This is a really cool Nerf blaster, but it doesn't seem to be much of an improvement over my old Nerf Dart Tag Hyperfire blaster that I got over 10 years ago. This blaster looks more like a real gun, which is something that I don't specifically like. I prefer my Nerf guns to be exaggerated and look cartoony, it just adds to the fun to me because I don't want to feel like I'm training to cause someone extreme pain. I'm mainly just going to compare this thing to my old blaster because my super old blaster is probably better than this thing.



My Hyperfire goes just about as far with the same darts. This main point kind of irked me, I would have liked to see more range as was advertised, but perhaps the blaster I received had some type of issue. The Hyperfire can be loaded while cocked and ready to fire. The Retaliator can only be loaded via the clip which can only be taken out of the gun when it is uncocked. This makes it kind of suck, because darts are all about shooting then picking up your dart. I like to pick up my darts quite quickly after shooting it so I don't forget where it is, and if I need to unload my whole clip, I'll have it ready. So I like to pick up darts as I go, you kind of can't do that with this gun unless you want to take out the mag and reload it every single time you shoot.



It's also worth mentioning that the bundled attachments for this gun seem to be all but useless in terms of performance. The stock is kind of cool and might help with accuracy because you can hold the gun to your body, but the barrel extension and foregrip are mainly just for looks as far as I can tell. I don't know if the barrel actually effects dart precision. One huge factor is this: the foregrip is wobbly and easily falls off if you don't hold it correctly. It isn't going to be a huge issue while handling the gun normally, but it's inconvenient. For example, if you try to pick the blaster up by the foregrip, the foregrip will probably just slide off. Again, it's not too bad when it is actually on the gun, but it is wobbly.



Another thing is that this gun does jam a bit. I think it's mainly about how you cock it, you kind of have to do it in one quick motion or risk getting jammed. An unpleasing aspect of this blaster is that once it jammed for me, I had to figure out how to get the dart out. You can do this via a black (for me it was black anyway) trap door kind of thing that lets you see into the inside of the blaster. This is accessed by pulling the cocking mechanism back and revealing the "trap door." The main thing about this hinge-door-thingy is that after the first time I fully opened it, it seemed to quite easily fly open after that. That means every time I go to cock the gun for the next dart, the door might kind of pop up and I think that this contributes to more jams. You could probably just tape this, but this is a sort of big issue out of the box.



Finally, I just want to point out that the colors do vary. I got the mainly white version and though I didn't care, I was sort of surprised when I got it because I did not realize that the title stated that they could vary.



Overall this is a nice gun, though my review might make it seem kind of cheap just because I compared it to another (and in my opinion better) blaster. This thing is really fun to play with and its made my girlfriend stock up on her own Nerf armory. Definitely a fun blaster for any of your Nerf needs, but I feel kind of ripped off because my 12 year old gun seems to me to have a bit better performance.