In Defense of Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.

While I've been playing video games as a hobby for nearly 30 years, rarely does a game come along that I feel the need to champion in the face of underappreciation, unawareness, and (admittedly sometimes deserved) criticism.  However, I can't stop thinking about Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (which I'm going to abbreviate to CNS from here on, damn those periods) and how much I like it, so here I am to take up its banner.



CNS is a Nintendo 3DS strategy game developed by Intelligent Systems, most known for the venerable Fire Emblem and Advance Wars strategy series of games, not to mention the Paper Mario RPGs (whose entries have been hit-or-miss).  The eponymous task force is an elite team of steampunk-outfitted agents who comprise a greatest-hits list of 19th century American literature.  They've been brought together by Abraham Lincoln, who secretly survived the attempt on his life and went on to found S.T.E.A.M. (Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace) to wipe invading alien scum from the face of the earth.  Cast highlights include Henry Fleming from the Red Badge of Courage, John Henry, Tom Sawyer, Queequeg from Moby Dick, and all four main characters from The Wizard of Oz.  It's quite an eclectic bunch and it's great to see characters you'd never expect to see in a video game thrown together in this crazy situation.  No DudeBro McBiceps here.

Henry engages an alien.

Gameplay-wise, CNS plays out like a cross between the recent X-COM reboot and Valkryia Chronicles.  You'll pick up to four characters to take on each mission, each of which has a unique main weapon, swappable subweapon, and swappable steam tanks depending on their size.  Missions take place on a 3D map grid in which you directly control characters from a behind-the-back view.  Each character has a steam gauge that represents their action points for that turn, which they use to both move and fire weapons.  Movement is grid-based, and gives you the awesome benefit of refilling your steam gauge if you backtrack, which gives you an opportunity to scout an area and plan out strategy before committing to an action (steam used for movement is eaten up permanently once you attack or get attacked).  Weapons take between 1-4 steam to use and come in a variety of forms, from John Henry's grenade launcher to Queequeq's walking penguin bombs to a deadly sniper rifle wielded by The Fox (apparently a copyright-friendly nod to Zorro).  Aiming is done manually so it does require a bit of skill and patience to line up good shots with certain weapons; it's not done for you like in, say, Fire Emblem).  Any steam you don't use in a turn carries over to the next along with a certain refill rate depending on your steam boiler.  Leave sufficient steam in your tank at turn's end and you'll be able to do overwatch attacks during the enemy's turn if they come into your sight (they can also do this to you).  Each character also has a unique supermove they can use once per map and a unique passive skill.  So generally on your turn you freely switch between characters, scouting and attacking when possible while trying to avoid overwatch attacks.  When all characters have used up their steam or you're satisifed with how you've set them up, you end your turn and the aliens get a chance to move and attack.  There are a couple dozen species of aliens to exterminate, each with different abilities and glowing weak points that you should target if at all possible.  Missions have different objectives, such as reaching a certain goal space, defeating all enemies, or taking down a boss.

That's basically it.  But before I get to more specifics about why I enjoy CNS so much, let me address the elephant in the room, the main reason why the game received a healthy amount of criticism: the alien turn speed.  In the original version of the game, it's my understanding (as I never played it) that the alien turns could be excruciatingly long, up to a minute or more of you watching them move around and attack while you do nothing.  This was especially pronounced on the original 3DS model; I have the "New" 3DS which has a faster processor (and also a "nub" for moving the camera which helps with aiming).  I understand this is a legitimate critique and had I played the game this way I most likely would've been frustrated as well.  However, Nintendo released a patch for CNS that adds a fast-forward button that dramatically speeds up enemy turns.  With it on (and I never have it off), alien turns never take any longer than the "Enemy Activity" phase in X-COM - I'd say 20 seconds at most.  It's completely tolerable, and also required viewing to help you figure out where enemies are lurking.

Now, you can make the argument that the patch should not have been necessary, and that everyone - old or new 3DS - should be able to have the ideal playing experience.  That's not without merit.  But needing patches or certain hardware to have the best experience is hardly unique to video gaming - PC gamers have been dealing with this for decades.  It's just not something we're used to from Nintendo, where we expect plug-and-play as the standard.  And while the difference in processing power between 3DS models is a bummer, perhaps we should be praising Nintendo for issuing a post-release patch that addresses a common complaint about a game - something the stalwart company hardly ever does.  In short, I did have the ideal Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. playing experience, and while I understand the shortcomings of prior versions, I'm going to judge the game accordingly - this seems only fair to me.

Enemy turns taking too long wasn't the only critique lobbed at CNS, however.  Let's address a few others:

The full cast, including four Fire Emblem guest characters.

"The story isn't great / the characters are underutilized." - (spoilers ahead) I'll be the first to admit the overarching plot in CNS is nothing spectacular; this isn't a game that'll leave you gaping at unexpected twists and turns.  However, the setting in this original IP (not another derivative sequel) is fantastic, crammed with all the pulpy steampunk goodness you could want.  Over the course of the game, you'll rescue Queen Victoria from Buckingham Palace, pay a visit to alien-infested Miskatonic University, race the aliens to recover the Necronomicon from a vault underneath the White House, liberate occupied Oz, and engage in kaiju-style battles as Lincoln piloting a giant steampunk mech.  What more could I want from the story in a strategy game?  It's honestly more memorable than any of the generic fantasy-intrigue plots of Fire Emblem games.  It's presented well, through motion comics in a cel-shaded art style.  Some of the level designs can be a little bland (the White House vault especially just looks like Generic Warehouse #3), but others are great, such as when you work your way up the slope of a canyon or through the winding streets of the Emerald City.  And while the characters don't exactly have amazing story arcs where they learn deep truths about themselves, I'm really OK with that.  This is a game about literary heroes and Abe Fricking Lincoln teaming up to kick some alien ass.  I don't really care to listen to John Henry brood about his hard life.  If I wanna know more about their backgrounds, I'll read their stories.  Moreover, the "romance" options of recent Fire Emblem games wouldn't really work here, as it'd be pretty creepy to have Henry Fleming hook up with Dorothy Gale.  (Side note - the voice samples are serviceable but occasionally veer too close to ethnic stereotypes - Queequeq in particular sounds like a weird mashup of the Lone Ranger's Tanto and Slowpoke Rodriguez.)

"You can't zoom out to see the whole map." - The behind-the-back perspective in CNS limits your field of view, and I understand that this can be frustrating for those wanting to get the bigger picture.  However, this is just how the game is balanced, and it provides an experience different from Fire Emblem or X-COM.  Just as Fire Emblem would be too hard if you couldn't look at the whole battlefield, CNS would be far too easy if you could.  While not exactly a stealth game, careful movement and positioning to spot enemies before they spot you is key to good play in CNS.  I find that highly tense and rewarding, and the perspective adds a sense of exploration that other strategy games lack.  It really puts you in the middle of the action rather than the god-like commander of other series.  Certain levels, like the aforementioned canyon climb, would lose all their flavor.  Moreover, there are other aids to help you out that aren't present in other games, like health pickups and mid-battle hard save and rejuvenation points.  Nor is there permadeath in CNS; the game has its own ways to be tense without that particular sword of Damocles constantly hanging over you.

"It's impossible to hit flying enemies."  - Because aiming is manual in CNS and enemies do move a little bit while idle, it can be hard to line up good shots at weak points.  This is especially true with small flying enemies, who don't have much health but hover up and down a bit and (at first glance) are seemingly impossible to hit.  They certainly flummoxed me the first time I ran into them, and I just worked around them (it wasn't required to kill them).  Then I discovered that you can indeed target them with weapons like Henry's Eagle Rifle and especially The Fox's sniper rifle - and then they are barely a problem.  It just takes a little patience, timing, and carefulness - not typical in a strategy game, but just requires shifting one's mind-space a bit.

"Enemy overwatch attacks are the worst." - I'm not sure if I heard this elsewhere or if it comes directly from me.  I'll admit getting hit by overwatch attacks is probably the most frustrating part of CNS.  Sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere, they eat up movement steam, sometimes stun you (ending that character's turn), and enemies seem to be able to repeat them if you keep moving into their line of sight, unlike your characters which are limited by their steam reserve for overwatch attacks.  They are, frankly, a major pain and can seem unfair.  But I've learned to deal with them as probably the number one threat to avoid in CNS.  This entails being extremely cautious with your movement and relying on your own overwatch attacks as much as possible, hoping enemies come to you.  In a way, it's similar to getting a character overexposed to attacks in Fire Emblem - if this happens, you done screwed up.  They're frustrating, but I've learned to deal with them.

With those complaints addressed, let me highlight a couple other aspects of Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. that I enjoy.  The biggest of these, which I've been sandbagging on till now, is the bangin' soundtrack.  As someone who, as a kid, would hold a tape recorder up to a TV speaker to record video game soundtracks, CNS has overall my favorite, most memorable game soundtrack in years, probably since the likes of Persona 4 or The World Ends With You.  No generic orchestral sounds here - metal, industrial, and even a little dubstep at times mix to blow out your ears and get your blood pumpin'.  The best feature is that in many levels the soundtrack builds in intensity as you come into contact with enemies, from low-key ambience while you're sneaking around to all-out hard guitar riffs when you're all up in enemies' grills.  To hear what I mean, listen to my favorite trio of songs from the game: Steam, Steel, Strangers I, II, and III (the absolute best).  Check out some other tracks while you're there.

Another aspect of CNS I came to appreciate is that there's no grinding of characters.  When they join your squad they are generally as powerful as they're ever going to be.  You unlock subweapons by collecting medals (earned by defeating enemies or scattered around levels) and new boilers by snagging the three gears stashed on each map.  That's it.  This means you never have to worry about not being strong enough to tackle a map or leaving underleveled characters behind.  You can always change your strategy by swapping in any of the characters available to you.  Certain characters are definitely more useful on certain maps, but there's generally no magic combination - you might think "Tin Man would've been really great on this map, but I managed without him."  The gears are not super difficult to find but can be easy to miss the first time as you're focused on surviving.  I enjoy the gameplay so much that I've replayed every map to find all the gears, which also helps in accumulating medals for subweapons.  I definitely plan to collect all 96 gears in the game, and I am hardly ever such a completionist - a true testament to how much I enjoy Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.

Will you answer Abe's call?

CNS is not a perfect game, but my enjoyment of it has run so counter to its underappreciation that I felt the need to pen this lengthy diatribe singing its praises.  The good news is that due to its lackluster reception it's one of the rare Nintendo-published games that's actually come down in prices; new copies are always under $20 on Amazon.  If I've at all intrigued you, I advise you to pick it up, as this daring attempt at a new series is probably all we'll ever see - CNS didn't do well in Japan either.  I'd love to see a sequel where Queen Victoria basically assembles the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with giants of European literature such as Sherlock and Watson, Captain Nemo, and Viktor Frankenstein, with the third game being the inevitable crossover.  Unfortunately that will never happen.  So I salute Intelligent Systems for producing one of the most unique and memorable games I've played in a while, a shining star that should've received more attention than it did.  As Queen Ozma would say, "Godspeed, agents."