Today, I’ll be reviewing Chromehounds for the Xbox 360.

Chromehounds is a game about giant robots. You are a mercenary, hired to blow the hell out of other giant robots. There are 3 different factions. I don’t really care what they’re called.

You work for one or the other, depending on your “class” of robot. The classes are: Soldier, which is the basic combat unit, Sniper, which is…well…a sniper, Defenders, which are the damage takers, Scouts, which are the speedy guys, Heavy Gunners, which are just moble howitzers, and the Tactical Commander class, which is the “information specialist.” The game tries to make each class different, but they really just differ in ways of blowing stuff up.

The gameplay is pretty solid, and you can tell that it was worked on the most, although it can get repetitive and difficult at times. At the begining, you’ll most likely have to take out a small group of enemies, whose location is told to you by one of the NPCs, via coordinates on your map.

As the game progresses, you’ll have to take out larger groups of enemies, take out bases, and defend your allies. The main appeal of the game is the fact that you get to blow up so much stuff. There are at least 50 enemies in each level, and very few allies, so you get to kill a lot of enemies. There is also a cool story for each nation, usually involved with terrorists or one of the other nations, and it can actually get pretty interesting if you bother to listen. Finally, each faction has a leader type guy, who basically gives you info, and always has a fun accent, such as Russian.  Also, the game can be played online, and on teams, so you can experiment with what class works with what class, and have fun blowing up people from around the world.

The sound aspect is very good, so there’s not really much to say about it. Everything sounds realistic, voices come through well, and everything matches up well with events, including footfalls, which I find is a problem with a lot of games.

The graphics are also good, although the game can be too dark at times, while at other times there is too much bloom. Everything looks realistic, aside from lighting, and the game is generally nice to look at, save the fact that the landscape can sometimes be bleak and generic.

The largest problem is that the large bloom effect makes it hard to see very far. This is bad for classes like Snipers or Heavy Gunners. Turning down the brightness on your TV helps, but really, that shouldn’t need to be done.

Finally, the value is good, seeing as each class has a seperate storyline, and you can experiment with creating custom robots. The game can last anywhere between 10 and 15 hours, depending on difficulty, and if you use cutom made robots. Finally, the online multiplayer allows for a lot more playability, if you don’t mind listening to those idiots on Xbox live treating the game like a life-or-death situation.

Overall, Chromehounds is a very good game, but it could be much better, if given some more time in development.