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

New trailer. I'm starting to enjoy the presentation, although the concept still leaves me cold. Also, are those blood splatters when the humans get shot? That's not very Nintendo!

Looks very X-com in it's combat which is a great thing but the story/characters looks like they'd annoy me a little bit but hopefully it won't be enough to distract me from the gameplay.

I can't wait for this: a new strategy title, and one which could only be possible on modern hardware (let's not forget Fire Emblem and Advance Wars' NES roots) is really exciting stuff.

It's a shame many are dismissing it because it's not generic anime art. I really like how it's clearly a strategy title but you're forced to use strategy in less-than-conventional ways. There's no map whatsoever, so a fog of war becomes literal. It's being directed by the guy who directed WarioWare Smooth Moves. I keep forgetting his name.

Local multiplayer got me a bit more excited for the game since most of my housemates have a 3 or 2ds

I'm neither a great TBS fan nor an amiibo fan, but this is classy.



Fire Emblem characters in a steampunk game?  Yes please!  This is how to do the amiibo stuff! (Although I've just noticed Robin's face. )

This really is gonna be the ugliest game of the year, isn't it?

The game was shown during the New 3DS segment, wonder if it has anything else apart from amiibo support this game like using the C-Stick.

andyman949 wrote:

This really is gonna be the ugliest game of the year, isn't it?

Grackle-vision; Grackle-Grackle-vision #reference

I'm not really a tactical strategy-type person; therefore my opinion is basically invalid. I'm sort of treating this like grown-up me treats boybands. I don't see the point, but I guess they're not designed for me.

andyman949 wrote:

This really is gonna be the ugliest game of the year, isn't it?

Yes! Those Fire Emblem character look especially bad though as they clearly don't fit in with the world.

I've had very little interest in CNS until the Fire Emblem crew cropped up although I probably should as I'm a big fan of strategy titles so will have to keep a close eye on this now. I'm hoping this Amiibo support also means we'll see more Marth Amiibo becoming available.

Treesmurf wrote:

I've had very little interest in CNS until the Fire Emblem crew cropped up although I probably should as I'm a big fan of strategy titles so will have to keep a close eye on this now. I'm hoping this Amiibo support also means we'll see more Marth Amiibo becoming available.

They said something like they will reprint more FE amiibo nearer the time of release of this game.

I'm glad that the Fire Emblem crew are a bit of fun, rather than anything central to the game. Their moves being magic and sword based certainly is at odds with the game's use of crosshairs to fire weapons, so no one's being left out if they don't own the respective Amiibo. Great stuff.

I can't wait for this otherwise, that Intelligent Systems are trying to make a strategy game which foregoes all the things which make a strategy game seem nerdy (lots of numbers, an overhead grid map) excites me. This seems like something which you play on instinct and intuition.

Anyone give th demo a go yet?

I'm going to be waiting for the console I'll be playing it on, so I'll probably forget to comment in 2 weeks.

Same in till my N3DS is here not touching.

shanks wrote:

Anyone give the demo a go yet?

Downloading the demo to the N3DS right now.  I am very confidant that I am going to love this game and it will scratch my strategy itch until they damn well make a new Advance Wars.

I know nothing about this game besides the title. Nothing.

The demo is quite sizeable and had me playing for over an hour & a half then another mission unlocks for you to play after that, overall I really enjoyed it and something like swapping the camera perspective to behind your team really adds to the strategy of it as you really have to think about where you will move on each turn.

Also I think it's definitely easy to grasp for those who maybe aren't used to strategy games or might not be that keen on them & the visuals are a lot better compared to footage I had seen before.

So it's a for me.

Does it play like valkyria chronicles as it quite often gets compared to that.

I have never played VC myself but I have seen my brother play it for a bit & I can see why folk compare it to that, the areas in S.T.E.A.M have a good amount of verticality to them (not sure if VC had that) but it has no overhead map so you are relying on a soldiers viewpoint to judge where enemies might be moving to.

Also with the destructible environments I'd say it has more in common with X-com.

I agree with Jaster, it doesn't really play like Valkyria. It was likely inspired by Valkyria Chronicles, but the developer's aims are really different: they want to remove all the abstractions that make the strategy game inaccessible and boring to the majority of people.

And I think they were successful. Having to manage your Steam for literally every task you make means every action counts, and being able to switch between characters in realtime (there is no concept of a unit turn in this) means you can do all the things with your units cooperatively, everything playing out in harmony.

Makes a change from the usual format of:
1) View overhead map
2) Pick a unit
3) Carry out all actions with that unit, and their resource
4) End turn, choose another unit

Instead you're actively scouting out the nearby area, switching between units on the fly, and making the most out of your Steam by walking, kicking, attacking and maybe leaving a bit of Steam behind to counterattack when the enemy makes their move. And there's no overhead map either, forcing you to use each unit to observe your surroundings. Ace.

The level designs also have more in common with pure strategy titles than Valkyria's, they are closed-off spaces where every square metre matters, and as Jaster mentioned there is a big emphasis on verticality.

All in all, I came away from this very impressed. One of the most exciting strategy games I've played in a long time.

From the demo was impressed but seems weird that L is the trigger not R, but it uses the C-Stick which is good.

So will be picking it up when it comes out.

It's probably L because of the hybrid stylus/C-Stick/face button aiming controls. If there's a way to change it to a left handed mode that'd probably let you use R to fire.

Great proof of concept for the C-Stick though, it felt really responsive and precise.

The demo has been gathering dust on my New 3DS, even, so this morning I gave it a try. The production values are incredible and make me want to own the thing for them alone: it's like a comic book, with the intro's worded sound effects leaping off the screen at the same time as they get pushed into your ears. The game itself is neat enough: you're allowed to consider your turn, as fronky mentioned, with the ability to scout around in your character's reach zone (is there a proper name for that? ) before deciding what to do. I stopped one mission into the first real chapter and am looking forward to returning, which I've only been able to say about two strategy titles before*.

If your version of the demo has not seen any love, give it some.

*Little King's Story (again for the production values) and Ghost Recon.

Reviews have been drooping for this as it's out today in the good old US of A where it's meta is a 75.