Bamerang is an arena brawler that enjoys being a little quirky and throwing a curveball into its basic gameplay. Well, I say curveball… its a curve arc! Bamerang takes boomerangs into the battle field for 2-4 players to enjoy some focused local multiplayer fun.
The Nidhogg pixel art style works well for creating a surreal colourful collection of over 20 single screen maps for players to play locally (steam remote works for PC but it’s local only for the Switch). Your character can run, jump and summon your bamerang. Working like a twin-stick shooter you move with the left stick and aim your weapon with the right. Pressing and holding the throw button will increase your throw distance but interestingly it also means the curved arc of your rang will be wider too. It is a nifty quirk that you can tap into when you’ve played the game for a few minutes. Players often run and hide initially but because your weapon curves as it flies, you are never really safe. Watch as you curveball and spank them all.
Why are we hitting everyone with bamerangs though? Well its a first to three wins of collecting 30 coins. The Green Goddess – a giant hand – is scattering coins around the level for you to collect and if you get hit, you’ll drop some of them. Naturally this sees players often gaining up against the leader and some matches become a tug of war as allegiances switch. You can also fall off the stage, by bad judgement of being spanked off it. The Green Goddess picks you up and shakes you senseless before dropping you back into the game. This move is the most damaging as you’ll lose a huge amount of whatever you’ve collected.
The gameplay, controls and aesthetic all work beautifully together to create a really fun focused experience. There is no AI so you do need friends to play with but when played in bouts of 15-20 minutes, Bamerang is a great chaotic and fast-paced laugh. The only downside to this is that beyond this gameplay loop, there is nothing else here. There are no variants such as depositing coins or having to pick up the bamerang rather than just hitting a button to get another one for example. The other minor oddity is that the jump button is largely throwaway as no maps have gradient and any pits or holes can’t be crossed with a jump.
Bamerang is great for short burst games as part of a local multiplayer games rotation. What it does, it does mighty well and the game is priced accordingly. Just go in expecting simple, light thrills and you’ll be a happy bunny.
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