I've been looking around at some of the different games on the 3DS, to get a feel for what the system has to offer nowadays. I'm anxiously waiting for my next paycheck to pick up the New 3DS XL, so I can really get into playing some of its games again. In the meantime, I've settled for playing around on my fiancee's 3DS XL to whet my appetite for handheld gaming.
I heard about Code Name S.T.E.A.M. (which I will just refer to as Steam from here on) a few months ago, and was quite surprised that it was an Intelligent Systems game. While I'm aware they've ventured outside of their comfort zone in the past, this game looks and plays very differently from their successful Fire Emblem and Advance Wars series of games.
To be honest, my initial impressions were kind of meh. It seemed like a weird concept - bringing various historical and fictional characters together in an alternate, steampunk reality to fight aliens with guns. It had a certain likable quirkiness to it, and I appreciated that IS was aiming to do something more original and different with this new IP. But up until about a week ago, I had largely put it aside as being a game I was disinterested in.
What probably didn't help my opinion of the game was the surprisingly low review score that GameSpot gave to it. Polygon actually gave Steam a slightly lower score. And a lot of places you'd look, its scores were fairly mixed. Notably, IGN gave the game a 7.9, which is pretty much an 8 - twice the score that GameSpot awarded it.
I've never taken review scores too seriously, but I do like to use reviews as a guidelines when considering game purchases - after all, that's part of what these people are paid to do. So when I see anything below a 6, that generally suggests to me that the game in question is really mediocre - or potentially awful.
As luck would have it, there is a free demo of the game available on the Nintendo eShop, which features just enough content to give you a pretty good idea of the kinds of things to expect out of the game.Still, I wanted to try Code Name Steam for myself. since screenshots of the game looked interesting; and also because IS is one of my favorite game developers.
I downloaded the demo the day before last, and set about playing through it the last two nights.
Everything in the game is designed to look like it's happening on the pages of a comic book, from the heavy outlines of characters, down to sound-effect bubbles that appear during cut scenes.
The demo introduces you to a total of four playable characters, though you only really control two of them for the bulk of that. And those two are Henry Fleming (The Red Badge of Courage) and John Henry (of US railroad folklore).
The 'Henry Bros.' go through about about 5 or 6 missions total during the demo, battling aliens in turn-based fashion on small stages. Isometric grids appear on a character's turn to show how far they can move on their turn, and characters can take back their steps if they choose - provided they don't get attacked by the enemy or attack the enemy while making their moves.
How far your character can travel, and whether or not they can attack enemies, is controlled by a singular resource - steam power. All of the characters in the game wear backpacks that power their weapons with steam energy, in an interesting steampunk twist.
Each square you move consumes one steam cloud of energy, but you also need a certain amount of steam clouds in order to fire your weapon. Conserving energy means you could potentially have enough steam to attack enemies multiple times, but then you won't be able to move very far.
Saving enough energy to use your weapon after your turn is complete can also be useful, since you're given an opportunity to perform an attack on-standby if an enemy alien notices you and goes to attack you. The game even emphasizes hiding and cover mechanics to a degree; if you're out of an enemy's line of sight, they are less likely to track you down, and may have trouble reaching you or striking you if you're behind cover.
The characters all have unique weapons, which require you to play a bit differently when controlling each of them. Fleming has a pretty standard medium-range rifle, while Henry has a grenade launcher that can lob a shot at one of three distances.
In addition, characters can equip a secondary weapon, which unlike their main weapon can be changed. Secondary weapons usually tend to consume less energy than regular guns, but all behave differently like the main guns.
Lastly, most characters have special abilities (which can't be used in the demo), as well as a unique physical maneuver. Fleming can push characters out of his way and move boxes around stages, while Henry can smash through crates. All characters can jump down from high ledges if they need to.
During the demo, you get to fight a few different enemies, though some of them are more similar than others. Admittedly, I didn't realize certain aliens were different than other ones at first.
Slashers chase you into cover and melee attack you. Prowlers are these small, speedy creatures that act as 'annoyers'. Hounds are bigger enemies that fire beam projectiles at you. And there's even some enemies that run around with grenade launchers late in the demo.
All aliens also have weak points, glowing spots on their bodies that you want to try to aim for if possible, to maximize damage.
During the demo some larger and more powerful aliens, such as the one above, are shown. But unfortunately you never quite get to face off against them. I imagine you do in the full game, though.
Even after meeting Abe Lincoln and assembling the Steam group, the game gives you another mission and introduces you to Tiger Lily (a healer from Peter Pan) and the Cowardly Lion (Wizard of Oz). Upon completing this mission, however.... The demo is still not 'over'!
You are then able to re-play through the two or three main stages, with the full team of characters at your disposal. And any gold you acquire within the game can be transferred to the full game if you purchase it.
Gold can be used during missions at these green save points, and aside from saving your game you can also heal a single character (once per save point) and heal the entire party (also once per save point). This makes completing missions a bit easier, but could be potentially important on tougher missions where your party is quickly worn down, and needs a well-timed refresher.
During my brief time with the demo of Code Name S.T.E.A.M, I had more fun than I thought I would.
While it's by no means the most strategy-heavy game I've played, or the best, it is still very well done and has potential to make for a worthy and entertaining full game purchase.
Which makes me question why, exactly, this game scored so low.
True, I haven't played the actual game yet, just the demo. But I think based off of what I've seen in that demo, though, this game is one of the more decent offerings in the 3DS library. It is like Valkyria Chronicles meets history books meets Saturday morning cartoons. And in my opinion, that is a pretty fun mix.
The best I can figure, is that most of the people who don't like this game are comparing it too much to Intelligent Systems' other games, and are disappointed that it isn't enough like those. Or else, maybe they're disappointed that it isn't enough like XCOM, which people have compared to Steam.
At any rate, I hope this thread will convince more people to try the demo and see what they think of it. My impression of the game was positive, and now I'm thinking I'd like to buy it sometime.
It's also cool that you can use Amiibos with the game on the New 3DS XL, and import Marth, Ike, and soon Lucina and Robin into the game to join Steam. It is a really nice bonus that I would take advantage of - that is, if I could ever find any of these Amiibos.
Considering that Steam has only been out for about 2 months now, and the Lucina and Robin Amiibos still haven't released yet, I'm hoping more people will give the game a chance. At the very least, it should show Nintendo that you like when they make new IPs and try doing something different.
~ Ovirew
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