Light Strike Assault Striker D.C.R-012

The holiday season is fast approaching, and again parents are asking themselves, "What should I get my kid?" The Light Strike Assault Striker D.C.R-012 ($39.99 list) is the at-home consumer version of laser tag. It comes with one gun and a plastic orb for target practice?and batteries are not included. Playing with this high-tech toy is fun, but parents be warned if you have no intention of joining in the fire-fight: This toy is noisy.

The Assault Striker D.C.R-012 has a bright sci-fi pattern on the exterior, and from the box image you may think you're getting a dynamically molded gun, but it's just a bunch of stickers on a flat surface, which may leave the gun prone to looking weathered quickly if the stickers start to peel. The gun has a lot of touch-sensitive buttons, the most important one parents and stealth shooters will want to take note of is the volume button. You can't completely mute the gun, but you can install ear buds into the headphone jack to silence the weapon.

Setting up the Assault Striker D.C.R-012 will require a Phillips head screwdriver and four AA batteries for the gun, and three AAA batteries for the Strike Target.

The Laser Strike isn't that heavy, and it's pretty accurate. It has a range of 30 feet, and when I took the orb out for target practice, the further away I went, the more challenging it was to hit the target, which I thought was well within reason. Booting up the gun, requires only to flip a switch and press the "fingerprint reader" touch button. You can have up to 4 players in an all-out deathmatch and up to 4 teams in a team deathmatch. The features on the gun remind me of a certain sci-fi first-person shooter game (Halo). There's a shield button, which halves any damage that you may take when activated, and the built-in health meter tracks how much damage you've taken (the gun also functions as the tag sensor). There's also a weapon selection button that allows you to switch between several "weapon" modes to help you with your strategy?unless you just like to run-and-gun.

Laser: It's the default weapon mode that doesn't offer a lot of firepower, but you'll be able to get your shots off quicker.

Stealth: This option allows you to shoot with the same power and frequency as the Laser Strike, but your shots will be muffled.

Pulse: This mode with use up your ammo faster and has a longer delay between blasts, but it packs a lot more damage per shot.

Rail: This weapon mode offers even more firepower, but also goes through ammo fast and there's a longer delay between shots.

Sonic: This mode is the biggest "weapon" in your arsenal, packing the largest amount of damage, but you'll go through ammo quickly and there's a long delay between blasts.

The Assault Striker D.C.R-012 also has room for expansion options, like the Enemy Scanner, Scope, Rapid Fire System, and Refractor Launch System that may give wealthier children an edge against their competition.

If there are a lot of kids in your neighborhood, this gift is definitely a good buy especially if it's a coordinated effort among the other parents. I had a lot of fun playing with it, running around the office (after work hours) and essentially skeet-shooting with the plastic orb.

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