After getting a chance to play Boomerang X earlier in the year, I was quite excited to see where the full game would go. Was it going to expand on what was there and return more powerful than before, or would this boomerang act more like a stick and not return my hopes, it was time to find out?

The story of Boomerang X is a little strange, in that there really isn’t one, you awake on an island, an unnamed survivor of a shipwreck, that was caused by something. Upon waking, you wander around a little, until you find a unique X shaped weapon, which the game never calls a boomerang, but behaves like it. The further you push into the islands interior, the more you see, through completely visual means, what remains of a civilization long since gone from the world or are they. You see, as you explore you encounter Tepan, a millipede, who puts some context around what is going on, he was helped by the folks that are gone, so either it happened recently, or he is much older than he looks. Either way, you quickly encounter some bugs made of goo and the game lets you know that you need to clear them out of the room, via dismantling each wave of them, before you can push forward. The further forward you go, the more you start to see that maybe these folks were not as clever as they might have appeared, as they mined gems to provide light and more up top, but in digging to deep, they sealed their fate.

Exploring the land is done through the use of the titular x shaped boomerang, while it is used in combat, more on that in a bit, it is also your way to get around, you can throw it forward, then pull yourself towards it, once you get the power up, which lets you move around. While you can drag yourself forward, if you miss throw, you can also recall the boomerang right back to you, or let it find its way in a moment. Outside of that, the only real other option for moving is jumping and if you jump again in the air, you will come to a complete stop, letting you readjust your position, to make a new throw or stick a tricky landing. The lack of a run function is annoying and while I can appreciate that you can get around with the boomerang, there are a number of narrow corridors, where running through them would be great.

As I mentioned before, you will use the boomerang for combat as well and the task in combat is simple, take down the highlighted enemies in each wave, some might need a few and others many. Some enemies are simple enough, a single hit from any direction and they are done for, others or I should say most of them, require you to hit their giant red spot, in order to obliterate them. For most of them, these spots are on the back, so getting behind is going to be crucial in order to get a clean shot, others however will be underneath or on top, so you will have to adjust your throws to allow you to get access. The more you push forward, the more challenging taking down the enemies can become, not in that there you will encounter more dangerous foes, though you will do that, but more that each enemy can be protected by another critter, which makes them immune to your attacks.

The core of the game is learning to blend the movement, with attacking, in order to get through the waves as quickly as you can, some will be simple enough, but some rooms that you fight in, won’t have a solid floor and if you touch what is there, you might die. There were times when I would be able to stay in the air almost indefinitely, as long as I didn’t take to much damage, but other times when I would have to land, in order to just take a moments break, before launching back into the fight. It doesn’t take to long to understand the mechanics, but making them work for you does take practice, there were many occasions early on, where I would pull myself towards the boomerang, when I mean to have it return to me and usually when I did this, I would pull myself into something dangerous.

As you move deeper into the centre of the island, you will begin to earn powers, some of them are very useful and others are not, though your millage on them may vary. The one you are likely to use the most is the ability to slow down time, at least while you are charging up your throw, this can come in very handy in rooms where there is no floor, or you need to stay in the air for another reason. The other one I thought was quite handy was a clear all around you attack, when you take down a few enemies in a row, you can trigger an explosion of air in front of you, which can take down almost all enemies with a single hit, perfect for those times you get overwhelmed. One of the late game powers, lets you charge up a bar and when you activate it, you can zip around the map insanely fast, the problem is that your cant use your regular attack while you are doing it and I couldn’t tell you if I damaged the enemies I hit during that time or not.

Something else to consider is the games presentation, it is has a unique painted look, but instead of brush strokes, the detail appears to have been added with a camo pattern. This is not a bad thing, in fact it gives the game, one of the most unique presentations I have seen in a long time and from the moment you wake up on the beach, until the end, it never ceases to disappoint. The enemy design though is a mixed bag, some of them are wonderful in their detail and others feel more like general blobs, with legs attached and when you get into encounters with dozens of enemies all around you, not being able to tell one from the other, when you need it the most, can be a downer. The games audio is also a little mixed, on the one hand, there are some amazing tracks when you get into the many fights, but outside of those moments, I couldn’t really tell you much about any music that might have played. The game likes to build a sense of isolation and it does achieve that, but there are times when I would have liked a melancholy score to play during those parts and if it did, I can’t remember it.

Boomerang X is a strange game, when you are in combat, the games method of traversal elevates things to great heights, but outside of combat, it feels like a barren walking simulator. The lack of a clear story also doesn’t help, outside of what you might put together based on the ruins you come across, though Tepan does help. It is also not an overly long game, something you could complete within a few hours and while I can see speed runners loving this, those looking for a meaty experience will be left disappointed. The end result is that once you are done, this is one boomerang, you won’t have a need to return.