rococoman

For $20 (US) you get a lot of bang for your buck. The pick up and play nature is great fun, and although this is a lot more running-and-gunning than I am used to in Resident Evil, the slow pace of the game adds to the high tension and excitement. Plenty of different characters and levels if you are a completionist or a high-score chaser, this is great fun. Online and local multiplayer to boot! The game also looks and sounds fantastic far better than any other game I have seen on the 3DS. If you are looking to pull the trigger on a downloadable game, this is definitely the one to do so.

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.