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Setup & Timing
The cartridge's overall setup is easily understandable and "Mini-Game Transmission" is right on the main menu. Opening Credits aren't a killer and download time isn't too bad.
Menus & Navigation
All of the menus responded appropriately, accepting inputs when they were supposed to. Options are easy to read and spaced far enough apart to ensure accurate tapping.
Ease Of Use / Play Control
As always, entirely different mini games mean entirely different results. Roundup can become frustrating, as your horse won't always do what it was told (by your stylus) to do; if you get too far ahead, it won't accept those inputs. Darts' control scheme is fine, but the quality of the control seems a little sluggish. Quick Draw very much resembles "QuickSpot and Point Blank DS meet Hogan's Alley (NES)" and controls flawlessly. Rodeo is actually very innovative and, while its control scheme is very accurate, it's also extremely simplified. Finally, BarKeep seems extremely simple, but is probably the hardest skill to perfect.
Content
The look of Wild West is a semi-realistic 2D game with a mix of unnatural-looking characters (a blue humanoid fox) and natural-looking characters. The music is intended as a mood setter, but is not a crucial part of any of the games. The five activities have no options to choose from (besides which of the games you'll be downloading). The games are, however, so different, that they can all be enjoyed.
Overall Fun
Wild West's Single-Card Download content is quite the mixed bad of the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is that there are five mini games, including a couple of really innovative ones that stand out from the others in this collection and elsewhere (Rodeo & BarKeep). The bad is that the games aren't really mini games, they're micro games. "What's the difference?" I heard you asking. Well, micro games can be played in under two minutes and can be explained in as little as four instruction points. The ugly is that each game has to be downloaded separately (yes... power off, power on, reconnect, redownload, repeat four times) and that the game's package indicates 1-16 players, when - in reality - up to 15 people can download the single-player game from the one host. I wouldn't refer to this as outright lying, but I would say that it's very misleading, and extremely annoying. In any case, the fun level varies with each game, but the collection of the five of them is still fun... for a short time (made shorter by pre-existing skills).
Include multi-player games.
Include more than one game per download.
Overall Single-Card Download Rating: 71 / 100 (a.k.a. 35.5/50)
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