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is ok but not great

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: September 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game looks good and has a solid them. But is difficult to follow and is poorly lit. The addition of an IFF radar would be a big help. I bought it and played for a few hours but after that it just collects dust.

Thoroughly trained in English but all I can say is "Eh..."

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have been piloting 100-ton "Mechs" in fictitious environments for over a decade. I began playing Battletech on a ~50 Mhz Pentium in a "lush" 16-color setting.

Since then I have customized and outfitted hundreds of mechs within every title of the "Mechwarrior" mech-combat series. I know the intricasies of mechanized combat.

And yet still all I can say about Chromehounds is "Eh." The mechs are OK, the graphics are OK, the gameplay is OK, the options are OK... It's all just... ..."Eh!"

Chromehounds leaves the player to pretty much "figure it out." The instruction manual skims over a little bit of everything. It's up to you to realize that the mech you build in single player is different from the mech you build online. It's also up to you to learn that each country involved in the fictitious "Neroimus War" have their own parts, and to own all the parts, you must at some point participate in the online war from each country's angle. It's also up to you to learn just what the various parts can (or mostly can't) do. It's up to you to learn things like how to tell which of the three enemy Headquarters you must destroy (hint: it's the one with the enemy's flag painted on the side walls.) It's up to you to figure out how to design a mech, and how to deal with all of the frustrating menus and the inability to move various parts without first deleting them and then reinstalling them elsewhere.

Simply put, I've logged over 20 hours into this game and still don't feel like I understand it. The online Neroimus War seems like it has amazing potential, but if it really does, I can't figure out how to exploit it! I see other online members donating money in increments of ten million dollars, yet I have no idea what the purpose of doing so is except to earn an Xbox 360 achievement. We elected a president, but I don't know what this fictitious character's purpose is.

The quality of Chromehounds relies solely on the people you play with or against over the Xbox Live service. I joined a squad (a requirement to engage in the war) and was hopeful as one member online explained to me the roles of the other [human] members. A few days later when we were all online together, I quickly realized that I was surrounded by high school kids who had no concept of organized, strategic combat as one member raved about how "cool" we all looked with matching camouflage. I shot him.

Will you like Chromehounds? Well, are you a do-it-yourself, mercenary-minded mech combat guru looking for the "next big thing?" Probably not. Are you looking for a new twist in team combat and only enjoy playing online? Probably - for a little bit at least. You'll learn quickly that the game gets repetitive even online, and that you make the same amount of money whether you're going 6-on-6 against other human competitors, or 1-on-1 against a computer-controlled AI opponent. The effect on the tide of the war is the same in those conditions as well.

Lastly, those looking for some quick Xbox 360 achievements - keep looking. 20 Hours in the game has earned me around 100 points. Many of the remaining achievements are based on very long-term goals such as deploying on 300 missions, traveling 100,000 miles, or unique accomplishments such as destroying a number of headquarters without engaging the enemy, capturing a number of radio towers, etc. They come merely with massive repetition, and a boatload of boredom to boot.

Extra note: The online issues that plagued Chromehounds from start have apparently been resolved. I purchased the game in April of 2008 and with the exception of a few day-long breaks in play for server upgrades, have had no issues with the online portions of Chromehounds. No crashes, no freezing, and knock-on-wood, no "Rings of Death"

Chromehounds overall performance

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is fun but I hate how the server is down all the time.

Online is awesome but the campaign is more like a chore

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The campaign is really just one big training level, it has its own little story line for each type of Hound. But you really don't even need to use the specified Hound type to beat their corresponding levels. I ended up just using one hound to beat every level once I got enough parts.

The campaign is basically the essence of repetitiveness. Even the story line seemed repetitive. Like my title says, once you learn how to play, it really is just a chore required to get some parts for your Hound.

However online play is awesome, you first chose a country from the campaign to fight for. Then you just join or create a squad of people to play with since this is a team oriented game. Each country has parts you can buy that are specific to that county's main strategy. For example Morskoj's prefer heavy armor and powerful weapons, so most of the parts they sell will be giant armor plates and uber cannons.

To get the money to buy parts you must fight battles against either computer opponents or other people. Although you will rank up faster if you are fighting other people. The battles can range from 2 to 12 people.

The online play alone makes it worth it to buy this game. If you don't have Xbox live I suggest you don't get this game, the campaign is painfull.

Great, if overlooked Xbox 360 Mech sim

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

To be completely honest, I Purchased this game because I loved the Mech Warrior games. Seeing as this was the closest thing to those games on the 360, I decided to give it a shot.

I personally enjoyed this game quite a bit, though it has a pretty steep difficulty curve. If you have played any of the Mech Warrior games this should not be too different for you. The gameplay is basically the same, though slower than the Mech Warrior series. You basically play a mercenary mech (or HOUND in chromehounds) pilot for three different nations in the game's storyline (which takes place in an alternate reality 2006). The story itself is pretty sparse, though what there is is pretty interesting.

Graphics-wise this game is about on-par with most Xbox 360 games. The mech models are pretty well done but the rest of the game looks pretty boring and average.

The online component of Chromehounds is (from what i have heard, as i have not yet tried it) apparently very good. Basically you join a nation (through different campaigns) and fight for it against players of other nations, gaining money to upgrade your mech, etc. From what I understand (again I have not played the online component of the game yet) the only drawback is that there are not many people playing this game anymore online (which is to be expected for a game that came out in 2006).

Overall I would say that this game would be worth it for anyone who liked the classic Mech Warrior series, or anyone who wants to blow things up with a giant mech!

My Ratings: (out of 10, with 10 being the highest)

Gameplay: 8.0 (controls could be tighter and can be slow, but overall fun)
Graphics: 7.5 (Average except for mech models, which are nicely detailed)
Audio: 6.5 (completely average and repetitive, save a song or two)
replayablilty: 9.0 (multiplayer is why this rating is as high as it is)
Story: 7.5 (not really that much, but what there is is interesting)

Final Score: 7.3 (Fun if you like these types of games, though you might be put off by the slow pace of this game)

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