If you've ever seen one of the classic submarine films (Das Boot, K-19, even 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), you'll already have a good idea what Steel Diver is all about. Seemingly taking its cues from all the most memorable moments of those films, just in a much more light-hearted way, in Steel Diver, you'll take the helm of a submarine as you navigating through tight undersea caverns, negotiating carefully to keep your ship off the rocky walls, whilst doing your best to defend yourself as you come under attack, both from the surface, and from enemy submarines. At Nintendo's recent event in Amsterdam, we got the chance to go hands-on with Steel Diver.
There's a choice of submarines on offer, each with different advantages (and names).
And although the setting may not have been ideal (in a room that also housed Zelda, Pro Evolution Soccer, and Dead or Alive: Dimensions - three of the 3DS' biggest games, to say it was bustling would be a gross understatement), although we only managed to sample two of the three modes the full game will ship with, and even though we could barely hear the sound, Steel Diver still left a lasting impression on us. Because it's that flipping good.
On the main menu, we were greeted with the choice between two modes for demo purposes - the aforementioned side scrolling, navigate-your-submarine, try not to crash mode, and a mode we'd previously written off as being a bit of a gimmick - the periscope mode.
As an introduction to the 3D effects of the 3DS, there are few games more effective than Steel Diver. With the targetting crosshairs at the front of the screen, and the deep blue wet thing stretching off into the background, it's an incredible sensation, as the ships actually look far away - not just small, Dougal. Looking through the 3DS' screen is, despite the less than photorealistic graphics, about as close to the real thing as you could ever hope - like looking into one of those fancy layered Christmas cards, or those old fashioned "moving picture" machines, only a thousand times better.
Periscope mode. We love it. This screen can't do it justice.
In periscope mode, you no longer have to worry about moving your ship or dodging enemy attacks - instead, all that matters is sinking the enemies by aiming, and firing your torpedoes. In an interesting twist, you're intended to aim by making use of the 3DS' gyro sensors, and physically rotate left and right, which in turn rotates your viewpoint. Combined with the 3D, it really draws you into the game, and goes a long way to, strangely, making you feel like you're really underwater, firing at ships on the surface, as you stand, looking somewhat like a berk, rotating 360 degrees to check there are no ships sneaking up behind you. If a ship gets close, you can even lower the periscope - although we're disappointed there's no effect with water running down the front of your periscope as it breaks through the surface of the water...
The only problem is, 3D and the gyro sensors don't really go together. In order to view the 3D effect properly on the 3DS, you have to find the sweet spot where the two images hit your eyes at exactly the right angle, creating a 3D image. Move out of it, and it's double-vision city, which makes periscope mode a little bit tricky. It's easier to keep everything lined up than in Monkey Ball, where you're tilting your DS all over the place in an attempt to roll your monkey around the courses, as in Steel Diver, you only have to worry about rotating across one axis, meaning you can effectively keep your head locked to the screen, but needless to say, in some situations you may struggle - especially if you're sitting on a bus, and can't rotate 360 degrees. Luckily, there's always the option of touching a little compass at the bottom of the screen - simply by touching left and right on the compass, you can rotate in either direction, and save yourself looking like a berk.
In what we're going to class as "normal" mode until we have any official word from Nintendo, things are quite a bit different. Gone is the emphasis on combat, and instead, controlling your submarine is the order of the day. Again, there's an impressive 3D effect, with the caves that engulf your tiny submarine looking all the more foreboding, while rocky outcrops that may damage your submarine are that much more noticeable, thanks to the 3D. If you do hit them, you'll sprout a leak on the touch screen, which you then have to touch with your stylus in order to plug it.
The controls take some getting used to - and differ for each submarine.
Navigating your submarine through tight undersea caverns, negotiating carefully to keep your ship off the rocky walls is a challenging task - especially when you take into account the controls. Instead of moving your stylus left and right, or up and down across the touch screen to move your submarine in those directions, things are a bit more complex. On the bottom screen are two bars - one that sets your submarine's height, and one that sets its speed. These both stay where you leave them, which takes some getting used to, especially as the height one sets the speed at which you want your submarine to surface, meaning if you leave it at anything but dead centre, you'll find yourself slowly surfacing or sinking. The throttle leads to similar, if fewer problems too, as more than once we ended up coming up to a wall a little bit faster than we intended, leaving us to rush to throw it into reverse to avoid certain disaster. Thankfully, the game's quite forgiving, and even though Sarah did her best at turning her pristine submarine into a can of scrap metal, it certainly took some breaking.
With few official Nintendo games available at launch, Nintendo are mostly relying on third party games to sell their console. But with its innovative gameplay, and somewhat serene, relaxing atmosphere, Steel Diver could be a sleeper hit no-one saw coming. It's certainly sold us.
