Chromehounds

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on July 28, 2006

Review: Giant robots mean giant fun Ц but not for everyone.

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Begun, the Neroimus War has

To put it frankly, if you don't have an Xbox Live Gold account, don't bother with this game because multiplayer is where the fun really shines through. Like Battlefield and Unreal Tournament, this is a game made for online play.

Up to 12 players can engage in several gamemodes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Keep the Flag (a Уkeep awayФ game), Survival (last man standing) and COMBAS Keeper (hold the most COMBAS towers the longest). There are over 100 maps in snow, desert, grasslands and urban areas, though many are just slight variations of each other. The pace is slow and tactical, and unless you have a Tactics Commander, you will spend most of your time looking for each other on the huge maps. It's a heck of a lot more enjoyable than the single player but isn't really anything special.

This is why the persistent Neroimus War is so important for this game; without it, Chromehounds would be completely forgettable. Similar to the persistent worlds in MMORPGs, the Neroimus War pits the three nations against one another for regional supremacy and is surprisingly deep.

When you first sign into Xbox Live, you are asked to affiliate yourself with a country, each of which offers weapons and technology with various benefits and shortcomings: Morskoj has the strongest armor and weapons, but at the cost of weight and speed; Sal Kar offers high tech parts and fast Hounds, but with weaker weapons and armor; and Tarakia is balanced between the two. Overall, the weapons and technology are very well balanced with no side having a real distinct advantage over the other.

You must then either create or join a squad to fight in the war. Squads can range from one to 20 people but only up to six squad members can participate in a single specific battle at a time, although other squad members can enter different battles. You can fight against real people or the computer AI Ц which unlike single player is a lot smarter and tougher with real armor (not that wimpy paper-thin crap), powerful weaponry and unique Hound designs.

The Neroimus map is divided into 22 different regions which are in turn divided into several towns. You can fight in any region adjacent to one in which your country has a foothold. Each battle earns or loses a small amount of УCapture PointsФ for your country, with the country earning the maximum points winning that region. You defeat a country by capturing their capital city, but defeated players can still fight a Уguerilla warФ to try and resurrect their nation. Capture both opponents' capitals and your nation wins the war.

Simply put, the Neroimus War is an absolute blast. Yes, you still have to put up with the same slow gameplay but the feeling that you're fighting for Уyour countryФ and the emphasis on teamwork really adds to the experience. Teamwork is absolutely vital to victory, requiring a good mix of RTs, smart tactics and constant communication. This is where the Tactics Commander is especially important as he or she is the only one capable of detecting enemy locations and coordinating team movements via a bird's eye view.

Battles lack the ferocity of a FPS but are no less intense. The first few moments are relatively quiet as you take tactical positions and capture COMBAS towers but once the enemy is spotted, the bullets start flying. Going off on your own may work in MechAssault but will quickly get you killed in Chromehounds. Rather, coordinated attacks with your smaller Hounds circle strafing in close with machine guns while your heavier Hounds pound away with howitzers and your Snipers dial in the long distance hurt is a thing of beauty. Since there are very few weapons with homing abilities, hitting your target at distance is all about skill which makes each kill that much sweeter.

You win by either killing all enemies or destroying their base, which is protected by automated turrets and drones. With each victory you earn cash to buy new parts that are only available online, but before you start filling out your shopping list you must pay for any damage along with the fuel and ammo you used. If you lose, you get no cash and these expenses are deducted from your account. Fortunately, your expenses Ц even if your Hound is destroyed Ц are relatively low compared to your winnings so you can accumulate a hefty sum fairly quickly.

Even so, parts are the real currency of the game. Every player wants that one key part to make their Hound better, and obtaining it can be as simple as buying it from your country's supply depot or by entering special lotteries for captured or experimental parts. You can even trade parts with your fellow countrymen.

The Neroimus War is surprisingly addicting as you find yourself constantly checking the war map to see where the key conflicts are (indicated by flames surrounding the regional markers), browsing through the supply depot and lottery for new parts, and of course tinkering away in the Garage. Combine that with the 49 Xbox Live Achievement medals you can earn and hidden surprises (like the recently revealed УSuper WeaponsФ) and the game does an excellent job of sucking countless hours out of your life.

As fun as the Neroimus War is, the annoying little issues still exist Ц like being forced to scroll through constant news updates that you can't skip through, which wastes several irritating minutes before you can actually join a game. Your teammates' names don't appear above their Hounds so accidental friendly fire is inevitable due to the confusion of determining friend from foe Ц but oddly, your teammates' names are present in the other non-War gamemodes.

For the most part, games are relatively lag free but there are performance issues like dropped connections or the inability to get into a game at all. European and Japanese gamers had to endure some very serious connection issues early on but to Sega's credit, they are working hard to resolve the problems as quickly as they can.