“Hey, dude. Is that a demon?”
“I think it is, dude.”
“Dude, no way.”
“What if I threw this bent stick at it, dude?”
“…Dude.”
And thus, the Legendary Hero was born.
Demon Versus Boomerang
Developed by Super Planet, Boomerang RPG allows you to utilize one of the more interesting but rather underutilized weapons out there: the boomerang. Whether they bounce, pierce, split or spin, they are an excellent tool to mow down hordes of evil demons on your path to greatness. At least, they’ll have to be if you want to get far. Train your attack power, put on your armor, grab your magically enchanted boomerang and run. Keep running, and never stop.
Weaponized Spectacle
Boomerang RPG resembles old Flash games in terms of its graphics, its sound design as well as its writing. It’s very simplistic in all regards and doesn’t attempt to take itself seriously. The hero’s species is literally called “dudes” and they are fighting demons. That’s all you need to know.
Boomerang RPG does have one crucial advantage over the competition. By the nature of it being an idle game, you will spend quite some time watching your little dude fighting waves of monsters, be that through the main quest or in dungeons. Luckily, the boomerang makes for a quite interesting weapon to watch. Seeing it bounce back and forth, spin around, ricochet between enemies is satisfying.
What Goes Around
As with all idle games, most of your time will be spent in menus trying to make your hero as powerful as you can. This can be done in many familiar ways: training your basic statistics, skills, passives, companions, summoning and upgrading your equipment and magic, collecting monster cards and more. The resources for doing so are found by idling, though some of it can be sped up through alternative ways like running dungeons. These are mostly standard for idle games.
So what makes Boomerang RPG stand out? The answer is in the title. There are a variety of boomerang types you can acquire and upgrade that are useful in different situations. An elastic boomerang that ricochets between enemies might be best against spread-out targets, while close-knit groups of demons are best dealt with using a rotating boomerang that spins in place, dealing damage to enemies around it. Choosing the optimal load-out and watching it go can be a delight and definitely makes the idle part of the game much more bearable.
As expected, progress in Boomerang RPG is fast at first but slows down just a couple hours after starting out. However, it never quite feels like you hit a wall and can’t make progress. There are enough side activities that there is always something you could be doing to speed up the power-gathering process. It’s up to you how much you want to play (that is to say, how much you want to have the game open).
Spruce Boomerang Finish
Boomerang RPG is not perfect. While the game does not by any means try to extort you for money to have a good time, there is one purchase you will have to make if you actually want to have fun: the Super Dude Pack. This little bundle, among other things, disables ads so you can play the game uninterrupted. Without it, ads are overabundant. You have to watch four ads every half hour of gameplay to keep your blessings running. You have to watch an ad every third time you upgrade your statistics. Watch up to ten ads for the free daily equipment summons. Watch ads for bonus daily quest rewards. Ads to gain more daily dungeon runs. It can make your play sessions take several times as much time as they otherwise would.
The other problem I had was more technical. I’m not sure if it was just my device, but Boomerang RPG was prone to crashing after watching too many ads in a row, and sometimes just on its own as well. If you have a powerful device, this might not be a problem for you, but if you don’t, you better be patient instead.
Boomerang RPG is like a lava lamp. You can watch it go when you’ve got nothing else to do, and it can be fun for a while. Long-term enjoyment depends entirely on the player though. But that can be said about most idle games. If you’re into lava lamps and boomerangs, you’re probably going to get some fun out of this title. Just keep in mind that you can’t actually throw a lava lamp like a boomerang. Only the Legendary Hero can do that. Probably.
