When I think of laser tag, I think of all the times as a kid I was warned about playing with the plastic guns outside for fear that the police would see the "realistic" weapon and shoot me dead in panic. These days, people mostly play laser tag in dark mini-mall rooms filled with generic techno, but WowWee wants to bring the world of futuristic faux weapons back to your house with its new line of Light Strike guns and accessories. Readers have already started asking me about the Light Strike gear, and there was only one way to provide a solid answer: it was time to suit up and fight a future war in my backyard.

What I found was a product line that had some neat ideas and much promise, but the various guns and their accessories didn't play together as nicely as I would have liked. Still, if you pick and choose your purchases carefully, there is fun to be had.

The world of Light Strikers

I've been able to play with two guns so far, the Striker GAP 24 (MSRP $29.99) and the Assault Striker SR 143 (MSRP $39.99). They're very different blasters, and they both do some interesting things. Let's start with the smaller of the two: the GAP 24.

The gun takes 4 AA batteries. It has a power switch on top of the case; below that you have four buttons, one to choose teams, one to adjust the volume, one to use your shield, and one to choose your weapon. To select a team, simply hold the button down and the LEDs near the barrel of the gun will change color. There are four different colors to choose from, so everyone playing just needs to set their gun to the correct team color.

The three red lights on the back of the gun are your health, and the different selectable weapons all take away different amounts of health. When you lose all three lights, your gun flashes and you can't fire until you hold the shield and trigger to "respawn."

The GAP 24 is one flat gun. It's comfortable in the hands (although the grips are designed for smaller paws) and the details are on the printed stickers on the sides. It's a very striking look, almost cartoonish, but for some reason it works. The gun feels very solid in your hand and the speakers produce the *pew pew* sounds with decent volume. Each gun also has a headphone jack on the backs if you want to still hear the sounds but play a silent game. Stealthy!

The Assault Striker SR 143 is much larger, complete with sockets for accessories. After putting in your four AA batteries and turning on the gun, a robotic voice prompts you to place your finger on the ID scanner. The buttons on the gun are flat; you simply need to place your finger on them to adjust volume, change team, or choose your weapon.

This gun also keeps track of your ammunition, and different kinds of shots burn ammo at different rates. To reload, simply hit a button on the bottom of the gun where a clip would sit on a more traditional weapon. Lights on the side of the gun will give you an idea of how many rounds you have left.

To play a match, you turn on two or more guns, make sure you're both set to different teams, and begin to shoot at each other. Each gun has sensors on the front, so shooting at someone will also leave you vulnerable to attack. Shooting the sides of the guns, where the LEDs show your team color, can also produce a hit, although that's not quite a sure thing depending on the range. You don't have to be aiming exactly down the barrel of your opponent's gun to hit them, so spray and pray is often a valid strategy. Some of the weapons also increase the spread of your shot, allowing you to hit multiple targets at once.

Playing with two guns, without any accessories, is a whole lot of fun. My son and I had a great time running around the yard firing at each other, although you have to rely on your opponent reporting in when they get hit. Annoyingly, you are given no indication when you score a hit on your opponent, so it can be tricky to figure out when your shots are effective.

The guns also come with separate light-up plastic sensors that detect when they're shot and change color depending on what team your gun is representing. This is fun for a few minutes in terms of target practice, but you don't have to be precise to hit the targets, so it's hardly a test of skill.

Since I was sent three of these for the review, I made up a game where I would hide them around the house and see how quickly my son could sweep the area and shoot them all, changing their color to his. I would put one in the corner, one under a desk, one on the door he has to open to get into the next room—it was like a game of hide-and-seek that taught basic tactical strategies. I wish my Dad had taught me to always check the corners and how to sweep and clear a room... but I digress.

We also played many rounds of laser tag in our back yard. The range at which the weapons will pick up a hit is around 100 feet, but if you're out of direct sunlight or in the dark, that figure goes up. There are some really annoying bits here for the "serious" player, such as the fact there is no tactile feedback at all. I would have loved to feel a shake when I was hit, instead of having to check for the red LEDs to see how my health was holding up. And with no way to know if you have hit your opponent (without them telling you), there's simply no way to tell if you're firing well.

There's also no scoring system. If you take someone's health down to zero, their gun flashes and they can't fire, but hitting the shield and trigger at the same time causes a "respawn"—and there's no record of how many times someone has respawned. You can set up your own rules and ways of playing, but you'll need to trust all the players to be honest about their own play.

And that won't happen when you're playing with 9 year-olds. I told my kid that if I caught him respawning without telling me, he would never eat candy again, but he knew it was a hollow threat. A more formal set of rules would be welcome.