Post by: Br26 on March 12, 2015, 03:25:40 PM
Try not to lose your steam.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/39827/code-name-steam-3ds-review
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., the new 3DS game from the developers of Fire Emblem, is filled with bright colors and witty banter, but underneath that ’60s comic book exterior is a very challenging game. A bulk of the Intelligent Systems-developed strategy game’s missions play out in a similar fashion: you see a large collection of enemies or a big boss, and then you work your way through the level trying to eradicate everything and make it to the end-of-level goal. But that’s not all. Some of those enemies spawn new enemies, and if you take too long, enemy reinforcements come. That constant push from foes makes the whole game a stressful experience, one that relentlessly kicked my butt. I restarted maps countless times and sometimes even lost all of my characters in one turn thanks to unexpected enemy appearances. Even with the high difficulty, I still enjoyed my time with Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. It’s a fun, unique turn-based strategy RPG with a fun aesthetic and story, but I just wish it didn’t beat me to a pulp so often.
From the get-go, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. contrasts that difficulty with a lighthearted tone bolstered by a goofy yet great comic book style (the main title screen even features a sing-a-long song!). The gist of the story is that a number of characters from children's books (such as the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz and Harry Fleming from the Red Badge of Courage) all become agents of S.T.E.A.M., a special weaponry unit headed by none other than our 16th president Abraham Lincoln. Officially “retired” from public life, he sets the team out on tasks all over the world to rid the Earth of an alien menace and find out just where the aliens are coming from. With full voice acting, fun music, and an overly charming vibe, this is one of the grandest 3DS titles in terms of presentation.
At heart, the game is a strategy RPG, though if you’re looking for something similar to Fire Emblem, you’re barking up the wrong tree. It’s can be more aptly described as a turn-based third-person shooter where everyone’s movements are controlled by their steam armor. If they run out of steam units, that’s it for them until the next turn. Steam can also be used up by firing weapons, both the personal weapons each character has, and a secondary weapon you can unlock by grabbing the coins littered around in the battlefield. I enjoyed personalizing everyone’s weapons, though I always made sure to use weapons that were overwatch enabled, which are weapons that can be fired during the alien’s turn as long as you leave enough reserve steam to fire in between rounds. Combine this with each character's own ability, such as Lion’s’ roar that stuns people within a distance or Tiger Lily’s healing wind that restores HP to all nearby allies, the game has a multitude of strategic options that always gave me tons of options to choose from whenever I started out on a new map.
The pervasive issue here, however, is the difficulty. The game becomes incredibly tough a few chapters in, and once it gets going, it’s unrelenting. If you leave any character standing around without any reserve steam to fire back on, it’s pretty much instant doom for them if there are any amount of enemies within the area. Most chapters also rely on reinforcements coming in, especially if you take too long to reach the destination. For some, difficulty isn’t that big of an issue. To me, it is. I wanted to really become engrossed in the game’s story, characters, and settings, but when most of my time was spent trying to figure out how not to be slaughtered by prowlers and other aliens that kept creeping up every round, I found myself wondering if maybe I could just play something else. I always like a challenge, solving puzzles, and even Intelligent Systems’ past RPGs, but by the fourth or fifth time I restarted a map to try again, it became a chore. That’s what Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. eventually became for me - a chore to get through.
Beyond the story mode, there's also the versus mode that allows you to engage one on one against a friend in a variety of modes, both locally and online. There's Deathmatch mode, which features a number of maps in which you use your party to take out your opponents. There's also Medal match, where you collect medals on the field until someone has all three. And finally, there's ABE mode where you battle it out in giant Abraham Lincoln robots, the one to lose all of their HP first the victor. I've enjoyed my time online; it's a nice break from story mode where I'm constantly worried about the difficulty, whereas here you're simply battling for fun, and in fact, the versus mode is pretty fun. Online lag was nonexistent and there's plenty of different options to create fresh scenarios.
There's a lot to like in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. And obviously, for people who want a challenging strategy game, this title should scratch that itch. I like the strategic concepts that make up the gameplay, and I adored the characters and the setting. Who doesn't like the idea of rescuing Queen Victoria and leading her to safety via a giant robotic Abraham Lincoln busting up a giant alien? There really is so much to like in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., except for the steep difficulty curve. It’s definitely worth a try, but the immense challenge made it far less enjoyable for me.
Post by: fred13 on March 11, 2015, 01:30:39 PM
Fire Emblem:Awakening has different difficulty settings, does Codename Steam have difficulty settings? If so which did you play on?
Did you try using Amiibo with the game? Did it make the game more fun? Very different? Easier?
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing about your online experience (unless it doesn't open today or tomorrow in which case I'll learn along with you because I pre-ordered the game).
Post by: videoanime on March 11, 2015, 02:00:35 PM
Post by: Br26 on March 11, 2015, 03:25:25 PM
I have a couple of questions,
Fire Emblem:Awakening has different difficulty settings, does Codename Steam have difficulty settings? If so which did you play on?
Did you try using Amiibo with the game? Did it make the game more fun? Very different? Easier?
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing about your online experience (unless it doesn't open today or tomorrow in which case I'll learn along with you because I pre-ordered the game).
No difficulty settings.
I did use my Marth amiibo, and I had no problems using him, though in the long run it doesn't make the game easier or harder. I didn't like that he had no long range weapons though (only his sword).
Post by: BlkPaladin on March 11, 2015, 03:58:56 PM
Post by: Leo13 on March 11, 2015, 04:35:41 PM
Post by: Ian Sane on March 11, 2015, 04:49:10 PM
I won't be buying this game but I don't want Nintendo to interpret that as "don't make new IP". I'm just not interested in THIS new IP. But when Pikmin was new I sure as hell loved that. Go back to Nintendo's early days when all of their IP was new and there are titles like Mach Rider and Wrecking Crew that never caught on. That happens but it didn't discourage Nintendo from later making Star Fox, F-Zero or Pokémon - all post-NES IP that spawned successful franchises.
So I want Nintendo to take a risk with titles like this but they need to understand that they are a risk. Not every concept will have enough universal appeal to become a big hit. But some will. That's the risk vs. reward. But if a new IP doesn't catch on the appropriate reaction isn't to just focus on Mario more.
Post by: Luigi Dude on March 11, 2015, 06:03:48 PM
So I want Nintendo to take a risk with titles like this but they need to understand that they are a risk. Not every concept will have enough universal appeal to become a big hit. But some will. That's the risk vs. reward. But if a new IP doesn't catch on the appropriate reaction isn't to just focus on Mario more.
This is exactly what Nintendo has been doing forever now. Do I need to start posting the huge list again? A lot of those new IP's never became big, but that didn't stop The Wonderful 101, S.T.E.A.M or Splatoon from still being made. Hell, Xenoblade sales wise wasn't exactly a huge hit and yet they still allowed a big budget sequel to be made instead of making Monolith Soft work on something Mario related which you seem to think is all Nintendo wants to do.
Nintendo has never stopped making new IP's and this games success or failure isn't going to affect that one bit.
Post by: Soren on March 11, 2015, 06:24:17 PM
I do think there's some good stuff here. Your limited view of the battlefield adds an interesting wrinkle to the proceedings. It doesn't need to be like Fire Emblem. Can't really make a comment on the difficulty because it's a demo, but also because my issue with the camera kinda artificially add to the difficulty.
Post by: Leo13 on March 11, 2015, 06:29:03 PM
I played the first few chapters of the demo, and aside from the reinforcements and having to get used to the controls the biggest issue was the camera. I'm left-handed, and the face buttons don't offer the same kind of movement the touchscreen controls gave me. I kept fumbling around and taking unnecessary damage because I couldn't react in time to some enemies. So this means having to invest on a N3DSXL or a CPP and those aren't high on my priority list right now.
I felt just like you when I first tried the demo, the camera kicked my butt and I got killed because it took me too long to fumble around with it. I'm sorry to hear that new 3ds isn't high on your list though cause after I bought mine I tried the game again and it was night and day the difference it made.
Post by: Khushrenada on March 11, 2015, 06:29:58 PM
But if a new IP doesn't catch on the appropriate reaction isn't to just focus on Mario more.
But it is.
It is on the fact that they need something successful to offset something that isn't successful to take another risk again in the future. If a new IP doesn't sell well, you won't have the resources to try at another new IP unless you can find a way to up your cash to where it was when you tried to make the first IP. The best way to do that is from a successful IP that will bring a big profit. Then you can take some of the profit money to try and IP number 2. If that doesn't work, release another sequel and try IP number 3. If you just try to create new IP after new IP and none are highly successful, then the resources to keep trying will dry up.
Frankly, though, Nintendo is one of the few companies that can actually make poor IP's successful later on. Just be continuing to make gamers conscious of them and celebrating them as a part of their history, they can grow a demand for them to try again later. Kid Icarus is dormant for over a decade but they throw out references to him and keep in gamers minds and even include him in Brawl and he finally gets another release. Luigi's Mansion wasn't too well received when it launched with the GameCube and yet it went from an odd offshoot/weird spin-off of Mario that was just ok to the point where people began to ask for a sequel to it by keeping it in gamer's minds and letting it become part of Nintendo's history to the point where they finally release a sequel over a decade later and it is one of the top 3DS games available. Frankly, it's amazing sometimes how many things they do give sequels to even if they don't always seem to make big sales. Chibi-Robo has had 2 more sequels since coming out. Rhythm Heaven has seen a couple iterations but I'm not sure how well the sales have been for those series. Yet, they give them chances thanks to the fact that they can sell Mario and Pokémon to make a profit and fund such games.
It's also that advantage which has kept other companies from being able to do the same. It's why we haven't seen Billy Hatcher 2 or Skies of Arcadia 2 or Shenmue 3 for example.
Post by: Enner on March 11, 2015, 10:51:39 PM
It's always interesting and fun to see a wide spread of criticisms. However, it also gives me pause in my purchase of the game. It would be best for me to play the demo since it seems the demo is indicative of the final game.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on March 12, 2015, 01:20:23 AM
Post by: Enner on March 12, 2015, 04:42:44 PM
I thought maybe Intelligent Systems didn't consider it a problem, but that doesn't mesh with the plentiful options to skip animations in Advance Wars and Fire Emblem games.
Perhaps they considered it a feature; a building of tension and suspense. However, they themselves must have noticed that most of the time the camera is staring at a wall.
It seems most likely that it is a technical hurdle that they failed to address.
Post by: Circasurviver on March 12, 2015, 11:46:54 PM
I'm eager to play this game after the demo (which I loved, even though it was easy), but part of me wants to wait and see if they'll issue a patch to speed up or let you skip the enemy turns, at least on New 3DS -- if it is indeed a processing limitation.I thought I heard you hold down select to speed up the enemy turns
Post by: Leo13 on March 13, 2015, 12:10:10 AM
I'm eager to play this game after the demo (which I loved, even though it was easy), but part of me wants to wait and see if they'll issue a patch to speed up or let you skip the enemy turns, at least on New 3DS -- if it is indeed a processing limitation.I thought I heard you hold down select to speed up the enemy turns
According to GameXplain you're right... Sort of.
Speed-Up Enemy Turns in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.!: https://youtu.be/-gDfxd1edCc
Post by: broodwars on March 13, 2015, 06:17:34 PM
Post by: relewis2011 on March 13, 2015, 09:52:59 PM
Post by: Stratos on March 13, 2015, 10:19:32 PM
I played the first few chapters of the demo, and aside from the reinforcements and having to get used to the controls the biggest issue was the camera. I'm left-handed, and the face buttons don't offer the same kind of movement the touchscreen controls gave me. I kept fumbling around and taking unnecessary damage because I couldn't react in time to some enemies. So this means having to invest on a N3DSXL or a CPP and those aren't high on my priority list right now.
I do think there's some good stuff here. Your limited view of the battlefield adds an interesting wrinkle to the proceedings. It doesn't need to be like Fire Emblem. Can't really make a comment on the difficulty because it's a demo, but also because my issue with the camera kinda artificially add to the difficulty.
I'm a south paw too and I get where you are coming from. A CPP is a great investment. It made Moon Chronicles playable for me. I like my N3DS nub, but would take a second full stick in a heartbeat.
Post by: ForgottenPearl on March 14, 2015, 05:52:53 PM
Post by: broodwars on March 15, 2015, 11:37:10 AM
How long is each battle? Can you save mid-battle? I don't mind some challenge, but whenever a game has me repeating 20+ minutes of material every time I make a mistake, I get frustrated real fast.
I'd say the typical map is anywhere from 15 - 45 minutes, depending on how you play it. As for saving, you can save mid-mission at the 1-3 one-use-only save stations that dot each map, provided you have enough gold/"medals" to pay for it.
Post by: broodwars on March 15, 2015, 11:38:54 AM
Post by: ForgottenPearl on March 15, 2015, 02:34:10 PM
Edit: just to be clear about that, when you go to a save station you have 3 options: save (no cost), save & restore the unit checking the station to full health/steam for a low cost, & save & restore the entire team to full health/steam for a large cost.
Thanks for the info.
I'm still kind of on the edge about this game. I love the visuals, but I'm not hearing a whole lot of good about the gameplay...
