Codename STEAM = garbage?

So this game is getting bad reviews, I'd rather hear from gamers who have played it though. Intelligent Systems is probably my favorite Nintendo developer (FE>>>), so it's hard for me to believe they made a bad game. Has anyone here played it?

Actually it's getting pretty good reviews from most places, and Gamespot's review is the outlier in this case.

I've played the demo, and it's not a bad game. It certainly isn't a 4/10. Game Trailers gave it an 8.0 for instance.

Although I don't own the full game, I have read several reviews and have ultimately decided that if you liked the demo for the game (which is quite generous in the amount of content it has), you'll like the full version as well. There have been few complaints about the length and content so there's nothing to worry about on that front. (Don't forget the game has an online component which seems pretty fun).

If you weren't taken with the gameplay or found the enemy turn load times intolerable (although the latter might be reduced with a patch), it would probably be best to avoid the game.

I didn't realize a 71 average score on metacritic == garbage

It's painfully irritating that Gamespot is the be-all, end-all, for review scores on these forums. I get the irony that we're using Gamespot forums and the scores are prevalent to discuss... but a simple search on Metacritic, Gamerankings, etc. would paint a very different picture.

Go to other sites as well people to hear, watch and read reviews. It's beneficial.

Gamespot was kind of an outlier in this case. I think they awarded it the lowest score of every major publication.

I think STEAM has a 71 on Metacritic. Gamespot giving it a 40 was really far off.

GameSpot's reviews are actually quite horrible. Has been since they fired the guys from giantbomb for being too honest.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Jeff Gerstmann got fired from GameSpot for being too honest with his Kane & Lynch review. GameSpot recieved money from the publisher to give them a certain score, and didn't give them the review they wanted. Goes to show how awesome GameSpot really are..

A lot of the bigger sites gave it around an 8/10. I wouldn't just go off Gamespot's review on this one.

Nope, it got lower

Game is a waste of time

@sonic_spark: i mean we are on Gamespot, soo...

besides, when I had posted this I had only read Gamespot's and Polygon's reviews. Neither were too hot.

Well, Polygon haaaaaated it, giving it a 3.5 out of 10. It's hard to imagine it doing worse than that anywhere.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/13/8212587/code-name-s-t-e-a-m-review-off-the-rails

If you watch Giant Bomb's Quick Look, they like the game, but they're very harsh on the one- to two-minute non-interactive wait between turns while the enemy moves, often invisibly to the player. That's a really indefensible problem, IMO, if literally half the gameplay time is just staring at the screen waiting for your turn. Like, they should not have shipped the game with that issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5uwUOEL6gY

Having played the demo, I can see how dealing with the turn delay and the enemy's really finicky use of overwatch could combine to make the full game totally infuriating. The demo's free, so obviously go check it out, but I'm much less interested in the full game after playing it and reading these reviews.

Codename Steam.....ugh. I want to really like this game. In fact I think I do, but I also think it's pretty grating at times. It's one of those games that's going to grab you immediately or you'll despise within a couple missions. After awhile the enemy turns just grate on you. The game seems to have this problem of forcing you to almost always play defensively. Because you have no idea of where the enemy is. And they sometimes place them around a corner you can't see. Which results in cheap overwatch counter attacks that not only damage but can stun you and force you in place and making the character unable to move or make an attack for the rest of the turn. if you aren't stunned you almost certainly can't pull back either. because once you move from the square the enemy immediately triggers overwatch again.

And the game also constantly calls on reinforcements and you aren't given any warning to what they might be or where they are coming from. So playing without any steam to counter attack almost becomes pointless. This results in you being nowhere near as aggressive with your movements. Because it not only costs steam to attack, but also to move.The level design is also infuriating. One early stage for example asks you to rescue survivors throughout the stage. But you aren't given any clue as to where on the map they might be. This resulted in my scouring the map looking for the final survivor while the game constantly calls on enemy reinforcements because the i'm taking to many turns. I later discover the survivor, but it's not as if he was laid out on the map in an easy to locate area. Nope he was hidden behind a tower at the very beginning of the stage. hidden behind a steampost and boxes.

I like the idea of the game and the characters, and art. but I think they could of spent a lot more time on the combat elements, and giving the player more at their disposal to combat the enemy placement. I hope they don't give up on this concept though, because I think it has a lot of potential.