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Win a copy of Max Payne 3!

Andy — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:17:49 +0000

To celebrate the release of Max Payne 3 this Friday (18/05/2012) we’ll be giving away a copy of the game to one of our lucky Facebook fans!

To be in with a chance to win a copy of Max Payne 3 you will just need to…

Like our page* on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Boomerangrentals)
Send an email to enquiries@boomerangrentals.co.uk with “Max Payne 3 Competition” as the subject.
Include your name and address in the email
Specify which format you would prefer should you win!

*If you’ve already liked us, just send the email!

The Prize

The winner will receive a copy of Max Payne 3 on either the Xbox 360 or the PS3.

Terms and Conditions

Competition closes at 13:00 on Monday 21st May 2012
The winner will be selected at random on Monday 21st May 2012 once the competition has closed.
The selected winner will have the choice of a copy of Max Payne 3 on either the Xbox 360 or PS3.
The winner will be notified via email and we will despatch your prize following confirmation of this email and your address.
UK Residents only
Entrants must be 18 years & over.

If you’re not a lucky winner this time, Max Payne 3 will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3!

If you’re looking to rent, our packages start from just £3.99 a month! And you can now become a Priority Member from as little as £10.99 a month! Why not try our 21 day free trial? Click here to join now!

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Win a copy of Sniper Elite V2!

Andy — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:40:27 +0000

To celebrate the release of Sniper Elite V2 on Friday 4th May 2012, we’ll be giving away a copy of the game to one of our lucky followers!

To be in with a chance to win all you need to do is enter our retweet and follow competition. Just follow @boomeranggames and retweet the following message…

“For a chance to win a copy of Sniper Elite V2 follow @boomeranggames and RT this message with the hashtag #snipercomp”

The Prize

One lucky follower will win a copy of Sniper Elite V2 for either the Xbox 360 or the PS3

Competition Terms & Conditions

Competition closes at 13:00 on Tuesday 8th May 2012
Winners will be selected at random on Tuesday 8th May 2012 once the competition has closed.
The winner will have a choice of a copy of the game for either the Xbox 360 or the PS3.
Winners will be notified via a Direct Message and will be asked to supply their address. If winners address is not supplied within 1 week, then another winner will be selected at random.
UK Residents only
Entrants must be 18 years & over.

If you’re not a lucky winner this time, Sniper Elite V2 will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 and PS3!

If you’re looking to rent, our packages start from just £3.99 a month! And you can now become a Priority Member from as little as £10.99 a month! Why not try our 21 day free trial? Click here to join now!

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Kinect Star Wars – Review

Andy — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:16:53 +0000

Kinect Star Wars 360 tries hard to offer good value with dancing, racing and destruction, but ultimately results in a mishmash of Star Wars goodies.

Kinect Star Wars on Xbox 360 will make many die-hard Star Wars fans run for the hills. The new Xbox 360 Kinect rental game treads on a few toes as it picks up the story between the first two films.

Perhaps the most questionable moment is seeing our childhood heroes trying to pull off all sorts of dance moves like aging dads at the school disco – oh Han!

Families will get the most out of this game and in that respect it is similar to The Clone Wars. That cartoon spin off extended the fiction and was eventually accepted as cannon by most fans. Kinect Star Wars may not have as much content as that but does offer a number of different ways to engage with the Star Wars universe.

Chief of these in the main campaign story that enables you to join the fight by wielding a light-sabre and running and jumping your way through familiar Star Wars locations.

As is the trend with Kinect games the controls are ambitious, tasking the player with moving in a precise manner to achieve complex on-screen actions. When it works there is a great connection between the two, but it does need some considerable patience and time spent setting up the play-space before you start. This is more than simply waving your hands about at the appropriate moment, but also not as compelling (or accurate) as the one-to-one motions seen in Wii-Sports Resort light saber-like sword fighting.

What Kinect does achieve on the Xbox 360 is a genuine sense of theatre in the room it is played. Also positive is that it looks like the original films and creates an undeniably authentic Star Wars experience. The sights and sounds underline this at every turn and for those willing to put aside other issues (both with the narrative and the controls) it’s a lot of fun.

In addition to the main story segments of the rental game there are three Kinect controlled mini-games. It’s here that the hardcore fans and families will part company. The former are likely to find the novelty of dancing and racing a little too much to bear.

Rancor Rampage is a two player split-screen open world fighting mini-game and the best of the bunch. A little like the old Rampage game from the arcades only in a fully 3D Star Wars world and controlled by moving your body. In a variety of time-limited modes you build up as many points as you can by wreaking destruction on the architecture and inhabitants of Mos Eisley.

Finally there is a solid split-screen pod racing game. This takes its lead from Joyride and the Pixar Rush Cars 2 driving to create a fast paced racing challenge that feels spot on. The sounds and sights of various pod-racing circuits as well as the other craft all help lift Kinect Star Wars out of the mire a little.

For families and children Kinect Star Wars offers good value and great entertainment. However more serious gamers may want to think twice before jumping in on what is one of the most questionable Star Wars games to date.

Score: 6/10 Kinect Star Wars courts families at the expense of the hardcore.

Kinect Star Wars is available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360!

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Win a copy of Prototype 2!

Andy — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:46:32 +0000

UPDATE: The lucky winner of a copy of Prototype 2 was… Leanne Pateman!

We’ve sent you an email and will send the game out today!

To celebrate the release of Prototype 2 next week (24/04/2012) we’ll be giving away a copy of the game to one of our lucky Facebook fans!

To be in with a chance to win a copy of Prototype 2 you will just need to…

Like our page* on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Boomerangrentals)
Send an email to enquiries@boomerangrentals.co.uk with “Prototype 2 Competition” as the subject.
Include your name and address in the email
Specify which format you would prefer should you win!

*If you’ve already liked us, just send the email!

The Prize

The winner will receive a copy of Prototype 2 on either the Xbox 360 or the PS3.

Terms and Conditions

Competition closes at 13:00 on Tuesday 24th April 2012
The winner will be selected at random on Tuesday 24^th April 2012 once the competition has closed.
The selected winner will have the choice of a copy of Prototype 2 on either the Xbox 360 or PS3.
The winner will be notified via email and we will despatch your prize following confirmation of this email and your address.
UK Residents only
Entrants must be 18 years & over.

If you’re not a lucky winner this time, Prototype 2 will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3!

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Prototype 2 – Preview (Xbox 360 / PS3)

Andy — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:40:45 +0000

Prototype 2 360/PS3 promises to right the wrongs of the first game, but it will be interesting to see how this works out in practice.

Prototype 360/PS3 was a hugely violent video game that took the superhero concept and injected it, quite literally, with a range of dehumanising powers. The hero, Alex Mercer, was the easy epitome of a hoodie wearing hoodlum and just like that too-easy stereotype offered little to redeem himself.

This split players, with some revelling in the mindless destruction while others simply got a bit bored by it all. I, like the majority, was in the latter group and wasn’t expecting to be interested in a follow up.

However, Prototype 2 360/PS3 has got my attention. First and foremost it is developer Radical Entertainment’s contrite tone about their first game that has got my interest. They have been more than a little forthcoming about the issues with Prototype. In a single breath they admit to “unimaginative mission design, weak set pieces, bland locations, and unlikable characters”.

Although there’s no explicit mention of mindless violence, their talk of unlikable characters (if corrected in the new game) could go a long way to winning me over. They aim to do this by shifting player control from the unforgiving Mercer to sergeant James Heller, whose family were killed by the infection created by Mercer.

This is quite a change and may offer some fresh notes in amongst the action and destruction. Even here though it seems we may diverge back to more familiar territory. Heller is sent to a virus ridden New York and briefly takes on Mercer before he is injected with mutant powers of his own.

We’re back controlling a superhero but now we are out to subdue rather than enact Mercer’s plan, and set about returning the city to some sort of order. In the game New York is split into three areas, one in overrun by the virus while another is quarantined and a final is safe, or as safe as this world will allow. We need to protect the civilians in each zone who are harassed by Mercer’s Blackwatch.

While the first rental game was only too keen to shock the player with ever more grotesque and powerful ways to dispatch with enemies and architecture, Prototype 2 360/PS3 takes more time before revealing all your powers. Along with the ability to run up buildings and absorb enemies to regain energy you start with a claw attack.

It’s not until much later in the game that this claw is joined by hammerfist, whipfist, blade, and tendrils. These not only wreak destruction on all around but also open up new ways to interact with the city landscape. Reaching out with tendrils to grab and manipulate objects is a promising, and non-violent, use of these powers and suggests there is more to Prototype 2 360/PS3 than more blood and gore under a different avatar.

The video game is structured around a set of missions that slowly reveal the story behind Mercer’s new plans and the potentially heart wrenching reasons for Heller’s need for revenge. Gameplay wise, the action stays pretty simple, and ticks the right sorts of boxes for an open world action title.

Just how different all this is from the original is hard to tell. With Radical Entertainment so outspoken of their shortcomings, I hope that they get to the heart of why the first game felt so unappealing.

A lot of their talk seems to focus on correcting technical issues. However, the game itself seems more concerned with creating an engaging story and interesting characters. It is here that the developer should focus if Prototype 2 360/PS3 is going to escape the limits of the original and become a genuinely engaging rental experience.

Prototype 2 will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3 !

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Win a copy of SEGA Dreamcast Collection on the Xbox 360!

Andy — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:00:33 +0000

We’ve got some copies of Sega Dreamcast collection to give away to our followers!

To be in with a chance to win a copy all you have to do is enter our retweet and follow competition. Just follow @boomeranggames on Twitter and retweet the following message…

“For a chance to win a copy of the Dreamcast Collection follow @boomeranggames and RT this message including the code DREAMCOMP”

The Prizes

We’ve got 20 copies of SEGA Dreamcast Collection to give away for the Xbox 360.

Competition Terms & Conditions

Competition closes at 13:00 on Friday 30th March 2012
Winners will be selected at random on Friday 30th March 2012 once the competition has closed.
The first 20 entries selected will win a copy of SEGA Dreamcast Collection on the Xbox 360
Winners will be notified via a Direct Message and will be asked to supply their address. If winners address is not supplied within 1 week, then another winner will be selected at random.
UK Residents only
Entrants must be 18 years & over.

If you’re not a lucky winner this time, SEGA Dreamcast Collection is available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360!

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Silent Hill Downpour Review (Xbox 360 / PS3)

Andy — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:57:28 +0000

I shouldn’t rent psychological survival horror games; I’m not cut out for them and have generally avoided horror films. They just stay with me too much, worry my sleep and unsettle moments alone. While some relish the thought of a disturbing or sickening story of human depravity, I can’t get past the shock and fear of it all.

However there is something about renting a horror videogame that intrigues me enough to be able to enjoy the depravity. Both Heavy Rain PS3 then Alan Wake 360/PS3 succeeded in getting me into their horror-full worlds where films had failed. I could appreciate the timeless human themes uncovered by these games, questions of our ultimate identity what we are capable of.

Silent Hill: Downpour promised to be another notch on my bedpost, updating the series’ supernatural frights and shocks on PS3 and Xbox 360. You play Murphy Pendleton after his prison bus crashes in a deserted wood killing the other passengers and driver.

The premise is the same as ever, a seedy past colliding with an uncertain future to create a terrifying present. The point of collision is Silent Hill, and as ever we find ourselves stuck in the middle of this accident in slow motion.

This particular car crash has a different feel to previous Silent Hill games though. Development has passed to newcomer Vatra Games, the score is not the usual work from Akira Yamaoka but instead comes from Daniel Licht of Dexter fame. Even the location that ties the games together is different as we head off into uncharted areas.

While this obtuse approach can be hard work for fans of the series, it is much more successful in the storytelling. Rather than the usual videogame box ticking plot construction, Silent Hill keeps Pendleton’s history just off camera only hinting at what had happened before we take control. It’s a brave move that isn’t scared of leaving the player frustrated; only adding more detail as the narrative requires it.

This grows in the telling, and we again find Silent Hill 360/PS3 shaping its real-world and surprisingly unsettling other-world cauldron to Pendleton’s past. More often than not this focuses on the choices you are making, with more than half an eye on the similarly watery horror Heavy Rain. Saving or abandoning individuals you discover in Silent Hill at first feels like any old videogame device, but Downpour 360/PS3 manages to turn the knife after these decisions so they hang over your progress.

Combat is again different to what we’re used to in Silent Hill. Firstly there is a constant scramble for weapons as they rapidly degrade and eventually break, this adds a Dead Island style role play feel to proceedings as does the scarcity of firepower. The rain mechanic adds to this tension as it increases your enemy’s ferocity the harder the downpour becomes.

Some will complain that these elements combine to create a confusing mess. I found it quite the opposite though. While there is no denying that the combat is an awkward scramble for survival that relies on fortune as well as skill, this fits perfectly with the tone and tenor of Downpour’s nightmare experience.

You become acutely aware of Pendleton’s cumbersome attempts to protect himself. Stumbling between a real sense of loss of control and thrashing desperately to delay the advance of my would-be perpetrators is an experience that has stayed with me long after playing.

It’s moments like these that make me happier to rent horror videogames rather than films. The tension of control (or lack thereof) matches the shocks and fights of the plot and let me relish rather than retreat from the action. It lends the experience a much deeper sense of human frailty and frightening stubby fingered impotence in the face of such unrelenting violence.

This catastrophic connection to the world is bedded down with deeper interactions than previous Silent Hill 360/PS3 games. Not only do you need to bash through various doors and broken buildings but you can use hooked sticks and other objects to gain access to out of reach areas — head height fire escapes for instance. You can also complete side-quests like returning stolen objects and freeing trapped animals. Small things like this underline the reality of the world you play in and make the fights more shocking when they come.

Whether Silent Hill Downpour is a rental for you depends how forgiving you are able to be with visuals and production, that undoubtedly falter from time to time, in favour of interesting characters and unusual storytelling. For some, and most other reviewers seem to be in this group, it will all be too much to swallow. However, if you can look past these shortcomings there is an unusual and at times surprisingly grown up survival horror game.

Score: 7/10 An excellent survival horror for those looking for something a little different.

Silent Hill Downpour will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3 from the 30th March 2012 !

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Resident Evil:Operation Raccoon City (Xbox 360 / PS3) – Preview

Andy — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:37:51 +0000

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City PS3/360 promises to turn the tables as we fight for “the man” rather than humanity. Cosying down with The Umbrella Corporation felt a little odd at first, but I soon got into the swing of things. This promises to be a must-rent game for fans of the series.

Raccoon City will be resurrected by Capcom and Vancouver-based developer Slant Six Games in the form of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City PS3/360. Although leaving the main games in the series to do the real story work, it still offers an unusual twist in the form of team-based third person shooting.

Operation Raccoon City PS3/360 is set bang in the middle of the infection zone of the titular city. It’s a rental game where you can play as any of the Umbrella Security Service as they get sent around the city to obliterate any remaining evidence of Umbrella’s seedy dealings with the incident — which also means murdering any people who have an inkling of the unpalatable truth.

This is essentially the Hunk mission from Resident Evil 2 PS2 writ large. Those that found that hidden level in the second game will remember the storyline. Here it is extended considerably as we learn of yet another tangent to the franchise’s main trajectory.

The basic premise is that Umbrella Corporation realises that their G-Virus scientist William Birkin plans to sell the virus to the Government. Their response is to send in a team to try and stop the virus getting out. As you may imagine, within minutes (quite literally) the whole world is on the edge of extinction when Birkin gives himself the virus, mutates and wipes out the team.

Each of the available characters has different abilities and weapons, that much is expected. Less familiar though is the way the story is told from the perspective of the corporation. Playing through these events batting for the other side is a really interesting experience — particularly when fan favourite characters like Claire Redfield, Leon Kennedy, and Jill Valentine are targeted by the corp.

Out of this ethically-murky cauldron climb series’ favourite mutants. Tyrant, Hunters, Lickers and the deadly Nemesis all step up to thwart “the man” at some time. Players need to avoid too much contact with these enemies. If their infection gauge fills up its game over — anti-viral sprays and medics being the only way to drain the meter.

In addition to the main story, Operation Raccoon City PS3/360 also delivers a four-player cooperative campaign, a four-versus-four competitive game mode and an online multiplayer heroes mode. The sheer variety on offer here turns what might have been a footnote to the Resident Evil cannon into an engaging and interesting addition.

For fans of the series this will be an essential tangent to tide them over until they can rent Resident Evil 6 360/PS3. For the rest of us, it’s still a good chance to enter the world of corporate mismanagement and viral weapons.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3 from the 23rd March 2012 !

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Max Payne 3 Preview (Xbox 360 / PS3)

Andy — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:58:17 +0000

Max Payne 3 360/PS3 promises to hit the series’ classic notes, but it’s the determination to be a hard core no-fuss shooter that make this an interesting proposition.

Max Payne has come a long way since we last rented it, the character as much as the game. Having been disgraced and kicked out the NYPD he is now an out of shape alcoholic.

Eight years since the previous Max Payne game is a long time by any measure, not least in the world of videogames. The original was developed by Remedy, who then spent the intervening years lavishing care and attention on Alan Wake 360/PS3 (and the recent XBLA follow up American Nightmare). Max Payne 3 360/PS3 is now an in house Rockstar game.

Max falls into an office job for millionaire Rodrigo Branco. Branco is soon being extorted for money through the kidnapping of his wife. As this unfolds we see the world through Max’s eyes. In a similar way to Splinter Cell Conviction, backstory and information are woven into the fabric of the world. Only here it’s limited to Max’s intoxicated view of things.

When the pay-off goes wrong we find ourselves in the middle of a minor war. All in a day’s work for Max of old, but the new more rotund Payne takes a while to get used to it.

The game promises to walk this line between the broken hero and washed up has been. It will be interesting to see how close to the edge Rockstar are willing to push their titular protagonist.

As the action continues it becomes clear that this is another game for those with a strong constitution. Alongside questions over Max’s social descent, Rockstar will also need to square the sheer violence of it all.

The nuts and bolts are there for this to build into a genuinely interesting rental game. Max controls in a believable way, not as nimble as he used to be of course, but still with plenty of game left in him.

New in Max Payne 3 360/PS3 is a cover system. The first games opted to leave this out, preferring instead to let players work their own way through the environments opportunistically using choke points and safe havens. Implementing this lock-to-cover option in a way that doesn’t hamper this free-flowing play style will test Rockstar to the limit.

Of course, the Bullet Time effect makes a return — it wouldn’t be Max Payne without now would it? Press the right stick down slows time and delivers spectacular head shots and dives to safety. How essential this is to the game is still unclear, but it certainly provides another opportunity to up the visceral impact of the action not to mention gore.

Even with the changes, Max Payne 3 360/PS3 promises to stick to its roots. Unlike more recent third person shooters (Uncharted and the like) there is a lot less pandering to the player. Max Payne will be a hardcore shooting game aimed squarely at hardcore players.

For instance there is no rejuvenating health, and weapons have to be managed carefully if you are to survive. This promises to lend Max Payne 3 a much more cautious feel. It’s no good charging into a gun fight to find you are outnumbered. You will need to think and plan before you act.

From what we’ve seen already Max Payne 3 360/PS3 looks like it will be a distinctive game. What remains to be seen is whether this is because of its hard as nails gameplay and gore, or whether something more interesting can be achieved that engages with the substance abuse and violent themes once again on the gaming table.

Max Payne 3 will be available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3 from the 18th May 2012 !

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!

Mass Effect 3 Facebook Competition

Andy — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:35:55 +0000

UPDATE: The winner of a copy of Mass Effect 3 was Andrew Taylor! We’ve sent you an email and will send the prize today.

To celebrate the release of Mass Effect 3 this week we’ll be giving away a copy of the game on either the Xbox 360 or the PS3.

To be in with a chance to win a copy of Mass Effect 3 you will just need to…

Like our page* on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Boomerangrentals)
Send an email to enquiries@boomerangrentals.co.uk with “Mass Effect 3 Competition” as the subject.
Include your name and address in the email
Specify which format you would prefer should you win!

*If you’ve already liked us, just send the email!

The Prize

The winner will receive a copy of Mass Effect 3 on either the Xbox 360 or the PS3.

Terms and Conditions

Competition closes at 13:00 on Thursday 15th March 2012
The winner will be selected at random on Thursday 15th March 2012 once the competition has closed.
The selected winner have the choice of a copy of Mass Effect 3 on the Xbox 360 or PS3.
Winners will be notified via email and we will despatch your prize following confirmation of this email and your address.
UK Residents only
Entrants must be 18 years & over.

If you’re not a lucky winner this time, Mass Effect 3 is available to rent or buy from Boomerang on the Xbox 360 & PS3!

Want to reserve your own copy? Click here to order at a great price and free P&P! We also sell ex-rental copies in ‘as new’ condition complete with brand new box & manual!