Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers

After how much I didn’t like Dillon’s past adventures, I had low expectations for Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers. The final game’s quality is a revelation, as it turned out to be so much fun, with smart tweaks to the tower defense bits and a much more fleshed out overall game with an involved town segment.

The best game in the series to date. [Issue #34 – July/August 2018, p. 17]

Despite its issues, Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is a solid recommendation for 3DS owners looking for something new. Its bold and unorthodox setting makes for an experience unlike any Nintendo game before it, while its odd mashup of different genres makes it especially rewarding for open-minded gamers. It might lack the depth of other single-genre titles, but Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers makes up for it with uniqueness and furry-filled charm.

You'll come away with a new appreciation for those oft-ignored indies that make their way to the system every so often.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is easily the finest the series has yet to offer players. It does away with the clumsy touch controls while offering more variety in gameplay and streamlined battles that perfectly fits the new approach.

Dillon and his adorable little hamster friend Russ roll back into the Tower Defence scene with fresh and futuristic tale of Western adventure. Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers builds on the previous games, heightening the action with intense races and expands the universe with an intriguing cast of characters/recruits. There is a steep learning curve and a lot of investment needed into the main tower defence gameplay, but it is worth rolling into in order to save those adorable Scrog critters.

Sometimes the adventure tends to be monotonous. Moreover, it doesn’t have a multiplayer mode. Despite that, the minigames will keep us entertained for a long time and also, it’s really nice that we can see our mii in action as in Miitopia.

Despite the constant back and forth between jobs and saving frontiers, I had a great time strapping in for the ride. Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers offers a refreshing experience from both the racing and action, mixing both genres with a heap of tower defense for a truly unique experience.

For all my frustration with unwelcome tutorials before every level, slow speech, having to replay levels, and hiring helpers, I enjoyed the core action and running my store. The muck you must wade through before you get to the action is unavoidable, but when you do finally get through, it’s compelling. Speeding around the levels as Dillon, slamming into enemies and pulling off last-second saves as animal versions of my friends and family cheer me on is exhilarating.

Although it still feels a little bit repetitive, it’s a step in the right direction for the series. It’s fun and engaging, and even if it still has some rough edges, the experience is quite good.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers doesn’t stray too far from the established formula of the previous entries but it still manages to provide a fast-paced take on the tower defense genre. It’s unfortunately marred by some repetitive gameplay sections but it’s still a blast to play in the end.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers brings a quality and enjoyable tower defense style game in its third installment in the series. Although the story and cutscenes tend to drag, the overall gameplay is great fun. Even if you’ve never played a game in the Dillon series, I recommend giving this a try.

I can't fathom a situation where fans of the franchise will be disappointed with Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers. The music is fantastic, the world well-realized, Dillion has never looked better, and the shift away from predominantly touch controls is a wise decision. This is a solid adventure through and through, and it gives me slight hope we'll see other forgotten eShop gems get another chance to shine in the future.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is by far the best entry in the Dillon's franchise, with many new features that try to justify the full retail price. Sadly, despite the various new mechanics introduced, the main issue with the previous entries hasn't been fixed: the gameplay can be too repetitive.

This third arrival of The Red Flash to 3DS leaves the impression of being more of the same. The addition of Mii characters to the game feels not enough to justify it’s full-price despite of its cheaper previous versions.

Even if it is definitely spread too thin to match the length of full release games, Dillon's Dead Heat breakers is a nice little game, which blends action, tower defense and Animal Crossing-style interactions. The best in the series, but still not the best in the 3DS library.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is a welcome return for the Red Flash, but sees the muted armadillo roll back into our lives with an inconsistent gameplay experience that has many flashes of thrilling brilliance that are let down by an otherwise heavily repetitive setup.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers takes the best part of the series’ early games, adds some nice improvements, and provides a more refined overall package. Some of the drawbacks from those originals are still present too, however, with a repetitive nature putting a bit of a downer on proceedings, and the jump in cost from a £9/$10 game to a full retail release doesn’t feel fully justified. It’s a fun and solid experience, but you might want to give this purchase a little more thought unless you’re already entirely convinced.

The basic mechanics have not been distorted, but have finally been (though not sufficiently) improved.

Building on the two previous games, Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers has some new stuff to offer, and the characters and world it depicts are compelling. But still, it’s a messy and repetitive game.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is part of a series of games that had not seen a new iteration for several years and when compared to its predecessors, this certainly feels like an appealing, refined and fun experience. Unfortunately it's also too repetitive, which ends up becoming its biggest issue and its price does not seem fully justified for what this game is offering.

With a 15+ hour storyline, Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is fun when played in short bursts. The varied map terrain and heated battle action helps keep the monotony at bay, but the daily minigame-to-money grind and the odd, forced inclusion of Amiimals leaves this tower defence game with a bitter taste. Frankly, Dillon deserves better.

It's a competent, fun little outing that's almost perfectly suited for kids who need something silly and ridiculous that won't require too much thought or technical mastery.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is clearly an improvement compared to its previous installments. However, this game turns to be a little bit boring and monotone after a few hours playing. If you enjoyed the previous games, you should try it, but don’t expect too much.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers makes the most effort to provide an experience that doesn’t grow old, but the scenarios it puts in place aren’t enough to cover its lengthy playtime and it comes across as feeling rather repetitive. Dillon hasn’t quite got his big break yet, and this definitely steps in the right direction, but he’s not quite at the point where he can mingle with the Inklings and Spring Boy.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is a tower defense-game that is so repetetive and has so many boring minigames, we can't enjoy it.

One of the least-demanded Nintendo sequels of recent years has relatively high production values but it’s still a dull, repetitive mix of tower defence and overly-simplistic action.