Steel Diver: Sub Wars (3DS)

by Piyoz on Mar 26th, 2014

The original Steel Diver on the 3DS is one of those titles that Nintendo haters seem intent on ignoring. Nintendo’s newest installment is Steel Diver: Sub Wars, the company’s first attempt at the much-maligned free-to-play game model. Yes, that’s right. Nintendo acknowledges that not only does the Internet exist, but also that you can release a game for free and make a profit. Looks like they’re finally catching up with the times!

As of February of this year, anyone with a 3DS and a stable internet connection can go to the eShop and download the basic free package for Sub Wars. This free package gives the player access to two of the seven single player missions and two of the eighteen unlockable submarines. Unlike the first Steel Diver, whose subs were maneuvered from far away and could only move on a X and Y axis, this time we get some first-person submarine combat! The game is in full visual 3D and 360 degree range of movement. Up and down and left and right and forward and back. The player pilots submarines through offline missions and online PvP.

My submarine. By far the manliest in the fleet.

The offline component of Steel Diver: Sub Wars consists of basic missions: navigate through the rings, sink enemy battleships, sink enemy subs, call airstrikes, destroy the bad guys’ base core, and square off against the feared Super Battleship. These missions aren’t very hard. They play like training stages more than actual challenges.

The single player is mostly just practice for the real treat of Sub Wars: the multiplayer!

Sub Wars has an online mode that lets you battle with captains from all around the world or just your region on four versus four matches. The game drops you in these big arenas to collaborate with allies and hunt down your enemies. Some of these arenas are sunken cities, underwater caverns, swimming pools, hot springs, and fish tanks. These maps are so big that you must use your sonar to locate allies and enemies. From there, it’s a battle royale.

And what if you get totally lost? There’s no voice chat in game. You can only communicate with allies with Morse code. Don’t worry. There’s a handy little guide with all the dots and dashes on the bottom screen. Otherwise, the bottom screen is used for adjusting speed, ascent/descent, activating sonar, and launching missiles. You can use the touch screen or tactile controls.

I wish I could show the 3D version of these images. The sense of depth helps you gauge which enemy is closest and most likely to attack you first.

With every missile strike, every enemy sunk, and every torpedo evaded, you earn a few experience points. As these points stack, you’ll level up and eventually unlock new and better subs. The machines unlocked later on have better stats for things like Turn Rate, Submerged Speed, Surfaced Speed, Health, Dive/Surface Speed, torpedo count, sonar range, and crew capacity.

Each submarine can be customized, too. As you progress through the ranks, you can unlock paint patterns for cosmetic purposes. On a more practical note, you can assign crew members to your sub. Each crew worker provides some sort of benefit. Maybe he’ll shorten your reload time. Or he’ll boost sonar range. Or maybe he’ll give you two extra projectiles but sacrifice some speed. Each submarine in this game can be tailored to how versatile or powerful you want to be.

Five extra subs can be purchased from the eShop. These subs aren’t especially powerful or anything. They’re real world submarines used by actual navies throughout history. Military history buffs should find something to enjoy here.

The underwater combat has some bugs here and there. Hit detection is a little wonky sometimes. Random Battles online have no system for balancing teams. Sometimes you’ll have a team of four players all above level twenty facing a team of three players all under level ten. Besides that, I’ve not had any problems with connectivity. The netcode seems pretty solid. Nintendo releases patches, too!

There’s also a local multiplayer option. But all my local friends play is stupid stuff like Pokemon.

Steel Diver: Sub Wars is free-to-play done in a way that does not cheat or deprive. Without paying a cent, you can play online and get a good taste of what this game has to offer. By paying a mere ten dollars, you can access extra missions and new submarines that really deliver. Online plays very well with only a few hitches. There is customization for appearance and function. Nintendo is beginning to prove that they can change their insular ways and adapt to a changing industry after all. This is but the first step on a long, long road.

4/5
Boatloads of fun

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