Chromehounds

"Kicking the crap out of people with 3 story robots? Been done."

Yep. Just another mech game. You know, big robots with huge guns shooting each other up until they explode in a huge fireball? Been done. Mech Warrior and Armored Core are some examples. But this game has one difference:

This game is EXCELLENT!

I personally never really liked Armored Core and Mech Warrior declined exponentially with each game made (Lone Wolf gave my Xbox herpes) and IMO, the only other good mech game was Phantom Crash, a little known mech game from Xbox 1's younger days. Hell I don't even like Rock em Sock em Robots...

But this game, wow. It takes mech fighting to the next level. But it's crunch time: Here's how it breaks down:

Gameplay

Oh ya. THIS is what you buy a game for. the gameplay. The first aspect is the building. Unlike Mech Assault/Warrior, this game is about building your killing machine as well as using it. Basically, you start with a chassis. these range from legs to wheels to treads and more. Then you pick a cockpit (shooting the cockpit is like a headshot without the instant kill, for you FPS maniacs) and load it up with the rest. Most likely you will need a generator, and then you add the guns, assuming you will be using them (guns are not mandatory, some times it's better to leave them at home). and anything else you want like night vision or armor plating.

Sounds pretty strait forward, but you will spend a whole lotta time formulating the perfect mech for you (unless you're one of those unskilled guys who build whatever recently killed him and uses that). And usually the design you saw on paper will not work like you forsaw. But that's the fun of the game :)

Then there is the actual combat. You usually got 2 choices: kill the mechs, or destroy the base. Whichever you pick will usually depend on the game at hand as no 2 games are alike. Mech to mech combat varies GREATLY depending on each mech's setup and as such some mechs will rip you apart wile others will prove harmless. I can't really explain the gameplay, go rent it and try it yourself.

Rating: 10

Graphics

Kicks the crap out of Oblivion. Nuff said.

But hell this is a review so I will go into a little detail. The graphics are simply breathtaking. The detail on the mechs alone is astounding. If you zoom in on something up close to see the detail, you'll understand that they come close to the detail featured in the opening video.

Rating: 10

Singleplayer

This is where the game hits a bump. This is an online oriented game, and as such the story mode is thin and painfully strait forward. However you can get some good parts out of it for multi and it generally acts as a large tutorial for online.

Rating: 6

Multiplayer

I love this online. It has the general setup (games of stuff like deathmatch, capture the flag, etc) as a side dish, and the War. A global war that is fought by everyone at the same time with breaks down into ares, then into maps, where people ogranize squads to launch an attack there. The War is amazing. They are supposed to last many days but Sega is still working the bugs out of this (some wars last a couple hours, others weeks as they make their changes). Plus the online gameplay is addictive. But there is a downside: the online isn't exactly stable and not of the best setup. When everyone is waiting to start, you cannot talk to each other nor can you kick someone who may be a doorknob and knot know how to ready up. If ANYTHING goes wrong you gotta go back to lobby or main title. For people with slower connections, online will be frustrating as you will be plagued with "Obstacles Communicating", which is fancy talk for "you just timed out". Finally, there is no offline multiplayer in this day and age of online gaming.

So online is amazing, but not for the weak of brandwich or the lack of patience.

Rating: 9

Overall

One of the best games this summer. If you are into action, flexible gameplay, and Xbox LIVE, pick this up and try it out. Otherwise, Avoid this. Your call!

Rating: 8.75

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/06