Red Hot Review – Tyco Rapid Assault

Hype

Tyco’s Rapid Assault looks like the ultimate fighting machine, decked out in army colours with a menacing truck style bonnet and a tank style design. Mattel tells us the Rapid Assault is the ultimate in remote control firepower featuring a rapid-fire 12 shot cannon that fires foam darts with a long range attack capability up to 20 feet and full functioning steering.

Toyologist test – 45min Trial

It’s more like the ultimate in Remote Control Frustration! The Rapid Assault is a lot slower than expected and a lot noisier than we would have liked it to be so any plans to carry out a stealth attack on an unsuspecting victim are out the window we’re afraid – a common trait for this kind of toy but irritable nonetheless. The best thing about the Rapid Assault is the rapid-fire 12 shot cannon which will entertain you for all the few minutes. We really enjoyed launching the 12 foam darts in rapid succession but the novelty soon wore off, especially after having to retrieve the foam projectiles each time they were fired. Be careful not to fire the cannon at messy or hard to reach areas as you'll be sending out a search party to retrieve the ammunition – they do fire with quite some speed, the only good thing about this function. Adult supervision is not really needed, but we’re sure you’ll be called upon if the foam darts have gone missing. Make sure you have a stash of batteries at the ready as like most cars these days this one is a guzzler and the batteries will need to be changed a lot more than you think and did we mention the vehicle also requires an above average amount of batteries – eight to be precise.

Verdict

It looks like a cool boys toy but unfortunately it’s a big fat let down. The vehicle's performance in no way matches its design which is the greatest disappointment. We think this is the kind of toy that would be just enough entertainment for kids under 7 but funnily enough it’s actually aimed at kids who are 8+. It moves at the kind of irritating speed you’d expect from the elderly folk (strange for a toy with rapid in the title), the batteries run out a bit too fast for our liking and the noise it makes is almost unbearable.

As you can tell we’re not very enthusiastic about this one and don’t even think it’s good enough for one of our Toyology badges of approval. The verdict is clear. The loud noise in conjunction with its slow manoeuvres will drive you up the wall and it’s still a mystery why some foam darts shoot further than others. Based on its style and what it supposedly does this toy should fall in the ‘boys toys’ category but instead gets a huge thumbs down from us!