Nerf N-Strike Elite, the sequel to Nerf N-Strike, is an on-rails shooter where the player can select their hero out of four N-Strike Elite agents, each of whom is equipped with a specific gun to shoot Elite darts at an army of ill-intentioned robots. Those are also the only projectiles the enemies will fire. The gist of the game is the variety of weapons: over 25 guns can be of avail to the dauntless agents, some of them being purchasable, some having to be unlocked in different ways; moreover, they all are capable of being customized, and enhanced by power-ups.

In addition to Story Mode, there is Blasting Range, a score attack mode played on a brief course. Some areas are only available through playing the cooperative mode for two players; up to four players can join the adventure.

Controls are given by the Wii Remote or by a bundled blaster, the Nerf Switch Shot Ex-3 which houses the Wii Remote. It is an enhanced version of the blaster that came with the proceeding iteration in the series: a red decoder lens attached to it will reveal otherwise-invisible game items such as hidden passages and enemies' weak points.