Boomerang X

Genre: First-Person Action

Players: 1

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Review:

Boomerang X is a First-Person Action game released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2021. Boomerang X mostly doesn’t have you shooting guns, but tossing an X-shaped boomerang, which players control in a variety of ways.

The game is set up as a series of arenas, with players fighting off multiple waves of enemies before moving on to the next arena, occasionally taking a brief detour into an area where they gain a new ability and are instructed in its use. To start with, players can only move and jump, toss the boomerang, charge it up to toss it farther, and summon it back to you if it hasn’t returned of its own accord. However, once players start gaining new abilities, this game starts to reveal what’s really at the core of the experience.

Among the first abilities you learn in the game are the “slingshot” ability, and the ability to slow down time. Slingshot pulls the player at high speed to wherever the boomerang currently is, and the slowdown ability resets every time players toss the boomerang. This means that players can toss the boomerang into the air, slingshot themselves to it, start charging up the next throw, slow down time, pick their next target, toss again, and repeat this process indefinitely, never touching the ground if they choose not to.

The feeling of rushing around and blasting through enemies you get from doing this is outstanding, and you really do get a liberating feeling of movement. Perhaps a bit too liberating, actually. The boomerang flies quickly and ricochets off of any surface it hits, meaning that often when you use the slingshot, you’ll have little direct control over where you’ll get pulled to, and may even find the movement disorienting. It is so very difficult to make precision movements in this game, and often you’ll be making multiple mid-air throws to bounce yourself around just to get into the position you’re trying to reach.

Thankfully, the time slowdown ability is something of a saving grace when it comes to the chaotic and unpredictable movement in this game, giving players a moment to breathe, process where they are, and try to pick a direction to attempt to shift to next. While players cannot stay in this state indefinitely, the fact that it completely recharges after each slingshot means that in-between every fast-paced burst of chaotic movement you can have a moment of calm reflection and planning. And between the two, players can generally get where they want to eventually, even if it takes multiple slingshots to get there.

It’s not just your own abilities here that are impressive – the enemy design here is really outstanding, with new enemies introduced with surprising frequency so you’ll never feel like you’re bored just repeating the same motions over and over again. At first things start fairly basic – flies that move directly toward you, crawling creatures that shuffle in your general direction, hulking brutes that need to be taken ot from behind… but before long you’ll face shaman-like enemies that teleport to a new location when you hit them once, butterflies that give other enemies protective shields, moths that drop massive, screen-filling explosions, massive giraffe-like creatures that inhibit your movements using a disc of damaging black clouds near their head… this game keeps coming up with new challenges to test your expanding abilities.

Players needn’t clear all enemies to end a wave. Every wave has some enemies that are highlighted, and players can target these enemies to clear the group and proceed to the next wave. However, there is of course some reason players might want to take out other enemies to give themselves some breathing room. It’s up to the player how to prioritize this, another element of the game’s strategy.

Graphically, Boomerang X uses stylized, relatively simple cel-shaded 3D visuals that generally highlight the action, without too much distracting environmental detail. On the Nintendo Switch, this is mostly delivered with a decent resolution and framerate, though the framerates do briefly dip here and there. It’s nothing significant enough to hamper the gameplay, but it was noticeable.

However, there are some clever things Boomerang X does with its sound and music that deserve mention. The acoustic combination of plucked strings and percussion flows and changes as you go through combat, based on what you’re doing at a given time, and which enemies you’re fighting. With each new wave, you hear the music pick up again as a multitude of enemies start to surround you, with this music becoming more subdued as you slow down time, and with it gradually becoming more simple as you weed out one species of enemy after another. The way this naturally creates a fitting level of intensity based on the context of what’s going on around you is absolutely inspired.

I should note that the controls on Nintendo Switch work well (and for those wanting to know, yes, the game has optional gyroscopic motion controls), but I would suggest you might want to fiddle with the options. The auto-aim that the game has on by default interfered with my aiming every now and then, and this sort of thing may be something you’ll want to shut off.

In the end, while Boomerang X isn’t without its flaws, I still had an absolute blast playing this game. The feeling of freedom of movement is incredible, instilling a great sense of power to take on the game’s inventive hordes of enemies. It’s unfortunate that this freedom comes hand in hand with a feeling of careening around the game’s arenas out of control, but overall I feel this game generally rises above this issue to become one of the more enjoyable Action games to see release on Nintendo Switch this year, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some great, fast-paced combat.

tl;dr – Boomerang X is a First-Person Action game that has players tossing an X-shaped boomerang around arenas with hordes of enemies, with abilities that have players careening around the place at high speeds. The feeling of freedom and the amount of variety here are outstanding, but counter-balanced somewhat by the feeling that you’re often out-of-control. Still, while it has its drawbacks, this is an immensely fun Action game well worth playing.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Action Game – Boomerang X features some immensely satisfying combat, and unique movement mechanics that make it an absolute blast to play. Plenty of other games on this list are well worth playing, but Boomerang X is the one I enjoyed the most.

Runner-Up: Best Sound Design

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