Genre:Action

Publisher: Nintendo

Rating: 7 (PEGI)

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Video games with a simple premise and a simple idea are often the most addictive and engrossing. Angry Birds is a firm favourite for many, whilst the sticky, ball-rolling fun of Katamari has a huge cult following.

Steel Diver tries its very best to position itself in Simpletown along with these greats, but takes the wrong turning and ends up somewhere in Painfullyboringville.

It’s simple. You’re in a submarine, you have controls to make it travel up and down, left and right, and you must navigate it through underwater caverns. There’s the occasional mine to dodge or an enemy vessel to torpedo, but these aren’t usually a problem and are too infrequent. Play remains fresh and fun for around 20 minutes.

There are three different submarines to choose from and each handles slightly differently, but not enough to warrant multiple playthroughs of the missions.

The levels are split up with a yawn inducing mini-game that has players shoot torpedoes at ships and subs whilst gazing through a periscope. It’s pointless and means nothing though.

With other mediocre 3DS games, it’s been the 3D visuals that have enabled the game to swim instead of sinking. Steel Diver’s 3D however is so slight, the package is firmly still lying on an ocean bed - probably somewhere off the shore of Painfullyboringville.

SCORE: 3 / 10