Score
Gameplay:	8
Graphics:	8
Sound:	6
FunFactor:	7
PlasmaFactor:	9
Overall:	7.6

Chromehounds Review
July 17, 2007 by Phil Carpenter

Your squad is demolished, leaving you to face the remaining opposition alone. The first is barreling toward you as you can hear the thunder of his cannons and the hiss of a swarm of rockets headed your way. Judging by the explosions creating craters around you, the other is a heavy gunner just beyond that ridge, raining death down all around you. First, you need to take care of the soldier in front of you. Quickly switching to your shotguns, you unload directly into his cockpit. The explosion is satisfying, and lets you know he is finished. Now it’s time to deal with the big one... Welcome to Chromehounds.

Rockets and Missiles and Cannons, oh my!

 

Chromehounds, published by Sega and developed From Software is a mech combat game set on an alternate Earth. Solar flares have had a dramatic increase, which has disrupted radio communications worldwide and thrown most of the world into conflict and anarchy. The governments of several nations are toppling in the chaos. Wars have broken out all over the world, and the weapons of choice have become Hounds, huge mech-like war machines. Hounds are more akin to hyper advanced custom tanks than to the humanoid mecha anime style machines.

Chromehounds centers on a region known as Neroimus. There are three nations vying for power in the region; The Democratic Republic of Tarakia, The Kingdom of Sal Kar, and the Republic of Morskoj. Tarakia has a Western European/American feel to it, Morskoj resembles the former Soviet Union, and Sal Kar mirrors a Middle Eastern nation. There’s another player working behind the scenes, it is Rafzakael, a society of arms producers. They have deployed their own private army to various fronts in the region. They deal with all three sides, trying to control the market and further its sales.

The gameplay of Chromehounds is exciting and entertaining. Battles can vary from frenetic firefights to tactical and disciplined, depending on the hounds involved. There are six types of roles a hound can perform: Sniper, Soldier, Heavy Gunner, Defender, Scout, and Commander. Soldiers are your frontline assault fighters. They are equipped with decent armor and weapons, but are also maneuverable. Snipers deal precise death from long range. Scouts are light and speedy. Their primary use is to go ahead and locate the enemy. They can also take control of the network towers to make sure our squad can communicate. The Heavy Gunner is artillery carrying massive firepower that bombards the enemy from afar. Defenders are similar to soldiers, but they are generally more heavily armed and armored. The Commander creates its own network, and can locate and relay positions of all players within the communications network and therefore can direct the squad to the best positions to fight.

You build your hound in the garage. There are six types of chassis available; this is the base from which you will build you juggernauts. The types of chassis are: bipedal (normal legs), inverse (legs with backward knees), tracked (tank tread), hovercraft, wheeled, and Multilegged (four legs). Your chassis choice determines how much weight in parts you can carry, how fast you are, and how stable you are when firing. For example, a light chassis with heavy cannons will have its aim thrown off by the recoil, and will have to readjust aim drastically between shots.

Building hounds is great fun, and isn’t bogged down in micromanaging like some have complained of the armored core series. Pick a chassis, pick a cockpit, slap on a generator and then you’re ready to put on you weapons, armor and support parts like night or thermal vision sensors, extra armor, etc. As you are assembling your hound, there is a running stat board visible so you know if a part will make you hound too heavy. It will also tell you if you have enough power, top speed, durability, and so on. There is a huge selection of parts, so it is rare to see the same exact build twice. Here you can also change the look of you hound, with different paint schemes, decals, and colors. Then you just set your weapon groups, and you’re ready to rock and roll.

The meat of Chromehounds, of course, is the battles. The game holds huge number of maps, and the variety is great. The diverse maps range from rural farmlands, artic mountains, arid deserts, and harbor cities. There are several maps to each type, so the matches stay fresh through all of your battles. The standard game mode has several win conditions. You can destroy the enemy’s headquarters, eradicate all of the opposing hounds, and if time does elapse, the winner is determined by the squad who controls the most network towers. These are the conditions used in the offline campaign, and also in the "Neroimus War", the persistent online campaign. There are several game types available to play in the free battle area online, such as capture the flag, deathmatch, survival, unlimited (deathmatch w/ unlimited ammo), and Combas keeper, where you get points by capturing and holding network towers. There is also keep the flag, kind of a reverse capture the flag, where the flag is in the center of the map and you have to return it to your base and keep it there to get points.

The offline campaign mode is the weak point of the game. It is slow going as you trudge through the story missions, skirmishing against AI opponents that give you only minimal resistance as you go through the flimsy story. The voice work is passable, and the missions are simple but never really draw you into the story. Basically you are a mercenary fighting for the various nations. You travel with a squad from that nation and fight against the other nations. I just never felt compelled by anything happening in the story. The only reason I can think of to play through the story is to get the achievement points for completing the various parts of the campaign mode.

 

This war is too pretty!

 

The visuals in Chromehounds are pretty standard fare for what you would expect from a next-gen game. The frame rate stays consistent and smooth through just about all the action, only slowing occasionally. The hounds are modeled very well, and reflect exactly what parts you used to build your hound. Weapon effects are impressive, and the explosions and fire generated by your weapons are impressive. The maps are beautiful and well done, with weather effects that are awesome. If it is raining or snowing you can see rain drops and snow flurries stuck on the lenses of your gun cameras. All in all very well done, not groundbreaking, but definitely a solid next-gen game graphically.

 

Boom! Uh oh, what exploded?

The sound in Chromehounds is decent, not overly impressive, but not horrible. The weapon effects are well done, explosions sound good, and the movement sounds are fair. The music is bland, and gets annoying quickly. The voice acting is tolerable, every voice actor sounding slightly disinterested in what is happening. Overall, the audio brings nothing outstanding, it’s just acceptable.

When are explosions not fun?

Chromehounds is extremely fun, and is very replayable, due to the Neroimus War and free battles available online. Building your hounds and charging into battle is awesome. Even just spending some time building different hounds is enjoyable, with the multitude of parts and configurations available. The battles are a blast, the maps being the right size for the battles, large enough to not be crowded, but small enough that you aren’t searching forever for someone to shoot at. The hounds control very well, and the controller layout is intuitive. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and destroying enemy hounds is extremely gratifying. The campaign mode is weak, but the online game is outstanding.

There is no "I" in team!

The Xbox live mode is Chromehounds’ saving grace. There are two options available online, free battle and the Neroimus War. The Neroimus War is a persistent battle between the three nations, battling for control of the region. You choose a side, and can either fight alone or you can either join or start a squad. This is one of the best aspects of the game, battling alongside your squad, expanding the territory of your nation. The faction you choose determines the selection of parts available for you to purchase, and you can also trade with other members of your squad for parts. The online servers are robust, and can handle up to 12 players per match, and there is rarely any lag. Being part of a squad and fighting against either bots or live players is awesome, and makes the game worth purchasing.

 

Let loose the hounds of war!

Overall, I would recommend Chromehounds to anyone with an Xbox live subscription. If you don’t play online, I wouldn’t make the purchase, the campaign mode is disappointing. If you play online though, the game is excellent and well worth a purchase. Also, right now the game is available for less than $40.00 in most places, making it a great deal for anyone playing online.