Nerf Zombiestrike Brainsaw Review (3/10)

A very dull blade.

This is the first major new Nerf blaster I've picked up in a while. I would have picked up the Stratobow too but I, and I'd imagine most of you are absolutely sick of bows. So we got a something a whole lot more interesting than that, being that it was the only other new product I could find. This is the Zombiestrike Brainsaw, what could have been one of the coolest blasters on the market is in reality a big fat stinking turd. Let's see why.

Size compared to a Roughcut 2x4.

The Brainsaw is almost an attempt at hybridizing a pump action blaster and a melee weapon in the most outrageous manner possible. The concept ended up being, take the fairly venerable Roughcut 2x4, and turn it into a chainsaw. We love chainsaws, anybody who has played too much Doom knows that. The sound, the rotating chain of death leaving nothing but a disembodied pile of limbs behind, so why not make one into a Nerf blaster? Cool right? Very cool, and you can tell by my dolled up picture above that the Brainsaw is no slouch when it comes to detail, that is of course until you actually pick it up. The Brainsaw is very plain on the other half of the shell, and it almost feels like they just made the half that you can see in the box as cool as possible.

Um, that's off center. Do you need to get your eyes checked Hasbro?

There are also numerous quirks with the ergonomics of the blaster. The main grip itself is fine and feel good in the hand, however the pump grip; that little green screwdriver handle thing on the bottom is pretty atrocious. It doesn't give you anything real to grip on at all. And call me OCD but the front iron sight is completely off center from the middle of the blaster, also making it look like the bottom half of the chain isn't even feeding into the blaster. Not to mention, what the hell is even the point of making it a chainsaw if the blaster is pump action? The chainsaw grip on top serves no purpose other than to look cheap, which it does being only fully molded on one half. Shouldn't the chainsaw grip be the priming handle if that's where you hold a real chainsaw? Not on the bottom where your fingers are less than an inch away from a spinning chain of death? Oh actually, about that chain...

Way to cheap out Hasbro!

The entire blade is made of solid plastic and the only part that spins is this round foam piece on the front like the Crosscut. I've seen toy chainsaws with rubber blades that actually spin like the real deal, why the hell can't we get that? To make matters worse, the Brainsaw isn't even electronic. No engine noises or having your shitty little foam blade spin up on a trigger pull, you get a pull cord. A fucking pull cord. The blade even barely stays spinning after a few nice tugs on the cord. So hitting people with the Brainsaw is out of the question with majority of the "blade" being hard plastic. Wow, how pathetic. You can jab them with it but whats the point? Isn't the point of a chainsaw to have a badass spinning blade with intimidation factor rather than a half assed excuse to market one of the worst modern blasters I've reviewed in a long time? Oh yeah, the gun part is just as bad too.

The plunger is somewhat but the Smart AR system totally kills it.

The Brainsaw is very similar to the Roughcut 2x4 like I mentioned earlier. Pump action with an eight round capacity in the same exact configuration, however the Brainsaw lacks the two stage trigger of the Roughcut which also means it lacks dual plunger tubes that feed into two separate halves of the Smart AR. The Brainsaw has increased diameter plunger tube to compensate for for the increased dead space the blaster has to deal with but guess what? It doesn't work at all. The Brainsaw only hits about 35 feet tops which is unacceptable by today's standards. On top of that it is extremely inaccurate and insanely inconsistent. Seriously, after the first two shots, the ranges decrease to the point where the last two shots just barely hit 20 feet or both fire and the other just falls out of the barrel. What a joke.

The Brainsaw is blaster that had plenty of excitement around it before it released but in reality, it's just a half assed joke of what could have been something really cool. The centerpiece blade is totally laughable, the performance sucks, and parts of the design just look unrefined. I honestly feel like I should return this thing, $30 bucks is a fair bit for something this terrible, and trust me I hate returning things, even terrible things but the Brainsaw was just such a stinging disappointment that it is really pushing me to drive back to Target and dump it at customer service(UPDATE: I did). It's not worth modding in my opinion either. Besides, for $10 bucks less you can pick up a Roughcut which is a much better blaster. With a 3 out of 10 in the books, the Brainsaw should just be left for dead.

The Verdict

Class- Pump Action Rifle

Range- Poor, 35 feet tops.

Size- Similar to a Roughcut 2x4.

Reliability- Smart AR is inconsistant.

Ammo- 8 Elite Darts

Modding- Possible but not really worth the effort.
Value- At $30, it's a fairly expensive paperweight.

Is It Better Than?

Roughcut 2x4- No, the Roughcut is less expensive, more practical to carry, and it's more powerful. The Roughcut's dual plunger tubes also solve the problem of too much dead space for the plunger tube to handle by splitting the difference of the barrels between them. As a result the Roughcut is more consistent when firing. Also it's great for integrations. It's a CQC blaster everyone should have.