pikarceus (2012-04-08 23:45:27)

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Good eshop game, not so good Tower Defense game.

Nintendo's done a pretty good job with their eshop titles so far. Pushmo was near perfection, and Sakura Samurai was up there as well. Dillon's Rolling Western is one of the best eshop games content wise, but fails as a Tower Defense game and is a cut below Nintendo's other eshop titles.

Visually the game is pretty impressive. 3D polygonal graphics that look half way decent on a downloadable title. Not bad. There are some nice graphical flourishs such as grass flying up as you roll around and rocks flying off of enemies when you hit them. The 3D is pretty much the standard "add depth" 3D that we are used to. The one problem I had with the graphics is that every stage looks almost exactly the same. Your eyes will get tired of looking at the same barren landscape after awhile.



The "point" of the game is to prevent the town's livestock from rock monsters called Grocks. You do this by building defense towers, donating ore to the towns gates, etc, during the day. When dusk falls, out come the Grocks, and if they get into the town and eat all Scruffles(livestock) it's game over. The towers will help take out some, but you, Dillon the armadillo will have to do almost all the work. This isn't much of a problem at first, but as you progress to later towns, you will have to fend off vicious onslaughts of enemies while your towers do almost nothing.
The towers will help a little, but you have to equip them which costs a ridiculous amount of money considering how little they do. If you actually want the towers to help, you'll end up blowing all your money on 1-2 towers. This game isn't a complete Tower Defense, it has some RPG elements, but the Tower Defense part is really poor. Which is a good chunk of the game. The RPG elements involve finding hidden treasure rooms, leveling up your gear, and getting goods from town. I found them enjoyable, but the game is dominanted by its flawed Tower Defense scheme.
This a game that feels very fresh and fun at first, but gets progressively more bland and frustrating.



The controls revolve around the L button, Circle Pad, and touchscreen. You move with the Circle Pad, break out of a roll with the L button, and do everything else with the touchscreen. Pulling the stylus back on the touchscreen launches Dillon into a forward roll that will boost his speed and damage enemies. As you go through the game more touchscreen options will be available, such as grinding.
The controls are easy enough for me, but not so for left handed gamers. And Nintendo has given no other control options for this game, when they easily could have. Without any other options, the touchscreen controls feel very forced.

The big redeeming aspect of Rolling Western is the content. There are ten towns, divided into three days. That's essentially thirty levels! Thirty lengthy levels. After beating each town you are scored out of five stars. It is highly unlikely that you will get five stars on your first play through of a town, so this adds extra replay value. The shear content makes up for many of the game's flaws.

There is really nothing to say about the sound. Just generic western themed music. Some other sound effects are thrown in, but it's nothing impressive.



In conclusion, Dillon's Rolling Western is a good idea with a not so good execution. It's billed as a Tower Defense game and if you judge it based on that, it is a really poor one. However the RPG elements and vast content make it a somewhat solid experience. Don't trip over yourself in buying this one, but I wouldn't dismiss it either.

Overall: 7.25/10

This post has been edited one or more times, the last time was:
2012-06-29 02:49:20

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Ron1212 (2012-04-09 01:24:20)

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Sweet! Although if it was made earlier, I would have saved some money. I'm stuck at the second town. But good review Pika, as always!

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Ron1212 (2012-04-09 01:26:42)

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Now we just have to wait for the KIU review.

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THaT1GuY9001 (2012-04-09 04:23:15)

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Lol, you hit every thought I had when I played this game.

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Ron1212 (2012-04-14 00:12:57)

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Don't, seriously, you'll stop playing it after 2 weeks.

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pikarceus (2012-04-14 03:23:57)

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@Ron-Two weeks for a downloadable title is very good.
I wish people would stop thinking that a 7 is bad.

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pikarceus (2012-04-14 03:24:24)

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If you have the money, buy it.

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Ron1212 (2012-04-15 00:43:53)

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^Not really. Two weeks means you stop playing it after that, that you're better off buying a full 3DS game that lasts you at least a month. And I don't think 7 is a bad score.

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pikarceus (2012-04-15 03:01:38)

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This game is ten dollars. A full retail game is forty. Do you see the flaw in your argument?

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Ron1212 (2012-04-15 04:44:55)

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.....not all retail games are $40.

This post has been edited one or more times, the last time was:
2012-04-15 04:45:17

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pikarceus (2012-04-15 13:41:59)

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Most. Almost all. They all are more expensive then this game.

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Ron1212 (2012-04-15 18:17:05)

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Well, okay. But I can't get past the 2nd town, which is less than 50% of the game.

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pikarceus (2012-04-15 19:09:44)

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Less than 20% to be exact.

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Ron1212 (2012-04-15 19:13:57)

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Yea...exactly.

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Ron1212 (2012-04-15 19:15:43)

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Whatever. It's still a good game while it lasts. Good review anyways.

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