Boomerang X is unlike anything I have played with a mixture of several different genres that revolve around platforming, speedrunning, and your trusty weapon of a boomerang. This game, developed by DANG! and published by Devolver Digital, which is always willing to branch out with different ideas, puts you into a gaming experience that will test you through its crazy pace and intense combat.
The game itself does not give one much of a plot to hang its hat on, as the combat is the real star of this title. A basic premise that is given is the character that you control becomes shipwrecked and must travel through different worlds with portals. It is once your character finds the boomerang that the game takes off for the better as you traverse until the ending of the game through these worlds. However, you will have areas between your battles to upgrade your character for the next section you are about to go into as well as your friend of a bug NPC that you talk with now and then.
With the little story that is given, you can delve into the gameplay that makes Boomerang X a thrill. Once you get hold of the ultra-deadly boomerang, you start to take on waves of enemies that will come in the arena. Boomerang X brings you into the mechanics of the game quite easily demonstrating throwing the boomerang and retrieving it while slowly giving you more abilities with each wave of enemies you conquer. These abilities get more complex as time goes on from the ability to launch yourself to get around faster and manipulate time so you will have more time to aim amidst the chaos on screen. These abilities and more take the game up a notch where you will fly through these arenas while using your boomerang strategically on enemies. The boomerang will become even stronger over time with a scattershot, imagine a shotgun like shot, to shoot multiple enemies and be able to hit multiple targets at once at incredible speeds. The waves will have certain types of enemies to take on with more foes than you must eliminate. However, one will gain advantages with the more they eliminate in the arena, therefore, I went after as many enemies as I could to gain these advantages. These advantages helped a ton like scattershot which needed to be activated with killing multiple enemies that would help a lot in taking down multiple enemies at once. These abilities as well develop as if you take on multiple enemies with the scattershot you will get the ability with the needle shot, which allows you to take down multiple enemies with a precise shot when lined up.
Boomerang X helps the player identify the enemies you must take down with a yellow glow; this glowing color can be changed with accessibility options, that surround the enemy. While the rest of the enemies that are in the arena that is not needed to be eliminated will not have this glow. This is where strategy comes in with the player either in skipping enemies entirely or killing the enemies to obtain abilities to take on other enemies ahead. These enemies are varied through the game from spiders, bugs, magicians, flying creatures that will add enough variety to keep the player on his toes when going into an arena. Some enemies even come with red spots that emphasize you must shoot them in that spot to defeat them while other enemies will have smaller foes that will give them shield so one must defeat the smaller enemy to kill the larger one so the shield will be destroyed.
The maps add great variety to the player that truly emphasizes how important momentum is within the game, while the earlier arenas will have more platforms to land and launch the player from. The later stages will have less of these as you are encouraged to zip around and not land much at all. Even while looking for life refills scattered around the map. The combination of a crazy pace and intense combat is what Boomerang X is all about and it is a thrill to play once you get going.
I enjoyed Boomerang X immensely as it had that good variety of pace and combat mixed throughout. Some aspects might put people off might be to start, the game can be completed in around 2-4 hours which can be disappointing for people when buying the game. However, this game screams replayability, especially coming with a New Game+ Mode which allows you to restart with all your abilities so you can use the ones you have not been able to use much. For me it was some of the abilities toward the end of the game that I wanted to use more. With this replayability, Boomerang X even becomes more difficult and challenging, which was a plus for me as well. I felt the game became too easy at parts where I was not challenged much with my quick navigation and use of special abilities. But over time, it became more challenging and in turn, I became more engaged with the game.
Other than some minor issues, Boomerang X was a blast to play, and I enjoyed much of my time with it. If you are a fan of a frantic pace, kind of like recent Doom games, which keep you on your toes throughout and satisfying gameplay, then this game is great for you. I recommend you check out this title that can create a ton of incredible bits of enjoyment throughout.
Score: 8/10
Check Out the Boomerang X Release Trailer:
Boomerang X is available for PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch for $19.99.
Steam Review
Gaming has always been an outlet for me to interact with different people and explore all kinds of possibilities. I play a wide variety of games always willing to try different mechanics and storylines that developers are trying to create for their games. I grew up delving into MW2 and World of Warcraft, I miss the Wrath of The Lich King days, and as I have gotten older I have found a love for RPGs and strategy games, my favorites being The Witcher 3 and Total War. Always looking forward to the next great game.
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