Dillon's Rolling Western 3DS
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Release Date: Feb 22, 2012
User Score
7.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 15
  3. Negative: 2 out of 15

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  1. rococoman
    Mar 1, 2012
    8
    After seeing the fairly simplistic - though still good - design of Nintendo's other downloadable games on the 3DS, I was pleasantly surprised at Dillon's cut-to-the-chase attitude and challenge. The game uses an interesting mix of open-world exploring (plays like a mix of Zelda exploration and Sonic the Hedgehog style speed - yes, it's that cool), tower-defense and resource management, and small, arena based fighting. Each 'level' has 3 parts: day, evening, and night. During the day, you need to race around a large field, gathering resources and fortifying defenses. In the evening, you must defend a city from oncoming monsters by both depending on your defenses and fighting them yourself. At night, the only un-timed portion of the game, you can practice pressure-free and buy new upgrades.

    Most complaints I've seen over this game complain about the gameplay types not mixing well, but I believe that this is a smart design move. I would not recommend this game for younger gamers - there is no tutorial to speak of, and you are thrown into the action right away and expected to fight quickly and effectively, as well as consulting your map to see where your help is needed. This is why I think the game is the best release thus far for older gamers - you are always under pressure, and while the game is not THAT difficult (at least at first), you don't have time to dawdle - you need to be acting. The graphics are very catchy, and the character designs are amusing - the wild west is filled with different animals dressed as settlers, and the characters are fun without being overly cutesy. The main character in particular, a down-on-his-luck armadillo, harkens back to 90s gaming, where 'cool' animal mascots were all the rage. The music is VERY catchy, and might be the best part of the presentation.

    I would love to give this game a higher score, but I must agree with most major reviewers on one thing: controls. Your character fights and travels quickly by rolling into a ball, for which you need to use the touch screen to 'slingshot' your character along. This ends up being fun, and its very satisfying to get high-scoring combos, but it also could have been done just using the buttons. Let's face it - the 3DS weighs a ton, and holding it with your left hand while still working the slider pad gets exhausting and awkward. Part of me gets a kick out of the controls, but a lot of me just wishes something simpler had been used.

    All in all, this is EXACTLY the kind of game I want to download. By most measures, it has as much gameplay as a retail release (Nintendo claims 20 hours, and I DEFINITELY can see that), but I would hesitate before dropping 30 bucks on this; as fun as it is, a game needs a lot of meat on it before I throw that much money at it. However, for $10 US, this is a great deal, since it is the first 3DS game to feel like a whole game and not just a phone-style mini game. It feels unfair to me that this game will get compared to cheaper, more phone-like games on the eShop, when it is really better than most 3rd party offerings on the system right now.

    Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who likes action/adventure style games, especially ones that expect you to learn on your own without overbearing tutorials (I'm looking at you, skyward sword). The controls aren't perfect, but the game is tense and fun, and it looks and sounds great to boot.    … Collapse
  2. SacrificAbomina
    Mar 12, 2012
    9
    A fun game for a cheap price. It has a weird combination of gameplay styles that actually works. My only complaint is that it uses the stylus, one of the least comfortable yet effective interfaces I know of, a lot and that keeps me from playing for more than a few hours at a time due to my hand cramping up.
  3. UriahJob
    Aug 19, 2012
    9
    Dillon's Rolling Western is a unique and very well made game. It is very strange that Destructoid's official score for this is 40%. As you can see from most of the reviews it is much better. The best feature of Dillon's Rolling Western is the combination of multiple gameplay styles into one game. It is a tower defense game, a beat em up game, and a resource management game. It does well in all three. Controls might need some time to get them right every time because to reach peak efficiency you need to learn how to roll fast every time with the stylus as the enemies who look like some stone based pokemon creatures assault a American style western town populated by cute animal characters. Potential drawback that could lower enjoyment of this game is after 3 or 4 attacks on the town it becomes much more difficult to defend because you, Dillon the Armadillo, have to roll between two directions to defend them little innocent critters and the sheep from the slaughter!

    Another fun thing they added is putting collectibles all over when you roll around, finding mines/dungeons to get some treasures. Yea it is good.

    ps: Main character Dillon resembles Yul Brenner the actor who played the bald cowboy in old Westerns.    … Expand
  4. Chomper4
    Feb 22, 2013
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dillon's Rolling Western is great, I bet the sequel will make things easier but still favorably challenging. Dillon is the armadillo to get his way into being playable in Super Smash Bros. Great job. Rink Kong and the Ultimogrock were sure challenging.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
65 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 21
  3. Negative: 3 out of 21
  1. Thunderbolt
    Oct 15, 2012
    60
    Despite developer Vanpool's best efforts to do something stylish and new, they're unable to deliver fully on their vision in a cohesive way and Dillon's Rolling Western falls just short of being that standout defining game on the eShop.
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  2. Destructoid
    Apr 26, 2012
    40
    Dillon's Rolling Western demonstrated a lot of promise out the gate, adding a literal "spin" to the tower defense genre, but the journey is just too long and tedious. It's the videogame equivalent of a triathlon, only with the added bonus of having to redo any one leg of the event or the entire event itself should your performance ever fall slightly below satisfactory.
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  3. Cubed3
    Apr 17, 2012
    80
    Definitely download this title at the earliest convenience as it is certainly one of the best eShop titles currently available on the 3DS format.
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