Recommended: Two Great Toys

A month after Christmas, two toys that were introduced into our household are still huge hits, with the kids and with me.

Probably not a good idea to take to school

First is the BuzzBee Ruff Stuff Air Blasters Double Shot Gun.  I’ve seen plenty of Nerf guns before, but nothing with this kind of realism or power.  This double barreled shotgun actually fires two bullets at a time, loads with plastic shells, and has to be cocked with quite a bit of force (so much so, in fact, that my younger son has trouble doing it by himself–this toy is best for older kids, and *ahem* dads). 

But that’s not the best part: any other toy gun I’ve ever seen just limply pops out a foam bullet which may or may not make it to your target, and if it does, it will simply drop to the ground upon impact.  Not this gun, though.  These bullets blast out with a loud bang, and smack right into the target, usually sticking there.  It.  Is.  Awesome!  Do yourself a favor and find this gun. 

The other toy was a video game.  I’m not often a big fan of these, sometimes because of what they glorify, sometimes because of how they detract from better things in life, but sometimes simply because I can get addicted to them.  That last has almost been the case with this fantastic toy. 

Any online outlet I found for the Star Wars Episode III Plug and Play Video Game listed it for exorbitant prices.  I don’t know what that’s about.  The Target down the street from my house has them for fifteen dollars. 

Look! The controller is shaped like Vader's helmet! How cool is that?

Fifteen dollars!  For sharp, detailed graphics in a busy setting with smooth gameplay.  And five entire, separate games.  All stored in a hand-held controller.  When I was a kid, they simply didn’t have games this advanced for a home system, and by the time I was older and they did, you would have had to spend several hundred dollars for hardware and games to get something like this.  Maybe I’m especially impressed because I’m so technologically out of the loop, but…wow.  Things have grown quite far, and so fast. 

The games themselves are all great: they’re racing and shooting games, mostly, some overhead, some side scrolling, but my favorite is the one called “Droid Invasion.”  It’s like a souped up version of an 80’s puzzle game, where you, as Obi Wan Kenobi, run back and forth across the bottom of the screen deflecting incoming lasers with your lightsaber, destroying the advancing droids who come on increasingly fast and numerous.  Winning this one is all about angles–it’s a geometry game!  So far I’ve gotten to level six, with a score of 8445.  Beat that if you can!