BRING THE HEAT.
Ever heard of Dillon? As far as Nintendo owned characters, he’s not the most well known despite being around since 2012. He’s the silent armadillo with the cowboy hat who was in the last Super Smash Bros. game as an assist trophy who starred in two downloadable action/tower defense games on 3DS. Those two previous titles had a western theme to them, however Dillon drops the western theme in his newest outing in exchange for Mad Max apocalyptic leather and metal. I’ve enjoyed the previous Dillon titles so this new spin (no pun intended) on the franchise was intriguing.
The story is far more direct in Dead Heat Breakers. The introduction had me choose a Mii (Remember those?) to transform into a hideous furry abomination known as an Amiimal. The whole world of the Dillon series is animal based and looks and sounds a lot like a gruff Animal Crossing, so while this isn’t a big surprise that my Mii underwent this metamorphosis, the Amiimals look far worse than the hand crafted characters. This hideous bastardization of what was supposed to be a cartoon version of me turned rat (from a selection of five equally awful animals) is driving a large truck and is being chased by the signature enemies of the Dillon series, the Grocks, bipedal rock like alien monsters. However, these Grocks are different from their previous incarnations as they resemble motorcycles. Dillon (under my control) chases them down and destroys them one by one by viciously smashing into them using his rolling attack. Apparently my Amiimal’s city was put under some sort of dome structure and needs help getting rid of it. In order to do so we need to build a weapon, but to do that we need parts. This is where the loop of the game begins.
PLATFORMS: 3DS
MSRP: $39.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $39.99
There are two main parts of this game: the action/tower defense portion where I play as Dillon and the town portions where I play as my Amiimal. The tower defense part is largely unchanged from previous games in the series, but because there are a few changes and more importantly because Dillon is a relatively unknown series I’ll explain every detail. Unlike most tower defense games, the player only ever controls Dillon. Dillon moves similar to Goron Link from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, meaning his primary mode of transportation is rolling. In previous titles in the series Dillon’s movement was controlled using the touch screen to pull back like a wind up car, but in Dead Heat Breakers his acceleration is done using the A button to charge up and release. This is nice as it’s easier to control than the Stylus, however the constant use of the A button can be hand cramping at times. In every tower defense section Dillon gets a short amount of time to prepare for battle by smashing into objects to collect supplies like ore to reinforce barricades or Scruffles (a plant) to feed to Scrogs (a pig like animal and the resource barricades are protecting). He can also find small treasures in the maps to sell for money or power the generators for the hireable mercenaries that protect the bases while Dillon is busy dealing with other enemies. This is where the town portions come in.
During the days Dillon and team are not out defending towers, the Amiimal can roam the town playing small mini-games to earn cash, feeding the Scrogs, or chatting up the locals. The necessity of cash is to upgrade equipment and hire the mercenaries to help on the next defense mission. Without mercenaries the tower defense portions would be extremely hard. Previous entries in the series were in a level structure with the sections in between tower defense sections being simple dialog screens, however Dead Heat Breakers introduces a full 3D town to explore. After the second defense mission, races are unlocked, where Dillon begrudgingly competes in time trial races for money.
Later, the option to defend mines instead of settlements will open up, which are presented as optional (I chose to do them so I’m not sure if selecting no would progress the game or not) and have Dillon and the gang doing a harder version of the general base defense sequences. These segments are more like traditional tower defense sequences where all the enemies converge on one single point. This game is generally more stressful than it is difficult, with having to manage both a series of points to defend as well as playing an action game simultaneously. The minimap on the bottom screen helps keep track, but sometimes during the battle with one enemy another enemy will proceed to destroy a barricade. The only solution is to be over prepared, but that requires money to hire lots of gunners, which may leave me short money for the next mission to hire gunners, and while there is a loan shark (who is unfortunately a pigeon) I’d rather not deal with him.
Dillon’s Dead Heat Breakers is a great title unfortunately released during a mass exodus from the 3DS to the Switch. It’s a shame because Dillon and his pal Russ are a great set of characters and the world they live in definitely could be explored even further but likely won’t, as this series never really took off the way I think Nintendo hoped it would. Dillon’s Dead Heat Breakers is definitely a more expanded version of the series, but because the previous two titles were smaller and sold for much less it’s easily understandable that a $40 price point for a digital only title may be off putting for some when a physical copy of better known Nintendo franchises on 3DS retail for the same (Dead Heat Breakers did have a physical release outside of North America). My hope is that those who still turn their 3DS on give this one a really good look, especially if they enjoyed previous games in the series, as it’s a unique experience that only Nintendo offers.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
