Review: Chromehounds (360)

Chromehounds is one of those games that will appeal instantly to the type of gamer who likes From Software's other mech series, Armored Core. It too allows you to massively customise your giant walking tank in almost any way you see fit;however, anyone not familiar with that particular franchise may start hankering for the arcade thrills of the Mech Assault series, rather than this simulator. Chromehounds isn't a horrible game, per se, it's just very slow-paced and perhaps not suited to the majority of the Xbox 360's fan base - that is to say the 14-30 year old racist swear-mongers who rarely venture outside of Halo 3 and demand instant gratification.

"Slow-paced" describes Chromehounds to a tee, really. The single-player campaign features the player taking on the role of a non-entity named the Mercenary, who just fights for whoever is paying him (though, throughout the campaign, you only seem to support Tarakia). As the Mercenary, you have six very short campaigns to go through, which differ depending on the type of mech (Soldier, Sniper, Defender, Scout, Heavy Gunner, and Tactics Commander). Each campaign features missions that are designed specifically for that particular type of mech; for example, the Soldier campaign features straight up 'run-in-and-kill-everything' battles, while the Heavy Gunner campaign mostly features missions supporting other classes by taking out bases and enemies at long distance with the massive cannons strapped to their chassis. Each campaign and mech is different enough from the others so that the missions don't feel too samey, which is mostly due to the fact there's only seven missions for each.

However, the main problem with the campaign comes from the quasi-realism of the vehicles themselves. The thing that most sci-fi games fail to address is that mechs are very big, very heavy, and legs generally don't work as well as wheels for carting big heavy loads around uneven terrain at anything approaching a decent speed. Most games get away with it by pretty much saying "sod the bloody physics" and get on with creating big robots with big guns making big explosions at a velocity most sports cars can barely dream of. Chromehounds, however, is quasi-realistic in the fact that, yes, you are driving around in a walking tank, but there are people on foot accelerating away from you at a brisk jog. The big lumbering mechs are quite slow - even the relatively nippy Scout class - and because of this, you'll spend a good amount of the game walking to your objective before you actually get to shoot anything. When you get into a fight with another mech, there's not that much point in manoeuvring unless your opponent's class has a slower turning circle than your movement.

The single-player game suffers slightly because of the mech's nature and the lone wolf gameplay, but taking Chromehounds online improves matters significantly. A completely team-based affair, players select one of three hostile nations in the Neroimus War (the same war from the single-player game) and are tasked with defending that nation's territory, as well as attacking the other nations. Similar in concept to Mech Assault 2 on the original Xbox Live, it means there's a constant shifting of power between the three nations, and it works well with the nature of the game. After allying yourself with a nation, starting a game with a like-minded squad and selecting a default mech (or one you have constructed yourself), you're dropped into the battle. Picking the right type of mech for the game's objectives is very important; while it is usually just a case of destroying the enemy, the online game becomes far more tactical in nature. Commander mechs rule the online mode, gathering data on the battle and trying their best to mount a successful strategy, using scouts to survey the battlefield, dispatching soldier mechs to the front lines and letting the artillery know where to strike. Successful missions online lead to earning money, which can be spent in the game's store to buy new weapons and upgrades for your mech; so working as a team is worth it, as you will lose quickly and lose your funds if your team is disorganized.

Chromehounds is an excellent online game, but the single-player suffers because of it, making it no use for anyone without a Gold Live account. Also, at the time of writing, there doesn't seem to be the thriving community there once was - thanks to Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, no doubt. Still, there are always a few games going for anyone who wants to take part in a more tactical game than the current kings of Live.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Garry Webber