Boomerang Fu

Genre: Top-Down Arcade / Party Game

Players: 1-6 Competitive / Team Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Boomerang Fu is a family-friendly Top-Down Arcade / Party Game that has players fighting one another as various anthropomorphized food items, each armed with a boomerang. This game was released on multiple platforms in 2020, including the Nintendo Switch.

Boomerang Fu uses a simple, cartoony 3D style for its visuals that’s very appealing – everything has bright colors and rounded edges, and while there’s absolutely nothing here to impress, it’s all still visually nice. I have to make note of one fantastic element here – every different food item has its own unique death animation when sliced by a boomerang, and this nice little touch really adds some great personality to the game. The visual elements here are backed by a bubbly soundtrack that underlines the game’s lighthearted nature. It all works pretty well for the game, even if it doesn’t leave a truly lasting impression.

When it comes to the gameplay, this game starts with its central mechanic, the boomerang, and builds on it in clever ways, managing to keep things simple while adding a lot of depth. Players can melee attack with the boomerang or toss it, but tossing it will of course leave them without a weapon while it’s flying around. They can also “charge” the toss, throwing it farther and faster. There are some added nuances here, too – the boomerang will ricochet off of walls, and on its return trip it is pulled back to wherever you currently are, but that return can be blocked by said walls. Players can “force pull” an errant boomerang laying on the ground too, and while disarmed they can at least use a non-lethal melee attack to push other players away, and they always have a dash available to them as well. For the most part, it is the clever use of these core mechanics and the game’s physics that makes for victory.

However, even more than that, this game does something clever with its power-ups in that these upgrades last from one round to the next, meaning it may be worth it to make a risky run out into the open to snag one of these, because even if it means you’ll get killed, if you can get the power-up you’ll have that advantage in all future rounds. Power-ups have some nice variety to them as well, and for that matter so too do the various arenas you’ll be fighting in.

In terms of complaints, I’d say the controls can feel a little loose, and I have to make my usual complaint about how this is a game that uses one stick to both move and aim, although I feel like it’s not as much of a detriment here as it is in some other games. I do also wish there were a bit more variety in game modes, and a level select would be nice too (in fact, given the game’s simplicity, a level builder would have been great to have).

However, overall, Boomerang Fu is a phenomenal Party Game. It uses a good core mechanic that it builds on with surprising depth and subtlety, all while maintaining simple, accessible gameplay and maintaining a steady pacing that keeps things fun. Players looking for another great game to throw down in will find this to be a superb addition to their collection.

tl;dr – Boomerang Fu is a family-friendly Top-Down Arcade-style Party Game where players play as anthropomorphized food items trying to off one another with boomerangs. The core mechanics here are excellent, giving players a lot of nuance and variety while maintaining simple controls that are easy for anyone to pick up. It could use more content, but overall this is an excellent Party Game well worth adding to your collection.

Grade: B+

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