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      English
      Gamereactor
      reviews
      Boomerang X

      Boomerang X

      It captures the brisk pace and intensity of the Doom series, but there's no heavy metal soundtrack to be seen (or heard).

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      We are pretty convinced at this point that everything that Devolver Digital touches is golden. The publisher has had its name stamped on some of the finest indies that we have ever seen over the last decade with The Messenger, Enter the Gungeon, and Minit just being a few that spring to mind. Devolver clearly has a high bar when it comes to quality and that's one of the reasons why we felt compelled to check out Boomerang X. This brisk-paced action game captures the spirit and feel of Doom, and it's packed with many exciting unlockable abilities that keep its exhilarating combat feeling fresh.

      At the start of the game, you find yourself washed up on the shore of a mysterious island and discover that your weapons have been destroyed. You aren't unarmed for too long, however, as you encounter a boomerang that will serve as your primary method of attack throughout the game. Besides this opening scene, there really isn't much story to Boomerang X at all. You'll have a chance to learn more about your newfound surroundings by interacting with a talking centipede, but there are no cutscenes or collectible items to flesh out the game's lore. Those looking for an engaging story should look elsewhere.

      The action in Boomerang X is the clear highlight and it manages to remain engaging throughout despite you repeating the same task of slaying waves of enemies. Each level contains anywhere between four and seven waves and you need to defeat all the enemies marked in yellow to be able to progress. The pacing here is relentless as you need to keep vaulting yourself through the air to avoid projectiles and attack enemies both on the ground and on higher platforms. Walking around here is painfully slow and it's practically a death sentence, as you'll soon find yourself swarmed by spiders and airborne squid-like enemies.

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      Things start basic enough with you just being able to fire and recall your boomerang, but you soon learn a slew of new abilities that keep combat feeling varied. For example, one of these enables you to slow down time to land more precise shots and another allows you to unleash a fiery blast on contact after defeating three enemies in the air. Whilst your arsenal does expand, so does the challenge, and I was constantly left on the edge of my seat during the heat of action. The late-game tasks you with huge enemies that almost feel like bosses and it throws in other tricks like hovering flies that cast shields on your foes.

      Boomerang X

      Something I also liked here is how healing is handled. You only have a limited amount of hits that you can sustain before dying and your shields can only be recovered by stepping on several platforms within an arena. These healing platforms can only be used once per run and they are often placed in tricky areas that put your platforming skills to the test. In addition to this, you are pretty much a sitting duck when waiting for your shield to charge, so you need to plan the best possible moment to use them. This meant that I had to give equal consideration to regaining my health as I did to slaying down enemies.

      The arenas that you duke it out in are also expertly designed with them growing in scope and verticality the later you progress. These encompass a variety of different settings from gladiator-like arenas, poison-filled wells, and pits flowing with lava. Each of these is brought to life through the game's gorgeous cel-shaded visuals, and I never tired of taking in their beauty whilst flying around and using my ninja-like abilities.

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      Whilst I found Boomerang X's high-octane action to feel highly addictive, it does also suffer from a few shortcomings. Although it does have a more challenging New Game+ mode, I ended up beating the game in an entire 3-4 hour sitting. In addition to its short length, I also found Boomerang X to feel pretty repetitive. The gameplay just sees you slaying waves upon waves of enemies and moving down one linear corridor to the next and there is no story or other elements such as puzzles to solve to help improve its overall flow.

      Still, complaints aside, I found Boomerang X to be one of the most entertaining action games that I have played in recent memory. The combat here is fluid and fast-paced, and the enemy variety and range of abilities help to keep things endlessly entertaining. I never felt without a challenge too, as basic aspects like healing require you to approach them in the right manner. Hopefully, this one can find its way onto other platforms outside of the PC and Nintendo Switch in the future, as I'd say it's a must-have for fans of shooters like Doom.

      Boomerang XBoomerang X
      Boomerang X
      08 Gamereactor UK
      8 / 10
      +
      It's action is fast-paced and engaging, there are a range of fun abilities to play with, there's always a sense of challenge present.
      -
      It can start to feel repetitive, it's rather short at 3-4 hours long.
      overall score
      is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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      Boomerang XScore

      Boomerang X

      REVIEW. Written by Kieran Harris

      It captures the brisk pace and intensity of the Doom series, but there's no heavy metal soundtrack to be seen (or heard).



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