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[Neiteio]

You might be right about this. Currently, it just looks like a mess of colors. Perhaps in 3D it works better.

The part that really bothers me though, is that I have no idea what the enemies look like. They don't have recognizable shapes or easily discernible silhouettes.

Provided you will probably want to shoot most enemies from the greatest difference, due to the 3DS's low resolution screen, enemies will just appear like a jumble of twitching dark pixels.

For example, look at this screen shot, and tell me if you understand the shape of the enemies on the screen.

http://e3.nintendo.com/_ui/images/games/3ds/codename-steam/screenshot7.jpg

Bugs don't make good enemies if their silhouette isn't easy to understand. It's more "tactile" and fun to shoot at a bulbous objects.

I'd rather be shooting at those big green blobs in the screen shot

Check out the video linked in the OP. The enemies there have strong silhouettes -- spidery and crab-like, with a sort of triangular silhouette.

 

[SmithnCo]

Everything I've seen of it has looked quite ugly.

 

[Einbroch]

A bit too on the nose for me, but I can't say that it's off-putting. What is off-putting is the low power of the 3DS not letting this idea really shine. It looks pretty ugly.

But it all comes down to gameplay, so we'll see.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Have absolutely no issues with it. Aside from the graphics itself. They just bother me, dunno what they were trying to mix there. But I can usually overlook that. Will be a Day 1 buy........if I get Ike and/or marth amiibos.

 

[Insolitus]

You can really tell this game has a low budget.

 

[Deified Data]

The game is hideous, and I'm sick of steampunk, but I don't know if I'll be able to pass on an IS-developed game in the vein of Valkyria Chronicles. Probably not a day one purchase, but I'm tentatively excited.

 

[leroidys]

I'm not going to lie- I don't like it and I think it looks bad. Intelligent systems is one of the most consistently good-to-great developers that has ever been though, so I'll probably still pick it up... I also thought that Valkyria Chronicles kind of sucked but IS has better strategy game chops, so I'm hopeful it will turn out well.

 

[Jarate]

STEAM PUNK ABRAHAM LINCOLN

I have no clue how people arent more hyped for this game. People always complain they want new ips from nintendo and also complain at the lack of TBs and games like Valkyria Chronicles

We cant say for certain whether it will be good or not right now, but the way people in here are talking makes it seem like nothing will ever make ya'll happy

Just be glad that we might get an awesome game ya'll and if theres any solace its in the fact that THE GAME FEATURES STEAM PUNK ABRAHAM LINCOLN

 

[kittens]

See this just screams lame as shit to me. I think this game is going to be divisive.

Yup, same. I'm willing to give the game a shot cause Advance Wars is amazing and Fire Emblem is okay if you're into that sort of thing, but the characters / art are pretty gnarly.

 

[Stilton Disco]

The only thing I object to is the narrative.

American superheroes riding in to save the day, at a time when he British Empire was at the height of its power? Fuck off!

But other than triggering an inexplicably nationalistic sense of annoyance in me, I think it looks fun. A bit rough around the edges, and graphically a bit messy, but an Xcom like Steampunk meets Lovecraft, portable SRPG, and I can use Robin and Lucina from FE:A in it? Sold!

 

[TI82]

Yup, same. I'm willing to give the game a shot cause Advance Wars is amazing and Fire Emblem is okay if you're into that sort of thing, but the characters / art are pretty gnarly.

Yep. Its made for the kind of gaming crowd that really repulses me. People like this:

STEAM PUNK ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Just be glad that we might get an awesome game ya'll and if theres any solace its in the fact that THE GAME FEATURES STEAM PUNK ABRAHAM LINCOLN

 

[Jarate]

Yep. Its made for the kind of gaming crowd that really repulses me. People like this:

Man I didnt know enjoying video games causes people to be repulsed

 

[MarkusRJR]

I hate everything about the aesthetics, characters, settings I've seen so far, but IS never disappoints on great gameplay. Seems like the people in charge of art looked at american comics (since the game is seemingly being made to appeal to NA audiences) without understanding how to make it look good . Wish they went in a more serious direction instead of the out of place weirdness they currently have. It's not weird enough to be a good kind of quirky, and it's not serious enough to get immersed in from what I've seen. Still hoping for the game to be good, but I'm wary.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

I hate everything about the aesthetics, characters, settings I've seen so far, but IS never disappoints on great gameplay.

Sticker Star says hi

 

[Hyperfludd]

Love pretty much everything about the game that was shown so far. Except maybe the Amiibo stuff, I don't really care for the quality of the Fire Emblem amiibos, so I don't want to shell out money on them. Would be nice to have Lucina.

 

[Memory]

Its a multi-cultured Nintendo game, im sold. Not to many games i can play as a native american, white and a black person on the same team. Im interested to see who else is represented.

Plus its intellegent systems, they have yet to make a bad game.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Its a multi-cultured Nintendo game, im sold. Not to many games i can play as a native american, white and a black person on the same team. Im interested to see who else is represented.

I thought all the characters were American? Are there some that aren't then?

 

[TwiztidElf]

It sucks that I have to wait until May. FFS.

 

[Memory]

I thought all the characters were American? Are there some that aren't then?

I thought the team was made up of people from all over the world since it was an alien invasion across the globe?

Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part... I'll have to take another look at the Tree house vids when i get in from work.

In anycase atleast there will be different ethnicities in the game, no idea how sterotypical they will be though.

 

[Mdk7]

I think it looks fucking ugly.
Seriously, it's repulsive to my eyes, both in 2d illustrations and in the effective 3D game (that looks even worse).
The art direction is actually so bad to me that i will not be able to play it.

 

[Stevey]

Not a fan of it at all.

 

[Scipio]

Art style is growing on me, something fresh. Already tired of the same face syndrome of Fire Emblem Awakening 1.0 and 2.0

 

[Tohsaka]

Looks really ugly. I'll probably still get it if the gameplay is fun, though.

 

[Mistouze]

Always down for something graphically inspired by Jack Kirby. He's the motherfucking KING.

 

[Converse]

I've said before that I don't understand the lack of hype for this game. It's a balls-out new Nintendo IP from Intelligent Systems. The fact that it has a unique style and a strange, nerdy, unexpected mish-mash of western influences -- not to mention new gameplay mechanics that really seem to stretch from the Fire Emblem and Wars series -- is just icing on the cake.

I enjoy the art direction, and I'd recommended folks watch more videos. I've hardly seen a 3DS game that looks good in screenshots, and this one is no exception.

 

[teeny]

I like it, it's great to see IS doing something completely different in terms of a strategy game. I also think the character art is great, doesn't seem too far removed from the random characters in WarioWare or the like. I like what we have seen of the gameplay too. Definitely willing to pick this up day one.

Between this and Splatoon, I'm really happy with Nintendo putting out some brand new IPs from their core teams. Hopefully Codename Steam will get the push Splatoon has had when it is closer to release.

 

[Axass]

You might be right about this. Currently, it just looks like a mess of colors. Perhaps in 3D it works better.

The part that really bothers me though, is that I have no idea what the enemies look like. They don't have recognizable shapes or easily discernible silhouettes.

Provided you will probably want to shoot most enemies from the greatest difference, due to the 3DS's low resolution screen, enemies will just appear like a jumble of twitching dark pixels.

The vomit-shaped enemies are easily the worst part of the game so far.

 

[rhandino]

You can really tell this game has a low budget.

Just like Fire Emblem, Advance Wars and almost every other game that IntSys has made... maybe Paper Mario is the only exception?

I really hope that the gameplay will be as good as those game but eh, will be there Day 1 to support them.

Yep. Its made for the kind of gaming crowd that really repulses me.

Why so messy? smh

 

[Aeana]

The only draw this game has for me is that it seems to be a Valkyria-style SRPG by IntSys. Thematically, it's quite repulsive.

 

[bomblord1]

I think the theme is awesome and is an interesting and bold step by the dev. The art style is a bit hit and miss for me.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Thematically and aesthetically, the game looks disgusting to me. I'll probably give it a shot though because of my enduring love for games like Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. I just can't believe how ugly the aesthetic is though.

shudders

 

[Aostia]

great OP, thank you for this topic.
I think that the game is as mixed (in my feelings) as its inspirations are.

PRO:
- IS, obviously great developers;
- New approach for them to strategy: I'm intrigued by the gameplay, also by its new (for IS) system that I still have to try out in person
- HPL inspired aliens: a must for me
- Steampunk background: another plus in my book
- Cartoon approach to the greedy steampunk world: fresh air in that environment

CONS:
- on paper everything is interesting, but something is out of place so far
- it seems somehow not coherent in terms of artstyle
- 3ds game in screenshots suck

At the end: it will be mine, especially after having seen its preview gameplay footages and the treehouse demo: everything seems to work properly once you start controlling the game and I think that it will also be somehow more coherent once you start it from the beginning following the story.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Honestly do not like the art style that much.

 

[deleted]

I like the gameplay, the idea, the influences - but the game itself is missing some much needed visual clarity.

It seems like a good idea to use this art style when you have a top down view (Freedom Force) and it looks nice in cutscenes but on a low resolution screen I can't really make out which elements belong to each other. Sadly it looks just mushy..
Especially if you compare it to the likes of Advance Wars, Fire Emblem and Mario and Luigi which all have a clear visual language.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I think it has resulted in a hideous looking game.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

I like the concept but think the game looks really ugly. Still getting it though, an Intelligent Systems take on a valkyria chronicles style system sounds great to me.

 

[Tuck]

Art style probably would have been done note justice on the Wii u. But it looks interesting so I will play it.

 

[krYlon]

I find the whole American characters/historical figures acting like superheroes in Victorian London repugnant. Why couldn't they have gone for either British characters or an American setting? It's ridiculous, not in a good way.

As for the aesthetics, as someone who gamed quite a bit on iOS, they are very reminiscent of a lot of low budget, b-tier iOS games only much worse and far less imaginitive.

Having said that, it's intelligent systems, so gameplay should be great!

 

[……forgetit]

Personally I love the artstyle, but I love old comics and watch adventure time so......

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

I like that artstyle in the 2D promo material, but I dont think it translated too well to the 3DS.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

watch it become the best game of 2015


edit: serious answer. Watched the first few minutes of the GameXplain video. Graphically the game is looking pretty polished, and it will definitely benefit from the new 3DS' second analog stick.
I'm still not sure the camera angle is a good fit for playing on such a tiny screen. I can understand the doubts about the enemy designs, it seems they were chosen mainly in order to be functional and easy to spot. That Unreal Tournament style announcer is really annoying though. Otherwise I think the gameplay will be good since it's IntSys, and it's nice to see them experiment with new styles. In terms of visuals and setting I do think this game has a bit of an identity crisis and hope that doesn't cause it to backfire when it comes to sales.

 

[krYlon]

Personally I love the artstyle, but I love old comics and watch adventure time so......

Honestly what surprises me more than anything else is that people are liking the artstyle based on their love for old comics and artists such as Jack Kirby. Everything I've seen from the game just screams to me a cheap, simplistic, amateurish imitation at best of those old comics.

If I were a fan of that artstyle I would be ripping my hair out at someone like Jack Kirby being mentioned as an influence.

Oh well, each to their own, art is very subjective I guess. I'm glad for intsys sake that it does have an audience.

 

[Owensboro]

are you back-of-the-box-quote-man



something about it reminds me of freedom force and that's cool

When they first announced it that was exactly my train of thought. "Wait, so it's Valkyria Chronicles, but with a Freedom Force ascetic, and made by Intelligent Systems? This sounds awesome." Like the OP said, it sounds like an indie "try-hard" kind of game on first glance but I think the difference here is who's making it. If it was some no-name studio I had never heard of I'd probably just avoid it. When I found out it's Intelligent Systems doing crazy ideas (steampunk Lincoln and John Henry? Yeah, that sounds dumb enough to work), I get super excited about it. Almost like when I heard the names "MAN-BOT" and "Nuclear Winter" for the first time in Freedom Force, this might be the right amount of silly to work.

 

[seady]

I think Advance Wars would get way more people hyped.
Not liking the art in Code Name Steam. Even the game title feels very unfinished.

 

[Deft Beck]

It's novel, but it also seems very unfocused.

 

[bobawesome]

I think the graphics, storyline etc look like complete shit. But it looks fun so I Dont care.

Agreed on everythIng aside from the fun part. The whole game looks like a train wreck to me.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

When they first announced it that was exactly my train of thought. "Wait, so it's Valkyria Chronicles, but with a Freedom Force ascetic, and made by Intelligent Systems? This sounds awesome."

Speaking of Freedom Force, I still think this game would benefit from a more top down camera like that game had.

 

[redcrayon]

If it's Victorian-era steampunk, and citing London as an influence, why are there so many bloody American characters? There are dozens of British ones to choose from!

 

[krYlon]

If it's Victorian-era steampunk, and citing London as an influence, why are there so many bloody American characters? There are dozens of British ones to choose from!

Now I'm getting all giddy imagining a tactical squad game in Victorian London with Charles Dickes, Sherlock Holmes, Queen Victoria and Brunel in the artstyle of Eddie Campbell

 

[Josh7289]

Abraham Lincoln as your team leader made it an instant purchase for me.