It’s a new IP by Nintendo! And it’s for their new 3DS system! This HAS to be a big deal, right? Sadly, not really. While it does offer some interesting ideas, it falls short in most areas.

I’ll try out a completely new, one-time-only reviewing style on this one. Read on!

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Date of Release: March 27th 2011
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: Hum…. side-scrolling shooter with other stuff added to that? I wouldn’t call it a submarine simulator really
Rated E for everyone

What’s the game about?

Basic gameplay
The basic gameplay is actually pretty cool. In mission mode, you choose a submarine and go through the level, trying not to die (and sometimes fighting really easy bosses). How you go through is the interesting part. Rather than normal D-pad controls, here you control everything through the touch screen. You can select forward/reverse speed,  how fast you want to surface or dive, mask yourself which throws off the aim of enemy homing torpedoes(but that uses some of your air), shoot torpedoes and 2 of the subs can control the angle they’re facing (the other changes its angle automatically as it surfaces or dives). Oh, and if you go to the surface, you not only regain air, but your sub is somehow repaired that way too (yeah, I don’t get it either). And getting hit by the environment/enemy attacks sometimes causes leaks in the sub, which you fix with the touch screen.

Each of the 3 subs has slight differences. Each of them are a different size, there’s the previously discussed differences in controls, and each of them comes equipped with different missiles. One of them has 2 that shoot forward, another has 2 as well but one of them shoots vertically, and the biggest one has 4 that shoot forward. Torpedoes will blow up mines, boulders, enemy subs, depth charges and other projectiles, and aiming them is REALLY complicated. That’s basically the whole point of the game. Try to get to the end of every level with the difficult controls. It’s actually pretty cool in that sense, it encourages control mastery rather than twitchy gamer reflexes.

Modes
There’s 3 modes. The mission mode has normal missions and time trial missions (which are actually different from the normal missions), and each normal mission is followed by a periscope mission. This is the main mode of the game, and by far the best.

You can also access the periscope mode separately, where you have the choice of 3 stages. Here you have to spin around (I suggest using an office chair) and shoot boats/subs. Destroying targets gets you decals, which you can put on your subs to increase stats (if you have enough of them). It’s kinda fun at first, but it gets boring fast, and is only useful if you want to get decals.

The final mode is a sort of turn-based strategy game thing, and it’s horrible. Basically, you move only one unit per turn (which sucks), and if you control your sub and attack an enemy group of ships, you get to the periscope mode to shoot the group of ships. If normal ships get on top of your sub, they can drop depth charges, and you have to predict how deep the charge will go before exploding, otherwise you get hit. Very boring.

Replay Value
There isn’t too much. There’s all the decals to get if you’re a completionist, and you can’t get their effects on your sub if you don’t have a certain amount of them, so there’s a lot of pointless hours to spend in periscope mode… And there’s an expert mode that can be unlocked, as well as all the missions being playable by each sub. Not too much, but people who end up loving the game will find a fair amount of value here.

Presentation

Looks
BLAND. There’s really nothing else to it. Think about the least original look you could go with while making a submarine side-scrolling game thing. That’s what you get here. It just looks boring. Nothing to talk about really. It’s adequate, but nothing more. I’m not even sure it’s really 3DS worthy when it comes to the normal graphics, it seems to me like the DS could handle it.

3D effect
It’s really pointless here. It kinda helps in the periscope mode, making it slightly easier to see  how far ships are (making aiming your slow-moving torpedos easier). But otherwise it’s completely useless. Definitely not a great show of the 3DS’ capabilities.

My Impressions

If Steel Diver excels in one thing, it’s the fact that it’s actually a great show of the capabilities of the original DS, what with the original use of the touch screen. But it’s not doing much with the capabilities of the 3DS beyond the periscope mode, which is frankly not fun… don’t get me wrong, controlling the periscope by spinning around in an office chair is really cool the first time, but the actual gameplay in that mode is shallow (no pun intended… though I’m guessing every other reviewer who played Steel Diver used that pun) and boring.

The basic gameplay in mission mode shows great originality, making it more about how you control the vehicle than anything else, and giving 3 subs with different stats and slightly different control methods makes for a bit of variety, making certain levels easier with certain subs, and harder with others. Some people will probably find it  to be a very slow game at first, but after a few missions I got into the pace pretty well, and being faster would make the game much less interesting, and too hard.

Overall, it’s not a terrible game. There’s just not much to it beyond the cool control scheme. There is SOME replay value, due to the decals and medals you can get on each stage, and an expert mode… but it’s still not too great, since most of the replay value relies on the boring periscope mode. It didn’t click with me, but I have seen quite a few people really enjoying this game, so it might click with you. I just suggest renting it first, so you don’t waste TOO much money on the game if you end up not liking it. I would have suggested buying it when the price goes down, but it’s a firt-party Nintendo game so that’s never going to happen.

The average reviewer has been too rough on this game, but I can see why people would either love or hate this game.

Pros and Cons

Pros
– Original and fairly fun gameplay in mission mode
- Great show of the original DS’ capabilities
- Can get pretty difficult

Cons
- Could have had more missions (only 15 if you count the time trial levels, which are super short)
- Periscope mode, while nifty, isn’t fun
- The strategy mode sucks (and it’s the only multiplayer mode, so there’s no good multiplayer either… 2 cons in 1!)
- Very little replay value
- Doesn’t need to be on 3DS

jobocan 3DS, Games, Handheld, Review