or even during our adult years), and for the most part, many will remember this as a fun and wholesome experience to safely play with guns. Others will probably remember one of their parents screaming not to aim for the eyes, and of course, we all know what a drag it was to pick up all the darts after our shooting sessions. Now, a digital Nerf experience was made, which promised to bring us more Nerf darts we could handle, and no picking up of said darts. Sadly, the only thing we suggest not picking up is this new release. Nerf: Legends has been released on all modern consoles and PC, and no matter what platform you get the game on, you’ll be disappointed.
Story
Truth be told, the game’s story has nothing to do with Nerf guns or the fun concept behind playing with these real-life toy guns. You’ll be thrown into a futuristic setting to be subjected to trials that involve you showing how good you are at shooting random stuff. While the overall idea behind the story isn’t all that bad, it doesn’t make sense for a Nerf game, and it only serves as the glue between the random levels you’ll find yourself in. Overall, there is nothing truly captivating to be found here, and we reckon that even a younger audience will find little to like here.
Graphics
Graphically the game feels like a poor man’s version of Overwatch, with cheap assets, hardly any textures, and an uninspired set design. Don’t get us wrong, the game doesn’t necessarily look bad, it just has no depth, no details, no proper variation (except for a few backdrops), and nothing that actually has anything to do with Nerf, outside of the available weapons. We also feel as if the weapons were designed by a totally different team, as these look more polished, and just don’t suit the rest of the game. The animations of the game are once again poorly handled, and you won’t actually see any Nerf darts, which somewhat defeats the idea and concept of a game based on the popular Nerf guns. There’s no rhyme or reason when it comes to how this game was designed, and we honestly think this was just an abandoned first-person shooter project where the guns have been replaced with Nerf weapons in order to cash in. We also noticed that the cutscenes used for this game are probably just optimized for the Switch, as on the PlayStation 5 version of the game they look muddy and are clearly of low quality.
Sound
The sound is functional, but in many ways, it is just bland, boring, and not even worth writing about. The voice acting for the story segments is decent, but tends to loop if you move around too much in certain segments. Overall, the game could have used a slightly more exciting soundtrack.
Gameplay
Nerf: Legends is a first-person shooter with Nerf guns in the lead. Mere moments into the game, you’ll notice that the entire concept is flawed and non-sensical, as you’ll find yourself in a futuristic setting, shooting guns at oddly designed AI opponents while trying to solve puzzles in the single-player portion of the game. Even though the game is basically a multiplayer shooter, it never has any people online, and you can’t even play PVP matches with bots to fill the room if you should ever encounter another player who was scammed into buying this horrible mess of a game.
As you’re somewhat stuck playing the single-player mode, you’ll soon find yourself playing fairly long levels, solving annoying puzzles, while shooting AI-controlled robots. You’ll soon notice that the game’s controls are horrible, and that you’re also forced to play through the levels in succession, as the next themed set of levels will not open up before you finish the first set of levels, and so on. Well, this is what we assumed, as the locked levels actually don’t state what you have to do to unlock the next ones. We found the game’s difficulty also fairly high, even though this is clearly a game that is aimed at a younger target audience.
The only goals you’ll have in the game are to unlock new levels and new weapons. Is this worth grinding for in the single-player mode? Absolutely not. While unlocking these stages and items will keep you occupied for a while, achieving this will not feel rewarding, as you will never be able to use your fancy new guns against other players anyway. We found the entire experience to be pointless, and with random bugs thrown in the mix, we don’t even understand why this game was released in the first place.
Conclusion
Nerf: Legends will certainly drain your energy, as it comes at a high price, to present you with dull and boring ‘challenges’. Perhaps, when the game is heavily discounted, a few people might pick this one up to populate the servers, but even then, you’ll probably find other and better games out there that are more polished, cheaper, and a lot more fun. We don’t understand how this game passed quality control and it’s even harder to understand why it bears the ‘Nerf’ name, as it has absolutely nothing to do with Nerf.
Nerf: Legends - Review,
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