I don't know my complete feelings about Chromehounds. My desire to play waxed and waned throughout the games 42 missions. I've heard the online multiplayer has some value to it, but if you know me, you know how far my desire for online multiplayer goes. Not far.
Chromehounds is a mech shooter with very limited customization, and unfortunately is a game containing a plot with so many characters, countries and governments that I really stopped caring about the story and plot behind each mission, fighting for the different nations. The campaign mode is divided into 6 storylines. You are a mercenary that pilots a mech outfitted in each of the mech's six equipment schemes or RT (Role Type) in each set of missions. There are heavy gunners, snipers, defenders, commanders, scouts, and soldiers. The objectives change with each type of HOUND as your role in the group is different. The Heavy Gunner missions are an excellent change of pace from the all out Soldier assaults. They are
Experience close
range firefights with the Soldier RT.
Heavy Gunner is good for assaulting structures.
considered "hard" difficulty and kind of come out to something like a game of Qbasic "Gorillas." You see enemies from a distance and have high powered, explosive, lobbed weapons to try and hit enemies from incredible distances before they get close. Sniper missions leave you in cover trying to pick off enemies with a long ranged rifle. Defender missions give you a super slow powerhouse, left most often times the last line of defense preventing destruction of allied resources. Scout missions provide hit and run situations as well as a bit of stealth. The Commander missions have you being the tactical commander ordering your team to different locations on the map to perform various tasks.
You can perform each task with a "Borrowed HOUND." As you clear each mission, you are given a ranking based on contextual criteria and rewarded with spare parts accordingly, to construct your own HOUND for play.
You have damage meters for each part of your HOUND. As you take a damage and the bar decreases your parts will begin sparking and eventually catch on fire and rendering them useless. If you're having trouble with enemies getting by you, aim for the legs first, or shoot their weapons to disable a heavy gunner that is approaching.
Complaints. The game feels really slow. The Scout HOUND moves the quickest and it still feels like a crawl at times. Reload time on some guns seems an eternity as well, removing any hope of fast-paced action. What there is of landscapes and vehicle models are good, but there seems to be an overall lack of detail. If it weren't for the clarity of the existing detail, I would almost say this game doesn't provide anything graphically that last generation did not.
My
only beef with play control is since your top moves independently from
your legs, at some angles getting things turned around seems a little
awkward. Especially when zoomed in trying to make a long range shot and
needing to dodge fire.
Use the Scout
for a decoy and to keep communication flowing.
You only get
handfuls of parts from missions providing little customization.
I
think most achievements for this game come from online matches, so I'm
sitting at just a couple hundred for this game, for finishing each story
arc for each RT.
I
guess really the only thing I can think of to compare this too is the
Armored Core series. In contrast to it, there is very limited mech customization,
too strict of a story arc, and the entire game seems to take place at
half the speed. I can appreciate the attempted integration of strategy,
but would almost need some sort of player controlled squad to fully achieve
this intention, maybe allowing you to jump from mech to mech with the
push of a button. But as a fan of Armored Core for my third-person perspective
mech games, I'm not itching for a Chromehounds 2, I hope Sega doesn't
get the idea.