Have you ever wanted to be the commander of your own submarine? Fighting out on stormy seas in deep oceanic waters, watching the sonar and the periscope for any sign of an approaching enemy vessel. Well, it's your lucky day as Nintendo has released one of its most highly sought after 3DS launch titles, Steel Diver, which allows you to do all of the aforementioned things plus more. Developed by Nintendo EAD, the game pits you into the deep waters with the goal of completing your trip without being blown out of the water, in three distinctly different modes. It's a brand new intellectual property, and is like no other game I've ever played before. If this interests you, then enter the depths with me as I explain my thoughts of this sea-faring game. Just make sure to have your sea legs.
Taking place during a fictional war in the year 19XX, the game allows you to be the commander and driver of your own submarine (with three different types available - all of which drive differently, feel different, and are varied in terms of size, speed plateaus and torpedo abilities.) Its basic premise is that an evil nation has taken over its neighbours and has begun attacking others nations. Though the storyline is very basic and generic, each mission has its own general story, which sets up what is going to happen during the stage. However, it's not the type of storyline that you can become immersed in. Rather, it is just a set-up or extravagant excuse, for warfare. The problem is that it's just not interesting because it's so general, vague, undeveloped and lacks focus. I wish more effort would have been put into crafting a detailed, arching storyline, to add immersion, interest and intrigue.
When I think of this game, the term underwater platformer always pops into my head. Though, that's only because of the fact that you have to traverse a landscape, which is similar to most platform or action games. Other than that, there really aren't many similarities to those genres. The game's campaign is in the form of a side-view submarine combat game, featuring seven missions that ask you to get from one end of the map to another without being blown up, in one of three different types of submarines. You will face enemy subs, ships, and even sea monsters, along the way. You must navigate your way through or destroy the dangers you come across, such as the aforementioned enemies (with their depth charges, homing missiles and torpedoes,) natural obstacles and mines spread throughout the sea. It's tough, but with each new attempt, you develop new strategies and find ways of getting through early sections without taking as much damage. The seven missions all take place during major events in a fictional battle set-up through text description screens. They're all very similar though, and each one features a periscope attack battle sequence at the end where you can earn decals for your subs, by taking out enemy vessels. A separate time trial mode is also available.
This portion of the game is controlled exclusively through the use of the stylus and touch screen combination. Players must navigate their way through the rocky underwater landscape and its different types of dangers by moving two sliders that affect the ships forward/backward momentum, depth, incline and speed. Torpedoes are also fired vertically and horizontally through the touch of the stylus, though only one of the three types of subs can shoot torpedoes upwards. It's a really unique control scheme, but it takes a while to get used to. Not having the freedom to control the submarine with your hands (via a directional pad or joystick) feels really odd a lot of the time, but the touchscreen controls do work pretty well. It is very important to survey the upcoming passageways through the radar map, which is also on the touchscreen and can be tapped to zoom in and out. If your sub is ever hit with a critical attack, the hull will be breached and you must plug the leak using the stylus to swipe the water back towards the (randomly placed) hole. Health is regenerated when you go up to the surface, as is your air gauge, which depletes whenever you use the subs' masking ability to protect yourself from incoming homing torpedoes.
In addition to its interesting and challenging yet brief and lacking campaign, Steel Diver also features two other modes. The first is a the aforementioned periscope attack game mode, which can be played in a quick play session of one of three different types. You can choose to battle enemy ships in calm waters or during a violent storm that will cause gigantic waves that rock the ships around. There is also the ability to choose to take on enemy submarines underwater, through the use of radar. It's a relatively fun, but very basic mode through its design. However, it does make good use of the touchscreen and the 3DS' movement sensors, allowing you to spin around in your physical space to look around in a full 360 degree radius, in order to find enemy ships. If you don't feel like moving around, you can simply use the stylus to move a compass slider left or right. Missiles can be fired using the stylus or the A button. I enjoyed this mode the most, though there isn't a lot of depth to it. In my opinion, it's the most fun of the three modes.
The third mode is playable in multiplayer and in single player (against the 'computer.') I've thought of how to describe it and the best way I've come up with is to describe it as a variation of the classic board game, Battleship. In this mode, two players duke it out in a grid-puzzle battle, with the objective being to take out the enemy's submarine (of which there is only one, along with several attack ships and supply ships.) It plays out in a turn-based fashion, with a 100 turn limit. Players use the stylus to select the grid coordinate that they would like to move to (with the movement options shown after selecting the ship they'd like to move.) When you find where an enemy ship is, either by moving to where it's sitting or by using radar (which takes one turn to use,) you can attack. Your missiles can take out ships and your depth charges can take out enemy subs, though it's difficult considering the fact that you have to guess the right depth for them to explode at. If you choose 150 metres and your opponent's sub is only sitting at 100 metres of depth, then it will miss it. This mode is interesting and will please strategy fans, but it didn't do a lot for me. There are quite a few different grid map types, some of which must be unlocked.
One thing that stands out while playing Steel Diver is its visuals and use of 3D. Nintendo did a great job of utilizing the device's 3D capabilities to add depth and a sense of positioning throughout the underwater caverns and during attack sessions. Enemy subs are sometimes hiding in the background, allowing them to see you with sonar and hit you with missiles, though you cannot hit them. The 3D does a great job of showing that they're off to the far side, and it also does an excellent job of showing rock formations, cave walls and underground volcanoes in the foreground and background. I was especially impressed by the underwater volcano section, which looked great in 3D. In the periscope attack sessions, ships will occasionally drive towards you, coming from the background into the foreground with beautiful 3D effects. It's a great tech demo for the device, even if its gameplay is somewhat underwhelming. The visual style itself is different for each mode, though I found it to be quite impressive for the most part. I did not notice any lag or framerate issues.
Throughout your Steel Diver experience, you will hear people shouting things such as 'Ship damaged!' and 'Fired!' a lot. It becomes somewhat annoying after a while, to be honest. This is the only voice acting that the game features and it really is very basic and over-used. Though, the game does feature some good original music, as well as well-crafted sound effects. When you're underwater, you really feel a sense of mystery, brought on by both the visuals and sound. Though, when you're on the surface during attack sequences, you feel a sense of urgency and dread. Other than the annoying and over-used voiceovers, I don't really have much to complain about with the sound. It's pretty well-done, though isn't at all memorable.
Overall, Steel Diver is an interesting new experience that unfortunately lacks substance and isn't overly fun. It's a really unique game with some good ideas implemented into it, but it's certainly not for everyone. Strategy buffs and some action game fans will love it, but this is a game I recommend trying before you buy it. Its difficulty ramps up very quickly at a very steep incline, so it takes a lot of patience and retrying of different stages to complete, even though each level is quite brief (several minutes long on average.) I was really looking forward to this game, but my high expectations were not met and I found it to be just better than mediocre, overall. This isn't the best launch game I've played (like I had thought it would end up being,) but it's pretty well-made and is unique enough to interest a select group of gamers. It's for a more mature group of seasoned gamers though, and kids probably will not find much enjoyment in it. If you're looking for a good tech demo, it definitely will do the trick though. Unfortunately, it's lacking substance and has a brief campaign that doesn't feature much replay value other than trying each mission with all three submarine types, and/or trying to get the best time you can in Time Trial mode. Give it a try if it sounds interesting, but try before you buy.
Rating: 6/10
Steel Diver was released yesterday (March 27, 2011) for the Nintendo 3DS. It was developed and published by Nintendo, and sells for a suggested retail price of $39.99.
