Boomerang X

Developed By: DANG!

Published By: Devolver Digital

Price: £14.99 / $19.99

Action

Just like every year Devolver Digital comes out of the woodwork to show some of the many indie games which they are publishing. Every time I see one, there are always games in there that catch the eye, make you interested. This year, I saw plenty that I hope to look at, and one of them has fallen into my lap. A game based and revolving around a single object, upon which all of its gameplay is built off of. That game is Boomerang X.

Stranded

Boomerang X puts you in the shoes of an unknown protagonist who finds themselves mysteriously stranded upon an abandoned island that is infested by dark, gooey creatures. In the center of all this they find a boomerang with mystical power. With boomerang in hand, they defend themselves, ripping through the island in an attempt to get to the bottom of what’s transpiring here and stop it.

Beyond that, there are two ways you can acquire what you can of the story. Either through what you can gleam from the background, or told to you by the resident sentient bug Tepan. Tepan is a kind soul you’ll come across from time to time who will talk with you. He’s chill.

Anyway, the story overall isn’t very present, but it is there. However, as we can all tell, the story isn’t the main focus of Boomerang X.

The Boomerang

The structure of Boomerang X is actually quite simple. You move along rather basic corridors from one combat room to the next. Sometimes there will be obstacles, and sometimes you’ll get an upgrade, but it’s mostly just walking from room to room. 

This was one of the things that disappointed me about Boomerang X. It’s rather simple. The environments that you pass through have barely anything to really make you interested in the setting. Even the combat rooms don’t have much to them besides a hazard or two in the final areas. 

It’s obvious they just put a lot of focus on the combat to make sure it felt good with plenty to play with. The game does play pretty well, and controls smoothly. However, there are problems with some things. The controls for keyboard can be a bit too convenient, especially for someone as press-happy as me. I find myself jumping and then stopping my jump mid-air right after. Some abilities have this same problem, where the button is either the same for one action, which causes me to do the same two actions a bunch of times. 

Upgrade Your Tool

As you start off with the boomerang, it’s rather tame. You run around and throw the boomerang, then run into it to catch it. As the game goes on, you gain more abilities at a pretty steady pace. Almost after every couple of combat rooms you’ll get a new ability, each of which add a new button to press while your mid-air and dodging enemies.

One of the more important abilities you gain is the dash, where you get pulled straight to wherever your boomerang is. This changes the entirety of how combat will go from here on out. It does have some problems, but mostly with my press-happy issues. Most of the other issues with it is that it’s a bit unruly, and will bring you where you didn’t mean to go. But that’s probably intentional. 

Creatures of Goo

What I like a lot is the amount of enemy variety that’s in the game. Every combat room introduces one, rarely two, new enemies to throw in a bit of chaos into the ever-evolving tornado of insanity. This does help keep the pace always-climbing, as you’re learning to adapt to these new conditions the game has laid out for you. 

In battle, you’ll be zipping through the sky, dodging enemy attacks and whatever else is being thrown at you. Some enemies will just take one hit and die, while others require you to find the red gem on their body and attack that to kill. You also initially take one hit to kill, but as you progress through the game, you’ll unlock shield points that each take one hit before breaking. These can be restored either by exiting a combat room or restoring one shield point on pads littered throughout the combat room.

Should’ve Been More

I really like this combat. A lot, actually. The way it makes my heart pump is indescribable. I always need to take a break after each combat room as I feel this sense of relief. The mind is in a constant buzz for what to do next, as it’s assaulted by the faster nature and tense second-to-second of this gameplay. I wanted more, yet I was satisfied with the amount of combat there was. 

However, there also seems to be something missing. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s just mostly hallways in-between combat rooms. They could’ve filled these with something that made full use of the boomerang’s abilities, like puzzles or even platforming challenges. Really challenging the brain and reflexes between combat rooms just so that the pace seems constant. 

So, while I did enjoy the combat, I feel like they really could’ve done more with this gameplay. But instead we just have empty halls to look forward to each time we finish a combat room. Well, we have Tepan, but what can one bug man do to change my opinion on this matter? 

Plucking of Strings

The music is another high point, especially in how much it ramps up as Boomerang X goes on. It almost feels like they add a new layer, even though it’s just different tracks altogether. From a starting single string that follows you to your destination, to a never-stopping cacophony of sounds assaulting you like the enemies you face. 

It also runs pretty well, considering what happens in Boomerang X. Sure, it’s not exactly the most graphics-intensive game, but there are a lot of stuff moving around at any time on-screen when you’re fighting in the later game. It ran buttery smooth. 

In addition to all the good this game has, there’s more fun to be had in New Game+. Boomerang X’s difficulty ramps up as they begin to add late game enemies into the beginning battles. I haven’t gotten far because I had to do this review, but there was some enemies I didn’t expect in the beginning. 

Coming Right Back

Overall, Boomerang X is a quality Devolver Digital published title. The developers knew exactly what they wanted to do and they did it. Honestly, the combat is a lot of fun, and will leave you with a bit of a high for sometime. The music, the tensity, the slew of enemies coming your way, it all makes you feel that rush. However, they focused so much on the combat that they never thought to breathe even more life into this game by adding more to do with your boomerang than just killing. 

That is where my thoughts lie, in what more it could do to be more of a fully realized game. I would still tell people to give this a shot, because the combat is a lot of fun. However, I’m not going to say it’s a necessity to purchase. As always, whether you get Boomerang X or not is how much what I’ve talked about interests you. In my opinion, it’s worth getting. 

 

Verdict

Recommended

 

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Reviewed by Freelance7. Game provided by Devolver Digital.