The game sports good voice acting. Hearing your Hound walk is incredible, along with the weapons that it carries. Machine gun fire pops robustly and high powered weapons such as bazookas and sniper rifles feature that incredible BOOM followed by an echo. Your Hound will also make different sounds according to whether or not you have wheels, legs, or tracks equipped.
Controls work seamlessly with the HUD. You are able to use a third person view that has a ‘picture in picture’ screen and allows you to aim without having to enter the first person view, although if you want extreme precision then first person is the way to go. During play simply tap he right bumper to rotate through your weapon slots. This makes it so much easier than obtrusive pop-up menus you have to sift through. The same also goes for your assist parts, only you use the left bumper instead. If you need to know your units HP then hitting the Y button will bring up current Hound temperatures, health, etc. as well as a map of the area with locations of comm. Towers and your Hound.
The sole reason you should truly buy Chromehounds is if you have Xbox LIVE. Fighting in the Neroimus War has you participating in an online campaign mode that takes place in a persistent world. You can build a squad of up to twenty players, but as a word of warning you better make sure your squad is balanced and that everyone has gone through the story mode school of hard knocks. You’ll constantly be battling for land until two of the three powers are no more. Winning battles earns you much needed funds and parts that are needed to tweak your Hound to perfection, along with upgrading your buddies’ Hounds. If maybe the online Campaign mode isn’t for you then there’s plenty of Free Battle for the taking. This includes the normal Capture the Flag, Death Match, Survival, and many more match types.
If you can get past the frustrating aspects of the game there is a decent sized portion of content offline. The real meat and potatoes though come with Xbox LIVE which will offer up countless hours of play as long as you have a few dedicated friends to enjoy it with.
Final Word
While the first Mech title for the 360 isn’t exactly incredible, it does set a standard for online play that will only better with age. The story mode is only going to keep you entertained for so long, and to simply put it Chromehounds isn’t worth the money if you don’t have Xbox LIVE, however it’s definitely qualifies for a solid rental.
