Chromehounds is Sega’s foray into the ‘Mech genre, a squad-based tactical shooter for Xbox 360 that borrows the good stuff from several other games. Chromehounds, however, looks to provide a balance that previous games in the genre lacked. As a fan of Steel Battalion but not MechAssault, I looked upon this goal with a somewhat-cynical view. The good news is that if everything turns out as it seemed when we last got our hands on it, Chromehounds just could be the ‘Mech game for the masses.
The story is one of the usual apocalyptic future, with the game set 20 years after WWIII and in a world divided into three factions, the Democratic Republic of Tarakia, the Republic of Morskoj and the Kingdom of Sal Kar. In the very beginning you’ll join one these factions and head out to the battlefield, where your goal, of course, is to try to turn the tide of battle. I’m going to go out on a limb here and judge the single-player experience to not be as good as the online play.
In the single-player mode, we see a lot of the things that have gone before Chromehounds: a third-person, over-the-shoulder view; a disappointing first-person view that consists of a basic scope view (read: crosshairs and not much else), and not much in the way of a HUD. The main thing is that it doesn’t convey the sense of mass or size of your ‘Mech. True, everything is in scale, so you have tiny troops trying to bring you down that you can stomp with your feet, but none of this really brings about the sense of realism that Steel Battalion brought to the table. Playing it, I’ll admit it looks pretty nice, and the intro is an amazing cutscene, but I still can’t help feeling like it’s MechAssault in a nice shiny wrapper.
That feeling is only heightened with the three weapons on your ‘Mech: the usual rocket type, a special type and a trusty machine gun that you can fall back on when you’ve run out of ammo for everything else. Buildings are destructible, as are the various trucks and radio towers, but much like Microsoft’s ‘Mech game, the single-player mode of Chromehounds is merely going to be training for the online play.
In a nod to Steel Battalion: Line Of Contact, the online battlefield in Chromehounds is persistent, meaning that if your faction was winning and gaining ground when you went to bed, things could be very different the next time you login. This was one of the best things about Steel Battalion: Line Of Contact, when you could actually contact to it, so we’re eager to see it again in Chromehounds. With more than 80 maps, squads of up to 20 players and the ability to take to the field in clans of six, Chromehounds online should be a hell of lot of fun.
The game’s mass amount of customization also carries over to the online modes, with 1,000 parts and millions of combinations therein by which you can outfit your ‘Mech a la Front Mission. However, the customization depends upon the main chip you’re carrying, and the weight restrictions of certain weapons will limit certain combinations until you get around to upgrading said chip. As a nod to user-customization, Sega has made the medals you earn in Chromehounds’ various campaigns fully wearable, so if you spot someone wearing five sniper-kill medals, it may be a good idea to stay out of his way. Although these aren’t all that effective in practice, they are a great complement to the hundreds of colors and emblems with which you can trick-out your ‘Mech.
Chromehounds is due out soon, so if customization and intense online ‘Mech action sound like your cup of tea, the wait is almost over for you to get your fill of Sega’s vision of the ‘Mech genre. If what we’ve played is any indication of the final version on its way to stores, ‘Mech fans are in for quite a treat, so long as they like to play online.
— Phillip Vollmer
