Review: SuperSoaker Shot Blast

Super Soaker Shot Blast. Itchy trigger finger? Too bad:)

Although I've identified this blaster as the Super Soaker Shot Blast,  it is the first water blaster available in the Australia to be promoted under the Nerf banner; hence officially it is known as the "Nerf Super Soaker Shot Blast". It boasts a range of up to 8 metres which isn't bad for a water blaster and looks pretty sweet to boot.

Out of the box, you get one Shot Blast and a stock attachment. Although not standard, many boxes come with the bonus scope, which I think looks great and is worth getting. The Shot Blast itself is mostly made of a lighter, more durable plastic that's common in outdoor toys and is likely to float if thrown into a pool. Accessories are a harder, more traditional plastic found in N-Strike foam blasters.

Shot Blast with stock and bonus scope. Sweeeeet.

The Shot Blast uses a "syringe" style shooting mechanism- there's no trigger or air pump to pressurise the water as with the older Super Soakers of the 90's.  It's simply a matter of pulling back on the pump handle under the barrel and a nice stream of water spurts out and soaks your opponent- or the mail man. It's quite impressive in range, but due to its firing mechanism it's a two handed blaster.

Shot Blast in both Red and Blue. Looks familiar..

The Shot Blast comes in two different colours red or blue depending on your preferences. Colours match those in the alternate N-Strike Nerf blaster range which I guess is also a branding/marketing move to keep the blasters similar to their foam dart cousins. The similarities continue with the attachments- the Shot Blast comes with an extend able stock attachment that is quite similar to that of the N-Strike Raider CS-35. Even cooler is the fact they fit N-Strike Nerf blasters- this new Super Soaker line has tactical rails AND the ability to attach a Raider, Recon or Spectre stock to it, and vice versa.

Shot Blast with Recon attachments..if you were so inclined. And colour blind.

Shot Blast with Pinpoint sight and Raider Stock. Not pretty:P

The detail in the enclosed stock is also interesting- I'm actually surprised they didn't just use a repainted Raider stock but if you compare them you can see they've actually used a slightly different design. Cool!

Stocks a plenty- Top two are from Raider CS-35s- Bottom two- Shot Blasts

The bonus scope attachments fit on the Shot Blast's tactical rails (in which there are two on top of the blaster). They're apparently not included with all packs, but I quite like them- they're different looking to the N-Strike scopes and I personally like them better.

Shot Blast bonus scopes in red and blue.

From my experiences, water fights are nothing to do with accuracy and precision, so I very quickly culled the Shot Blast scope and stock and added them to my N-Strike foam arsenal.

Shot Blast scope and stock on an N-Strike Recon CS-6

I was dubious at first with this new Super Soaker line- as a big fan of the CPS blasters from the 90's, I was a little disappointed that they've opted for the simplistic syringe style blaster rather than a pressurised tank. Syringe style blasters also require both hands (check out  below the Super Soaker commercial at 0:08- that guy's dual wielding Shot Blasts- not sure why he's laughing because he's a sitting duck)  which I personally don't like when in water fights.

That all being said I was sold on the Shot Blast in the end. This IS a nice blaster, it's got a great range and feels nice in the hand, looks fantastic and the best part is the ability to interchange your accessories with N-Strike foam blasters.

So far, I've only seen them at Toys R Us stores for $59.95 AUS. A lil steep (given I've seen US prices for $9.95!!) but probably will come down closer to Christmas.

Usability: 7/10
Out of the box performance: 7/10
Cool factor: 7/10
Price point: 6.5/10