Don't bother with this shipwreck.
Cons: Way too slow-paced for a DS game, tutorial can get complicated, illogical abbreviations for some battleships. Turns? Are you kidding me?! Loading screens.
When I first heard I would be reviewing Steel Horizon, it came to me as a blank canvas. I'd heard nothing about it, nor had I even heard of it before. So before I played it, I wanted a little background on it. I searched the most common game sites but came up pretty much empty handed. The only thing I could find was a cinematic video, which really didn't give me much information at all. From what I saw, it sounded like a tactical, fast-paced version of Battleship. Unfortunately, only half of that rang true.
I popped in the game, and went instantly to the “Tutorial” section. This was enough to give anyone a headache. It didn't even seem like Konami wanted it to be reader-friendly. True, the text is easy enough to read. But right when you think you understand one part of the tutorial, another part comes along and you can get easily confused. There are just too many commands available to you in the game. Adding to the confusion are some of the labels for the ships you command. Such as “CB” for Battle Cruiser, or “CV” for Aircraft Carrier. Sure it's a minor thing, but when you have 8 ships per unit(out of a total 14 available) it can get complicated.
So enough with the tutorial, onto the actual gameplay. Each game is broken down into 20 missions, with 14 unlockable ones available when you defeat key ships and capture special bases. You are briefed of your mission, and sent out to destroy enemy ships. That's where it starts to go downhill, however. Without exaggeration, I spent 5 straight minutes doing absolutely nothing but moving my ships around in open water. When I finally did find enemy ships, the battle was over within 10-15 seconds. They are fun to watch, though. You can actually see the torpedoes fire from your ships, and travel underwater until they explode upon impact at the enemy. If you need time to rest your cramped hands and sore eyes, you can always save your current game and quit.
If my some miracle you do find an enemy, attacking them is fairly straight forward. You move your designated ships right next to them(each ship has a certain amount of moves), and select "Attack" from the menu. That's it. You'll be thankful you did attack, even if it was just one ship. Watching attacks is the only action Steel Horizon has in it. There are no "on the edge of your seat" moments at all, because winning a battle all has to do with the amount of ships you have. No matter what kind they are, if you have 8 vs. 5, you will win. And this is only when you attack, because you're the only one who really does. I could've stayed in my original position in the water for hours, and have no one attack. Yet, when I move a few squares out, I'll stumble upon a fleet of 8 ships ready for attack. The entire game is so scripted, there really is no strategy.
This isn't to say Steel Horizon isn't complete crap. What is nice is that if you're being attacked, you're not a sitting duck. You can try moving your guys out of harms way by tapping in the direction you want on a radar-like screen. This will usually fail, though. The most you could hope for is saving maybe 3 ships or so. To help keep the screen easy to read is instead of seeing each ship individually, one single ship can represent 1-8 different ships. So you might be fooled into thinking you're seeing just one enemy ship, when it could actually be 8. Unfortunately finding 8 enemy ships is a rarity. Finding anyone at all is rare. Steel Horizon is a very slow paced game, with very little constant action. Though, it is fairly tactical. I will give them that. The graphics are decent as well. Although the music isn't annoying at first, it can get repetetive. But once you've played the game for a while, it'll almost disappears.
The story isn't half-bad either. It's ironic, because I just got done writing an article about how all WWII games are the same. However, Steel Horizon is slightly different from most WWII games. Both German and Japanese forces seem to be portrayed as both more respectable and honorable than what we normally hear or read in todays history books. But I doubt you'd even finish the story, because the game has no replayability at all. Nothing is there to bring you back to the game, unless you're the kind of gamer who likes to finish a game just to say "I beat that game.". Asside from the campaign mode, you also have "Skirmish" as well. It's Konamis attempt at an "instant-action" mode, but plays pretty much the same as the campaign. You're given goals, such as taking over ports, which in the end you'll wonder why you even tried so hard to do so in the first place. There are 8 skirmish maps available from the get-go, and others are unlocked when you also unlock those "bonus" campaign missions. The enemy A.I just isn't there at all in both campaign nor skirmish. If you want a true challenge, the game does offer multiplayer. A total of 9 maps are available for you and another friend to battle against one another. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to try out multiplayer, but I'm assuming this would only be the enjoyable aspect in Steel Horizon. It'd be at a fast(er) pace, because the enemy would actually have a brain for once.
In the end, Steel Horizon just isn't a game for the Nintendo DS. I'm used to games like Elite Beat Agents, where you use the stylus for fast-paced actions. Steel Horizon consists of the two things I dislike most in gaming. For one thing, it's too tactical. I like action and I like it fast. Secondly, it consists of turns. I despise turn-based games. Throughout the game I was constantly being flashed “Player 2 Turn” for about 5 seconds at a time, only to have “Player 2”(computer) to do absolutely nothing at all. Steel Horizon is also the first game I've played for the Nintendo DS that consists of loading screens. That's right, loading screens. I was pretty surprised to see these, in a Nintendo DS game at least. Sure if I was going to play multiplayer, then loading screens are acceptable. But not in the main game itself. If you're a fan of slow paced and tactical games, I guess this would be a game for you. It simply didn't do it for me. Gameplay: 5/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Sound: 7.5/10
Play Control: 5.5/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall: 5/10