Chromehounds

"Great, but not for Everyone"

On almost every system I buy, I plan to purchase a large game featuring fighting robots or mechs or anything of the sort. When I saw Chromehounds come out for the XBox 360, I realized this was the one to buy for the system. A realistic "mech" game that relies more on your ability to work together with forces (human or CPU) and accomplish your goals.

Story
Ok, no game needs to have an amazing story to be amazing, and Chromehounds proves it. The story focuses around three nations, and does a great job pushing the history of the game. But I personally didn't pay attention to the story at all. Something about being a mercenary helping a lot of people work out some problems. I don't really know anything else. It's more important to learn from each scenario how each type works and what its advantages are.

Controls
Standard shooter controls, just with a more mechanized feel. Some of the base movement parts (legs, hover, wheels, tread, etc.) are clunky, but you are mostly able to control the hound really well. The weapons after you set them up properly are easy to use and switch between. Other controls such as checking the map or giving commands are somewhat weird to use on the controller, but aren't always the most important. Overall, you are able to control your hound easily and fight efficiently.

Depth
When you start the first tutorial match, you have no clue what to do in some ways. You're given the huge robot with weapons, but you don't know what it means or does. In the first few training missions, you only begin to see what you are able to do. After you finally begin to play the game and full story, you begin to see the full potential of the game. You can make a hound able to fit any of the specifications. You can create an all out weapon blast to cripple you opponent or you can set up a fast quick-reload onslaught to wear-down the opponent. As you unlock more parts you continue to make adjustments to have the perfect combination of speed, defense, and firepower.

Online
Although the story is functional and can take up a lot of time to perfect each mission to an S rank, the online play keeps you coming back. The war you participate in constantly resets and allows you to try the war from any side mentioned in the main story (any of the 3 nations). There are other parts available online, and you can download part packs from the Live Marketplace to try even more new ideas. The free or ranked matches for more casual players gives them the opportunity to work up to the level of the best. Similar to Halo 2, you will fight people within your own rank area to some degree.
In addition, the team aspect of the matches makes for an even better experience. As you venture over the terrain, you carefully work towards killing your opponents. It is more important to gain some parts from the story mode before fighting online, but after only finishing less than half of the missions, I have enough parts to get by in online mode.

Longevity
After beating one campaign completely, I still have a long way to go before I am done this game. The online also makes it easy to want to play matches for hours with the variety you can see. The ability to try new strategies and Hounds makes each fight completely different and worth playing.

Building a Hound
The first hound you use is provided for you and almost any one you use can be pre-created for you by the game. Online, it takes some time to get used to, but eventually it becomes a simple process of just adding pieces you want. In my first build, realizing that oyu had to assign the weapon system to fight a certain took a little time. If you don't assign any weapons, you will be forced to fire one weapon at a time even if that means you can't access all of your weapons. Building takes time, but once you figure it out, it becomes almost second nature to build a hound.

Overall
If you don't enjoy a truly realistic game where you sometimes are not seeing the enemy for a few minutes, this may not be for you. But if you enjoy the tactics of war, this may be the perfect game for.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/06