Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. Social Thread

[ILikeKirbys]

Released earlier this year, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. is a turn-based strategy-and-sorta-third-person-shooter-type-thing where you take 4 (or fewer, at least at first; can you do that when you have 4+ characters?) characters from various literary works (Wizard of Oz, The Red Badge of Courage, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Lovecraft, I think Zorro, and others) and fight ice aliens by shooting them with steam-powered guns. It's a bit on the hard side, at least to me, but very satisfying when you win (or just keep eveyone alive, at times).

So, um, did anyone else play this? Did you like it? What did you like about it?

 

[StayPuft]

I bought it day one, it was a very enjoyable game. Having online multiplayer was an interesting idea, but I felt that the strategies became too focused on The Fox and other OP characters for that to be enjoyable at all.

The game imo shined in the single player campaign; it felt very nice to win, kill an alien, etc; it was also fun to search for the cogs on each level. The voice acting was top notch for each character, and all felt very true to their origins despite being "reimagined" for the game. The game also required actual strategy to win, so that's always nice... though sometimes the game just felt unfair at certain points. Prowlers haunt my dreams.

I will admit that I probably played it a bit too much during the first week or so, so it quickly grew dull for me... I'm hoping I can boot it up again down the road and start over to enjoy it again, playing it a bit more slowly.

This will also always be still the best song ever:

 

[ILikeKirbys]

I bought it day one, it was a very enjoyable game. Having online multiplayer was an interesting idea, but I felt that the strategies became too focused on The Fox and other OP characters for that to be enjoyable at all.

Really? I hadn't gotten a chance to try the multiplayer (couldn't get my 3DS online at university, then just kinda lost interest), but I kinda assumed The Fox would be as crazy as she was in single player (seriously, she's almost too good, I pretty much beat the final boss by having someone distract it and letting her shoot its weak-point). Who were the other OP characters though? Lion (I could see it, if he had a good ranged sub)? Tin Man (he can give your other characters more actions, and he's got a decent amount of HP too)? Califia (like The Fox, but with explosions. How isn't that good?)? Randolph (if The Fox is OP, then the guy who makes weak-point-shots stronger seems like a good complement for her, right?) One of the Fire Emblem characters (I know Robin looks awesome and essentially has Randolph's ability, Lucina looks kinda like Lion with Lion and Queequeg's abilities which is amazing, and maybe Marth's immunity to Overwatch could come in handy? I got nothing for Ike though)?

The game imo shined in the single player campaign; it felt very nice to win, kill an alien, etc; it was also fun to search for the cogs on each level. The voice acting was top notch for each character, and all felt very true to their origins despite being "reimagined" for the game. The game also required actual strategy to win, so that's always nice... though sometimes the game just felt unfair at certain points. Prowlers haunt my dreams.

Yeah, I loved the single player too. It's very slow and methodical, giving you pretty much however long you want as long as you don't get Overwatched (incidentally, does Marth's Overwatch immunity let him keep steam after getting attacked or just prevent Overwatch attacks from targeting him at all?). Most of the characters after Henry and John filled some niche (Lion's screw attack let him get to places no one else could and take shortcuts, Tiger Lily's area-heals could heal multiple allies and herself, Tom could jump up onto stuff, push enemies around by punching them and set up minefields, Randolph's incredibly useful combination of weak-point-damage increase and being able to make enemies face a certain direction and ignore you, etc.), and even Henry and John worked as a well-rounded-before-sub-weapons and high-damage-explosions character respectively, making everyone useful (except maybe Dorothy, not sure what she's good for). Hell,ceven the amiibo characters look like they fit into this (can't say, haven't gotten to use them myself, but they all seem pretty good; also, why isn't Marth's ability available to anyone else? It's so good!).
The map design and diversity of enemy types was good too, since you had to tackle most enemy types differently and any of them could give you trouble if you weren't careful (except the Berserkers, don't think I ever had a problem with those), and the way the maps were built guaranteed that you'd get ambushed if you didn't check before walking into a room (that didn't always save me, but it usually helped), though I got kinda frustrated by the a****** reinforcements that showed up and moved on the same turn. Also Stealth Prowlers, f*** those guys so much. And some of the later stages were rather difficult (for example, that map where you had to split your team in half (maybe you didn't have to, but I did), kill two of those wall-thingies with a bunch of weak points to snipe (from The Fox's debut map), then go back up after new enemies spawn, including two or three Dreadnoughts). Made me glad I could usually just win by getting someone to the exit (really didn't wanna take those on, I'd had enough trouble keeping Henry, Califia and Queequeg alive going back up from the wall-thingies' rooms).
And I liked the art style too, it looked nice.
Probably my one majoor complaint would be the A.B.E. fights. Maybe I just never got the hang of them, but they were boring and oddly tedious (I just stood back and used the gun for the most part though, so maybe I just did them wrong).

I will admit that I probably played it a bit too much during the first week or so, so it quickly grew dull for me... I'm hoping I can boot it up again down the road and start over to enjoy it again, playing it a bit more slowly.

Yeah, I did that too. Maybe I'll play it again over the weekend, see if maybe I can do some of those challenges.
Or just get the hang of the A.B.E. fights. Never did manage to punch any aliens to death, just sorta gatling'd them until they let me do the drill-thing at their weak-point.

This will also always be still the best song ever:

Yeah, that's good, definitely in the top five, but I don't see it beating this for the number one spot:

 

[StayPuft]

Really? I hadn't gotten a chance to try the multiplayer (couldn't get my 3DS online at university, then just kinda lost interest), but I kinda assumed The Fox would be as crazy as she was in single player (seriously, she's almost too good, I pretty much beat the final boss by having someone distract it and letting her shoot its weak-point). Who were the other OP characters though? Lion (I could see it, if he had a good ranged sub)? Tin Man (he can give your other characters more actions, and he's got a decent amount of HP too)? Califia (like The Fox, but with explosions. How isn't that good?)? Randolph (if The Fox is OP, then the guy who makes weak-point-shots stronger seems like a good complement for her, right?) One of the Fire Emblem characters (I know Robin looks awesome and essentially has Randolph's ability, Lucina looks kinda like Lion with Lion and Queequeg's abilities which is amazing, and maybe Marth's immunity to Overwatch could come in handy? I got nothing for Ike though)?

Teams generally boiled down to The Fox, Queequeg, Califia, and Tin Man, with some variation in-between. Some people did enjoy Fox + Randolph combo, as well. I'm not sure where the Fire Emblem characters stand, since I own none of the FE amiibos (nor a New 3DS for that matter to use amiibo on), but I do remember reading on Gamefaqs that Marth and Ike were fairly mediocre, since Marth was required to be in melee ranged in a game that was a majority ranged, and iirc his steam wasn't the best, making melee attacks difficult. Not sure about Robin or Lucina, though.

Yeah, I loved the single player too. It's very slow and methodical, giving you pretty much however long you want as long as you don't get Overwatched (incidentally, does Marth's Overwatch immunity let him keep steam after getting attacked or just prevent Overwatch attacks from targeting him at all?). Most of the characters after Henry and John filled some niche (Lion's screw attack let him get to places no one else could and take shortcuts, Tiger Lily's area-heals could heal multiple allies and herself, Tom could jump up onto stuff, push enemies around by punching them and set up minefields, Randolph's incredibly useful combination of weak-point-damage increase and being able to make enemies face a certain direction and ignore you, etc.), and even Henry and John worked as a well-rounded-before-sub-weapons and high-damage-explosions character respectively, making everyone useful (except maybe Dorothy, not sure what she's good for). Hell,ceven the amiibo characters look like they fit into this (can't say, haven't gotten to use them myself, but they all seem pretty good; also, why isn't Marth's ability available to anyone else? It's so good!).
The map design and diversity of enemy types was good too, since you had to tackle most enemy types differently and any of them could give you trouble if you weren't careful (except the Berserkers, don't think I ever had a problem with those), and the way the maps were built guaranteed that you'd get ambushed if you didn't check before walking into a room (that didn't always save me, but it usually helped), though I got kinda frustrated by the a****** reinforcements that showed up and moved on the same turn. Also Stealth Prowlers, f*** those guys so much. And some of the later stages were rather difficult (for example, that map where you had to split your team in half (maybe you didn't have to, but I did), kill two of those wall-thingies with a bunch of weak points to snipe (from The Fox's debut map), then go back up after new enemies spawn, including two or three Dreadnoughts). Made me glad I could usually just win by getting someone to the exit (really didn't wanna take those on, I'd had enough trouble keeping Henry, Califia and Queequeg alive going back up from the wall-thingies' rooms).
And I liked the art style too, it looked nice.
Probably my one majoor complaint would be the A.B.E. fights. Maybe I just never got the hang of them, but they were boring and oddly tedious (I just stood back and used the gun for the most part though, so maybe I just did them wrong).

Again, not sure on Marth. I want to say he was just immune to damage? I think he could still lose steam.
All the maps were really cool. I want to say that my favorite map was on the last mission of the Liberating Boston chapter, where you were inside the Boston base. It just had a cool atmosphere, and the music is some of the best in the game there.
I actually never got passed the mission where you had to save the emerald city palace from being blown up, so I'm not sure which mission you are talking about. That one does sound very challenging, though.
I agree that the ABE fights were sort of "meh." While they offered an interesting break from the normal gameplay, I did feel like they were just there to try and involve Abraham Lincoln somehow.

Yeah, that's good, definitely in the top five, but I don't see it beating this for the number one spot:

I think I've listened to that rap so many times now... it's sorta getting old, I guess? lol

Still a classic, no doubt.

 

[ILikeKirbys]

Teams generally boiled down to The Fox, Queequeg, Califia, and Tin Man, with some variation in-between. Some people did enjoy Fox + Randolph combo, as well. I'm not sure where the Fire Emblem characters stand, since I own none of the FE amiibos (nor a New 3DS for that matter to use amiibo on), but I do remember reading on Gamefaqs that Marth and Ike were fairly mediocre, since Marth was required to be in melee ranged in a game that was a majority ranged, and iirc his steam wasn't the best, making melee attacks difficult. Not sure about Robin or Lucina, though.

Ah, that makes sense.

All the maps were really cool. I want to say that my favorite map was on the last mission of the Liberating Boston chapter, where you were inside the Boston base. It just had a cool atmosphere, and the music is some of the best in the game there.

Yeah, that one was pretty neat.

I actually never got passed the mission where you had to save the emerald city palace from being blown up, so I'm not sure which mission you are talking about. That one does sound very challenging, though.

Ah, that one's a bit tricky, Queequeg was pretty helpful though (as was The Fox, but when isn't she?). Did you get stuck, or just lose interest before finishing Oz?
Also quick piece of advice; don't bring Dorothy to the final Oz mission. I did, it was a terrible mistake.
And yeah, that mission was hellish, mostly because I sent Lion (not Queequeg, I forgot I used Lion on this one for some reason, Queequeg would probably be good for it though) and Califia down one side and I could barely damage the wall-thingy as a result. Amateurtip: Don't bring Lion to the level with the eyeballs and the ceiling-things that fall on you if you go under them. He can't do much to the wall-thingies and will get stunned if he gets too close, and in addition to that his screw attack doesn't help much against most of the enemies, especially the ones that show up when you kill the wall-thingies.

I agree that the ABE fights were sort of "meh." While they offered an interesting break from the normal gameplay, I did feel like they were just there to try and involve Abraham Lincoln somehow.

That's really all they were. Maybe it would've been better if they'd had a bunch of differently-equipped A.B.E. robots and just made the A.B.E. levels scaled-up versions of the regular levels. That would've been kinda cool.
Or just made a Punch-Out! clone for the A.B.E. fights. That worked pretty well for The Wonderful 101, so it could've worked here. Might've been better than what it ended up as.