 | This product has been discontinued. It cannot be purchased in retail stores. The only way to obtain it is through second-hand websites and stores. |
Nerf Arena Blast, known as Nerf Arena in Europe, is a first-person shooter video game for Microsoft Windows, developed by Visionary Media Inc. and published by Hasbro Interactive in October of 1999. It was advertised as a family-friendly alternative to Unreal Tournament, a popular first-person shooter with plenty of violence and gore.
Plot[]
The player is a member of an amateur Nerfing team called the "Twisters". They are competing against six professional teams for the "Nerf Champion of the World" title. The player must compete against each team in three game types: PointBlast, SpeedBlast, and BallBlast. Scoring in the top three of all three events makes the player eligible for the next arena. Players start in the Amatuer Arena, and will eventually end up in the final game, a PointBlast event in the Championship Arena.
Features[]
Blasters[]
Nerf Arena Blast has a mixture of real and fictional Nerf blasters. All blasters have a primary and a secondary fire.
- Ballzooka
- Hyperstrike
- Nerf Cannon
- Pulsator
- Scattershot
- Secret Shot
- Sidewinder
- Triple Strike
- Whomper
- WildFire
Items[]
Spread around the various arenas are items and pick-ups that can help the player defeat their enemies. This includes ammunition, power-ups, and more.
- Ball Ammo
- Ammunition for the Ballzooka and Pulsator. Comes in sets of fifteen balls.
- Bonus Points
- Gives the player the points indicated. Can only be dropped from players and the amount dropped is based on their streak and position on the leaderboard. Can be 250, 500, 750, or 1,000 points.
- Darts
- Ammunition for the Wildfire. Comes in sets of twenty darts.
- Double Damage
- Allows the player to deal double damage for a short period of time. Also makes the player's weapon glow transparent orange. Unlike other pick-ups, this one can be dropped when the player holding it is knocked out while the boost is active.
- Electro Shield
- Halves the amount of damage a player takes from being shot. Up to a hundred points worth of damage can be taken with each shield.
- Mega Jump
- Allows the player to jump much higher than normal. Lasts for about twenty seconds.
- Mega Power
- Gives the player an extra one hundred health points. Health is maxed out at two hundred points and cannot go any further than that.
- Mega Speed
- Allows the player to run much faster than normal. Lasts for about five seconds.
- Mini-Discs
- Ammunition for the Sidewinder. Comes in sets of ten Mini-Discs.
- Nerf Cannon Ball Ammo
- Ammunition for the Nerf Cannon. Comes in sets of five Cannon Balls.
- Rockets
- Ammunition for the Triple Strike and Hyperstrike. Comes in sets of nine rockets.
- Scatter Pellets
- Ammunition for the Scattershot. Comes in sets of ten Scatter Pellets.
- SuitPowerPlus
- Heals the player fifty health points when it is picked up.
- Whomper Batteries
- Ammunition for the Whomper. Comes with one battery, which has energy for a single blast.
Arenas[]
The central hub of Nerf Arena Blast, known as the "Nerf Plaza"
- Amateur Arena
- Home of the "Twisters". It has many tight corridors and secret rooms for lots of action. A large slide into a pool of water can also be found. PointBlast and a tutorial level are the only game modes for this arena. The Whomper and Scatterblast are absent from the arena.
- Sequoia Arena
- Home of "The Tribe". It is set in a forest and has lots of water and platforms high in trees. The Whomper can be found in a secret underwater cave. The Scatterblast is absent from this arena.
- Orbital Arena
- Home of the "Orbiters". It is a space themed arena set in a space station with a low gravity area and several air locks. A large open area can be found too. This arena contains a BonusBlast arena unlocked at 100,000 points.
- Barracuda Park
- Home of the "Barricudas". It is set in a cave system filled with water.
- Asteroid Arena
- Home of the "Rockheads". It is set in an asteroid mining facility in space. Several low gravity areas can be found, as well as rooms of lava.
- Skyscraper Arena
- Home of the "Tycoons". It is set in an urban environment with many tall buildings and alleyways.
- Moonlight Arena
- Home of the "Lunas". It is a space themed arena that contains many teleporters.
- Championship Arena
- The largest arena in the game. It is mostly open and has a central room with a large structure and limited cover making it the most difficult arena in the game.
Game types[]
- PointBlast
- A deathmatch-style game, PointBlast focuses around collecting the most points which can be accomplished by knocking out opponents, shooting targets, and getting head shots. When players are tagged out, they drop "Bonus Points" that can be picked up by other players. The higher the players score on the leaderboard, the more points they drop (these points are not deducted from their score). If a player accidentally knocks themselves out, 1,000 points are deducted from their score. BonusBlast has the same rules, although it is set in a special arena and requires points to unlock. There are a total of three BonusBlast events.
A gameplay screenshot of a PointBlast match.
- SpeedBlast
- A race where players must pass through seven colored flags in the correct order. Players can fire at each other to tag other players out and slow them down. If a player is tagged out, they return to the last flag that they touched. Speedblast events take place in special arenas that are in the same theme as the main arena they are within. The Amateur Arena and Championship Arena do not have Speedblast events.
- BallBlast
- Players must fight other players for seven colored balls. Balls one through six are spawned randomly, and must be fired into goal targets to score points. When a player gets and scores all six of these balls, the seventh and final golden ball comes into play. When a player scores this final ball, the game is over and they win. BallBlast events take place in the same arena as PointBlast, with the addition of several targets to fire balls at. The Amateur Arena and Championship Arena do not have BallBlast events.
Multiplayer[]
Online multiplayer still exists for this game. It is supported by a small community of fans who have created their own servers after the official ones were taken down. The community has also created their own game type based off of the classic Capture the Flag game from other video games.
Trivia[]
- The game's soundtrack can be played if the game disc is placed into a CD player or opened in any media program (ie: iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp).
- It was reported that several of the game's developers were considering the idea of putting a Capture the Flag mode into the game as an expansion pack.[1] This expansion pack, however, never surfaced, although the Capture the Flag mode would later be created by fans.
References[]
- ↑ Attention Deficit Disorder. Attention Deficit Disorder (1999-12-28). Archived from the original on 2001-05-17. Retrieved on 2014-07-01. “This admittedly old tidbit of info, from Dave Walls of Hasbro Interactive, was dug up on the NAB forum: "I hope that we will be able to do an expansion pack for the game with new maps and maybe even CTF. ..."”