History YMMV / CodeNameSteam

** Being an [[{{Eagleland}} extremely American game]] [[WidgetSeries made in Japan]] featuring a President in a HumongousMecha, this is also probably the closest thing westerners will get to ''VideoGame/MetalWolfChaos''.

* TaintedByThePreview: When it was announced that Creator/WilWheaton and Creator/AdamBaldwin would voice Abraham Lincoln and Henry Fleming respectively, two VocalMinority groups of people changed their minds about getting the game; as the two men were vocally on opposite sides of the controversial gamer gate movement going on at the time of the game's release.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Abe Lincoln creates a steampunk team of characters from books to fight Lovecraft-inspired ice aliens.

** Marth is immune to damage from enemy Overwatch attacks. Coupled with proper positioning to minimize knockback (if applicable) and running around in a single tile, he can eat enough Overwatch hits to ensure other allies can move safely. Also, if Marth's able to get close to an enemy's weak point, his Falchion attack does ridiculously high amounts of damage.

* EightPointEight: Many have ''not'' taken kindly to Gamespot's 4/10 review, especially since even other reviewers who disliked the game didn't rate it ''that'' low.
** Actually, [[FromBadToWorse it got worse]]. Before the enemy speed-up patch was provided, [[http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/13/8212587/code-name-s-t-e-a-m-review-off-the-rails a review posted on Polygon.com]] scored it lower at 3.5 of 10. Post-patch, the review was amended with the score being bumped up to a 6.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** Dorothy is probably the closest the game comes to this, if only because taking advantage of her gimmick (being close to the enemy) requires players to either be a little more careful or combine with Randolph Carter (or anybody with a stun weapon). She's also very squishy, meaning that if she gets caught she will require Tiger Lily or someone with the Medi-Carbine or Medi-Rifle to heal her ''immediately''. However she can scare Eyestalkers away ''very'' well, can utterly obliterate the Gunners' weak points in a single hit, and being a light unit she's an amazing candidate for the [[LethalJokeWeapon crossbow]], especially since you'll probably be bringing a stun weapon around her if you're going to use her. At any rate she's agreed to not be as bad as...
** ...[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Ike]], who is generally considered to be the worst Toys/{{amiibo}} unit, and worst character, in the game. His ranged attack does only 5 damage (not quite as bad as it sounds, as it's pretty long range and hits most enemies three to four times, but that's still 15 to 20 damage in a game where cheaper attacks regularly do around 50), his melee attack (which is problematic to begin with since unlike Marth he has to watch out for overwatch attacks) causes knockback (making it cost an absurd amount of steam to simply do two attacks to the same enemy), he cannot do Overwatch attacks(something even Marth with no ranged attacks at all can do if an enemy, say, coming around a corner, wanders close enough), and like the other [[GuestFighter amiibo characters]], he doesn't have a better boiler or better subweapons that he can use and can't revive mid-battle.

** Tom Sawyer has among the highest mobility in the game, and his Punch Gun is ''very'' good for only costing 1 Steam to use during the player's turn: having major knockback, decent range and a chance of Stun. Its weak power isn't much of an issue either since, again, it only costs 1 Steam and stunned enemies take double damage. When spammed even bosses take major damage. This only gets better once you unlock the boiler that fully recharges his steam every turn. Not only that, but combine this with another unit laying down mines (or Tom's "hijinks" ability), and you can knock enemies ''into'' the mines.

** Any character who has a weapon that deals increased weak-spot damage (such as the Steam Crossbow and the Fox's [[SniperRifle Fox Rifle]]) with the Ninja Boiler equipped (exclusive to light characters), which furthers increases weak-spot damage. Have fun dealing hundreds of damage in one shot and taking out [[EliteMook Dreadnoughts]] in just a couple of turns! It also helps that, by the time you get The Fox, you'll become ''VERY'' good at hitting weak points. The Fox Rifle is even more insane than the Crossbow because while it costs more steam, it can instantly pierce the armor protecting almost any armored weak point, making even the strongest prowler iterations pretty much a joke.
** Lucina and Robin are absurdly powerful, to the point where they're still worth using even after you unlock the ultimate boiler they can't use. Lucina has a long-range bow that does 50 (not counting the 10% attack bonus part of her born leader skill) damage for 2 steam, and Robin has an AOE explosive attack like Califia's Rhino Bomber (with the same range and damage but a smaller blast radius) but for a lower steam cost and without knockback (meaning that clusters of enemies can be targeted all at once ''repeatedly'').
** Marth is immune to enemy Overwatch attacks. Also, if Marth's able to get close to an enemy's weak point, his Falchion attack does ridiculously high amounts of damage.

** ...[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Ike]], who is generally considered to be the worst Toys/{{amiibo}} unit, and worst character, in the game. His ranged attack does only 5 damage (not quite as bad as it sounds, as it's pretty long range and hits most enemies three to four times, but that's still 15 to 20 damage in a game where cheaper attacks regularly do around 50), his melee attack (which is problematic to begin with since unlike Marth he has to watch out for overwatch attacks) causes knockback (making it cost an absurd amount of steam to simply do two attacks to the same enemy), he cannot do Overwatch attacks(something even Marth with no ranged attacks at all can do if an enemy, say, coming around a corner, wanders close enough), and like the other [[GuestFighter amiibo characters]], he doesn't have a better boiler or better subweapons that he can use and can't revive mid-battle.

** For those who hate reinforcements that spawn at your starting point mid-battle in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' series, this game does it too., even worse, they're literally infinite every single time.

** For those who hate reinforcements that spawn at your starting point mid-battle in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' series, this game does it too.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Turn-based strategy, American comic books, steampunk, and characters from classic literature all thrown into a blender together to fight against StarfishAliens inspired by the works of Creator/HPLovecraft. Regardless of how fun that mix-up might make the final product come out, that's still a ''very'' specific sell, as shown by the game's incredibly low sales numbers. It also didn't help that it was overshadowed in the eyes of Nintendo fans by the recent release of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask 3D'' or that its two [[Creator/AdamBaldwin leading]] [[Creator/WilWheaton actors]] were involved with a controversial movement at the time.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Turn-based strategy, American comic books, steampunk, and characters from classic literature all thrown into a blender together. Regardless of how fun the final product might be, that's still a ''very'' specific sell, as shown by the game's incredibly low sales numbers. It also didn't help that it was overshadowed in the eyes of Nintendo fans by the recent release of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask 3D''.

* TaintedByThePreview: When it was announced that Creator/WilWheaton and Creator/AdamBaldwin would voice Abraham Lincoln and Henry Fleming respectively, two VocalMinority groups of people changed their minds about getting the game; as the two men were vocally on opposite sides of a certain gaming controversy movement going on at the time of the game's release.

* FontAnachronism:
** Revue, the font used for banners and the metallic face place for the Boston Naval Air Base, didn't come into being until 1968, 100 years after ''Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.'' is set.
** The English-language information monitors and general GUI uses Korinna (probably best known for its use in Creator/{{Capcom}}'s logo, as well as for the clues on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''), a font that was first used in 1904.

* AmericansHateTingle: Inverted, as the game did [[BoxOfficeBomb even worse in Japan]] than in the States. Not even [[Franchise/FireEmblem Fire Emblem cameos]] could save it.

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Extremely downplayed. Yes, the game did sell noticeably better in the US (the nation being stereotyped) than it did in Japan (where it was actually made)... but only in the sense that it merely underperformed, as opposed to being a total flop (the Japanese release didn't even manage to sell ''2,000'' copies in its first week).

* OlderThanTheyThink: [[VideoGame/FireEmblem Marth]] has actually spoken audible English before - in an old ''Fire Emblem'' OVA that was dubbed into English.

* AmericansHateTingle: Inverted: the game did [[BoxOfficeBomb even worse in Japan]] than in the States. Not even [[Franchise/FireEmblem Fire Emblem cameos]] could save it.
* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Turn-based strategy, American comic books, steampunk, and characters from classic literature all thrown into a blender together. Regardless of how delicious the final product might be, that's still a very specific sell, as shown by the game's incredibly low sales numbers. And it didn't help that it was announced during a period of time where gamers were all clamoring for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask 3D''.

** With a {{Steampunk}} world and a cast of literary [[PublicDomainCharacter PublicDomainCharacters]], this game is probably the closest thing to a video game version of ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' that we'll ever get.
** Gameplay-wise, it's the closest westerners will ever get to another ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' outside of {{FanTranslation}}s.

** ...[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Ike]], who is generally considered to be the worst {{amiibo}} unit, and worst character, in the game. His ranged attack does only 5 damage (not quite as bad as it sounds, as it's pretty long range and hits most enemies three to four times, but that's still 15 to 20 damage in a game where cheaper attacks regularly do around 50), his melee attack (which is problematic to begin with since unlike Marth he has to watch out for overwatch attacks) causes knockback (making it cost an absurd amount of steam to simply do two attacks to the same enemy), he cannot do Overwatch attacks(something even Marth with no ranged attacks at all can do if an enemy, say, coming around a corner, wanders close enough), and like the other [[GuestFighter amiibo characters]], he doesn't have a better boiler or better subweapons that he can use and can't revive mid-battle.

* SpiritualLicensee: