Chromehounds Retro Review
The Short Version: Chromehounds had a persistent online war mode where players created their own customized “battle mechs” and joined a squad of teammates to do battle for their nation. With an amazing variety of encounters, actual squad coordination and deep customization options, the online experience was amazing and highly addictive, too bad it didn’t last.
In this older Angry Joe Video I reminisce about the good old days with a game called Chromehounds. Never heard of it? That’s why I hate you. Because had this game been more successful we might have seen a sequel by now. This game however when it had first released made for some of the most fun online battles i’ve ever taken part in. Here’s my quick video blog run-down of it.
It was certainly a great game, but its odd because I cant particularly recommend it present day, you see it was primarily online based – with a persistent territory control mechanic, and now that its been over 3 years after release date – i’m sure the community is dead or at the very least not what it used to be. I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who bought it when it came out, and EFF you to those of you who ignored it.
I doubt we will ever see a Chromehounds 2 as the franchise seems to be the bastard child of From Software, not even mentioned anywhere on their website. Hopefully one day we will see something like a sequel in a different game, where we can once again do battle in a persistent online war with custom created mechs of DESTRUCTION!
Until then you can read this poorly written “quick” review.
The Review: In the future three factions wage war against each other using mechs called Hounds. As a pilot of one of these hounds you will get to construct your very own machine like a Lego set – adding components that fit your play style. Like Speed? Go with a lighter load. Like Heavy Firepower? Pack on the Big Guns. There are six different role types which include, Soldiers, Snipers, Defenders, Scouts, Heavy Gunners, and specialized Tactics Commanders. The sheer amount of parts, role types, and system devices spread out over the three sides make for some awesome variety when you actually engage with the enemy.
Once you’ve perfected your vehicle you can take into the Persistent Online War where you join one of three factions battling for control of the global map. While Chromehounds wasn’t the first game to offer this kind of persistent online experience it’s certainly among the best. What makes the experience so memorable is the pacing. Chromehounds isn’t your fast, shoot-em up where you have tenths of a second to react before you are killed – respawning miles away from the action. No, instead you are piloting a 1000 ton battlemech, therefore you can soak up alot of damage. This makes for a more strategic experience – did you get separated from your squad mates? and are now being attacked by 2 enemy hounds at once? No problem return fire, hit reverse, pull up your map to scream your coordinates to your squad mates, and while taking swigs of your beer as your jarred around inside your cockpit – chances are your buddies will arrive in time (especially if you built your mech to soak up enough damage) for a spectacular and cinematic counter-attack! The fact that you dont die in one hit (and neither does the enemy) forces you to coordinate strategies with your team-mates, and brings importance on making sure you have appropriate equipment and weapons for the task at hand.
It’s these sort of scenarios that play out at a speed that anyone can handle that setup some of the most fun gaming sessions i’ve ever had online. Few games made me feel apart of a larger war, a critical piece in an otherwise massive campaign the way Chromehounds did. At least thats what the experience was like when the game first released in 2006. I’m sure the online space is deader than hell these days, with only impossibly hard veterans scouring the barren maps for newbies that picked up the game from the bargain bin. And its a fucking shame, and the number one reason why Sega needs to bring this game back, Chromehounds 2 needs to be made. Take everything they’ve learned from the first one, add some new features and you’ve got yourself at least one happy customer for sure – me.
What you’ll Like:
• Deep and Engaging Customization of your very own Chromehound.
• An addicting Persistent Online War Mode that had you waking up in the middle of the night to see how your faction was progressing
• A massive amount of gameplay variety and replay value in the online war mode. Make no mistake this was an online game, everything good about it was found in mutiplayer online & the Mech Garage.
• Piloting a Massive mech that can soak damage allows you to coordinate attacks and work together better with squadmates.
What you’ll Hate:
• Single-Player was mainly just to unlock and familiarize yourself with the various mech classes so you can take these puppies online, but I can forgive that, this was the point of the game.
• Graphics weren’t anything special, but it sure was satisfying to see a big mech bite the dust.
• As time went on some players started building hounds that exploited the game, jerks ruined it for alot of people.
• Chromehounds was an acquired taste, with slower gameplay it’s certainly not for everyone.
Final Verdict:
8/10
Normally I’d tell you to buy it here, but its too late you asshole! You should have known about it back then. Ass.
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79 thoughts on “Chromehounds Retro Review”
What is the reason that chromehounds online server was shut down? oh and by the way did you “Fly to sega” and demand that they make a chromehounds 2? or bring back the old one? lol
but seriously… whats the reason it is shut down for?
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.
i always loved mech games like this but there are no good one out now as far as i know. i wonder how this game compares to front mission evolved or armored core.
What the fuck SEGA. Dumb asses that closed down the servers you could atleast re open them with the shitload of money you have now.
Wanna hear something funny? Playing Chromehounds online was my sole reason to subscribe to xbox live and the day I get an account, the servers were shut down… Still today, I FREAKING CURSE the guy who even PROPOSED to close the servers permanently!
BTW Joe, We are in 2010, we are still waiting for you to rush to them and force them to make Chromehounds 2. Just saying…
It honestly killed me when they shut down the servers. I had over 1500 hours on this game(62.5 days) and i still did not have enough time. The online community was very tight, everyone knew everyone. That is no exaggeration. When you joined a match, you knew where the person was from, what kind of hound they liked to use, if they were an asshole or not, and what kind of play style that liked. I wish joe would make another video about it so people would notice it and actually get upset about it so maybe SEGA would open their eyes and see that this game was infinitley better than AC.
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I wanted to add that I LOVED the pacing of the game. For once mechs felt like they had real weight, a real sense of gravity. I thought the ponderous gait of many of the mechs felt just right… and if you wanted speed, that was possible too if you built a light scouting unit. I hated the AC series because it didn’t feel much like a believable mech… more like a dude in a powersuit jumping around tiny buildings.
I also agree about the intensity of the battles because of the lack of one-hit kills (though a poorly-built ‘hound can go down in one shot with a well-placed sniper cannon shot to a weak cockpit). It felt like you really had an asset to protect, which added to the drama of it, not like a boring series of instant respawns, which sort of steals a lot of the intensity from fighting games. You build your own sweet death machine, and you have to fight to keep it from going down. I’ve never gripped the controller with such sweaty deathgrip intensity in all my gaming experience.
Chromehounds II FTW!
Disclaimer: I never played Steel Battalion, but I heard it also felt very ‘real’.
i know it’s faster but thats the point AC has a faster gameplay than chromehounds and has a more familiar mech style but hey everybody’s entitled to their own opinion but yeah chromehounds has more parts and that’s pretty awesome
I fully concur with Joe… I am dying for a sequel. This game was far better than the general press would indicate. The main reason for that is probably because most reviewers didn’t get deep enough into the game, since it take a real time commitment. It’s a deep game. It requires that you be an engineer as much as a fighter, which is one of the best things about it. And being a fighter is a multifaceted thing, since fighting style can be completely different based on what kind of hound you build… the variations are almost endless. There simply has been no game like it before or since. I love mechs and this game was pure digital crack to me. I even ran a squad and had customized graphics I designed, the whole nine yards.
It was a little rough around the edges in some respects, like the damage/death graphics and especially user interface details, symptoms of being rushed to deadline to make it a launch title, but the bones of the game were very solid.
The only way I don’t agree with Joe is that I find it unforgivable that From/Sega made *everything* worth playing online-only. The moment they turned off the servers players lost ALL their custom parts they earned, and even parts bought with real money (via marketplace points). The offline mode doesn’t give you access to any of the “real” parts, so you can’t ever again see your real hounds.
The online mode was where the real game was. The offline training mode was fine to get a grasp of the basics, and by itself is an OK game, but the real complexity and joy was online. I deeply resent that I can’t now play offline in splitscreen with friends, or via system link, or against ‘bots. It’s ridiculous. Why make sure the game is totally dead the moment they shut down the servers? That’s like buying a DVD that is only playable for a few years, then after that you can only watch the opening chapter.
I FOUND A COPY FOR 8 F*CKING DOLLARS! the second your review finished, i went out and bought a copy. 8 bucks. i built like, five or six hounds for each class. but there is the shot to the head. THE MULTIPLAYER SERVERS WERE SHUT DOWN YEARS AGO! there is no more multiplayer. i have started a topic in the froums where i talk about what i would like to see for a sequel, go look at it. but i would lved the online stuff. i might not have been the no.1 guy there, but i would have been pretty good. my best one so far is one i namer the Tiger after the WWII german tank that scared the sh*t out of oven the bravest man. big heavy cannon on top with armor-killing shells instead of HE shells, three lightly multi-rocket launchers on top and on each side of the cannon, and two MGs on each side of the cockpit that have anti-bullet and rocket shielding. ( as for the cockpit it’s the first cockpit you start out with.) it kicked ass on just about every stage. also, the store had TWO copies of it. HEY, JOE if you read this, what do i have to do in order to get it to you. if you are still missing your copy, just tell me where to send it. two oter thing i have to say. 1. the reason i didn’t buy it what it came out is i had no idea there was even a Xbox, much less a 360. i only had a gamecube. platinum edition though. 2. there are two bug i have to point out. one is where i select scrap and return, it freezes. the second one is when i leave a misson, (it mostly happens when i win it, but if i lose or quit, it has happend.) the screen goes black and it never loads back, in both situations i have to restart the 360. so, yeah, the rating still stands even though the miltiplayer is gone.
Very interesting blog post thank you for writing it I just added your site to my favorites and will be back.
I remember this game, me and my dad got this and played it online together, it was the main reason we got a second x-box for. I still remember building a reverse-bipedal with the two cannon turrets for arms and blowing people away… Ah good times…
one peice of truth i have never hear played or even searched for stuff like that but i with i had that game looks fan-fuC.king-tastick i mean it i wish i got the xbox first and online and that game if they dont make chrome hounds to i will litterely go to segas main office and say where the f.uck is chrome hounds 2 it would be the best game ever and woop modern warfares A$$ and u know it joe if you see this don’t forget about it!!!
remember what i said about battledfields loss where it chromehounds will win show clips to people get people signing come on the game must not die joe if u see this u must make another video
if u agree tell me or joe how u U the gamers fell about this gr8 game badblooddan@yahoo.co.uk
Too bad that all servers shut down in January. Chromehounds 2 definetly does need to be made. I only managed to purchase a 360 until well into 2009, and I couldn’t find the game anywhere D:
I personally LOVED Chrome Hounds. It took what was good in mech games like Armored Core and Mechwarrior threw in some Fps-ish battlefield control and Mechanics. It was a Mech lovers wet dream. Sadly anytime i ever played it there wasn’t a whole lot of people online (don’t get me wrong there was just enough, but it couldn’t compete with other games). Whats worse is the total S*** talk that revolved around the game. Tons of people bashed it while calling people that defended it “Fanboys”.
I cannot say I love this game, I think it is really average. It is worth to game but will only keep you entertained for more than a couple of weeks. I would say that you should try maplestory or Diablo 2 for a change.
Actually the chromehounds online community is still up and going. The war is decided however on a few select boosting squads instead of yuor individual contribution. Aside the fact that only the top boosting squads nation wins the war it is still a great adn fun game to play.
There is something amazing though. I have been reading posts, and just about everyone who is playing the game would willing pay to keep it going. Sadly Sega isn’t changing their minds. I don’t know who is in charge, but they really need to be replaced. I get shutting down the server sooner or later, but people love this game. With only three years under its belt, and no other game with carry on. What are people suppose to do? This is going to cause one hell of a backlash that is for sure.
I just saw this review. Late to the party, I know, but still for the short time I played this game I loved it! I was going to get back into when I saw this video. I saw it is all over though. No new game, no offline value, and the servers go down in less than a month.
Ever try Demon’s Souls? It’s another game by From Software that Atlus just brought to USA, it’s pretty fun, if your good enough to play a HARD as hell game, like really hard.
I got my xbox live account 2 years ago and really… i missed it. didint find it in a the local rental. So i buyed the game on ebay after seeing that vid… Today! For about 17 bucks with shipping. Im hoping to have fun with it for what it seems 3 month until shutdown. (hope its just a rumor) Anyway next week im getting it so if anyone still playing it Add Gamertag : oXWhiteDevilXo And were gonna have a good time scraping em up until they shut the whole shit down !
Whos With Me?
well there taking the on-line servers down in 3 months, but close enough.
God I loved this game. I got it at its release date and never regretted it. Seriously though i fcking hated those bastards who magically built super defense mecs with 8 grenade launchers. Talk about boom everything shot. Also for those who care a good commander(? was that the class?) could make the difference. The whole class is just there to be a major communication between your entire team.
Damn was it awesome, it was just a entire team effort that you needed many people of many skills to win. Not good at sniping, go close range, not good at that, become heavy artillery and use estimation to shot off huge payloads, not good at that well sit back and control the field with advanced sensing technology, hell not good at that? Join one of the many many friendly clans who would of gladly helped you become a better player.
With a great community and many ways of playing, it should of been a huge success, but it wasn’t an ultra fast bang bang… god damn counter strike fanatics.
Patience was rewarded, so was teamwork and it was easy to accomplish that even when playing with random players, beacuse of a kind community and pretty much required head set. When was the last time you played a quick play halo match and your team worked together. Let me answer that, nevaaar. Damn this game was rewarding and you’ll know either, beacuse they shut down the on-line service damn it! Just take a fans word for it, you would of at least had good time.
Dude Joe, this game is still awesome. You should totally use your popularity to revive this awesome game. People do still play cromehounds (I check in on it every once and a while.) It would be easy for some one like you to build a kick ass squad. (Something that I’ve spent quite a while to find) So that you can revive the war. Free battling is only fun for so long. I beg you Joe. Do everything you can to revive this game. Rebuy it at gamestop for ten bucks and rejoin the war. It’s completely worth it.
This game is awesome I still play it to this date, it’s to bad you lost your copy Joe you could have brought the Angry Joe Army to a whole new level….IN MECHS!!!
I’ll admit, I heard of the game, but never played it because I wasn’t interested in those games at the time. It was only a year later that I actually got into heavy duty shooter games such as Chromehounds. The only problem was that I heard the singleplayer mode sucked. To make matters worse, I don’t have a Xbox LIVE Gold Membership, plus my Xbox isn’t connecting to the internet anymore for some reason. (Go figure too, because it stopped connecting on the day the XBLA version of Marvel vs Capcom 2 came out…if that isn’t symbolism, then it’s one hell of a coincidence.)
Now i relly wish i had a 360 i would be all over that game it looks awsome.
Greatest game ever, still thousands of ppl playing it and you can find a match against other humans in a matter of seconds and sometimes instantly, new players and veterans…still tones of free battles too….wanna see the current activity level? go to youtube and type in DirkaDirkaSquad Active and youll see
I wanted to play this back when it first came out, but I didn’t get my 360 until a lot later and it seemed like the community had really dried up so I didn’t bother picking it up. Wish I had gotten my 360 back at launch, I definitely would’ve picked Chromehounds up.
I remember this game from a while ago. I borrowed it from a friend (but unlike yours I made sure it was in the box when I gave it back), but I couldn’t play online at the time because I didn’t have that $100 wi-fi adaptor for the 360. The single player mode I found ok, but, since this was before I ever played a game online, the fact I knew there was a multiplayer I couldn’t play at the time, I thought it must have been awesome (seems I was right about that).
The idea of a persistent war is something that I’ve been bouncing around in my head for quite some time, though I would’ve never thought the territory idea up. It certainly looks original, I feel slightly ashamed for passing it up now. At the time, it looked to be another half-ass piece of rubbish that Japan seems to flood out every couple of years or so. I probably should have done more research.
I found this game yesterday at a friend’s game shop, and after some trading, I brought it home and tried it out. You were right about this one, Joe, I love it! I’ve always been a fan of customizable mech combat games like Armored Core, and I found this game a bit easier to pick up and play with than the current AC games. I’m just sorry I missed out on the online play when it was in its prime, but who knows, maybe we can get it going again.
Don’t worry Joe, I still own the game and trust me, I was addicted to that sh*t! Even when no one was playing, I would be kicking some bot a**!!
I was the leader of my squad and made so many damn mechs! My friends who didn’t like this game, loved to play online, it was THAT fun!
You know there are many hardcore Armored Core fans who didn’t like this game because it was slow pace, but that was the beauty of it! We actually had a game where everyone died except for one person, and all he did was hide behind a hill and snip the bastards for 20 minutes, eventually winning the match, it was EPIC! ^^
And YES, we need a sequel, tell Sega to stop milking Sonic and make the damn sequel! ><
Ah, Chromehounds. Loved that game…
…at least until every onlne match had people abusing glitches or surrounding themselves in shields. After that became too common I just fought the AI for a few weeks and then stopped altogether. Morskoj ftw.
I had a pretty effective Defender though.
Played the game, loved it, and later sold it to get COD:WaW. It was a hard decision but I like shooting nazis and zombies rather than mechs. But I am still sad about my loss.
i think this game is a mix of mechassualt and armored core cuz mechassult has kickass guns (part 2 did which was called mechassualt 2 lonewolf) and the editing of armored core and with those 2 together chrome hounds must be a kick ass game
Chromehounds kicked ass I hope they make a second one that would be sweet.
But hey new Front Mission from Square looks really good cant wait for it either.
So many good looking games coming out this year its going to rock.
Later
That looks like a fun game. It looks like mechwarrior. I had the 2nd one way back on the pc. Ages ago um if you liked that i know theres a new nechwarrior comeing out and it looks good.
I too have heard from a few places that there will be a sequel…………yet no source from them either, odd.
Aw, AngryJoe… Now, you can say that you were in a game so what I say is invalid, but the Chromehounds online community is still going VERY strong today. You should go back and give it a try.
But… if your not gonna play it, think I could have the instruction book?
I tried to get into Chromehounds but I never could. For me when I play a game I look for a good story first and then I play the multiplayer. It is like what people said the single player was only there to unlock stuff and get used to the game so you could play online. That is why I dug Mechwarrior for the 360 (or was it original xbox) so much it didnt have the best stroy mode but I liked it because it had to do with the battle tech universe it was like instead of reading one of the books you kind of got to play through one. Clan Smmoke Jaguars is gods the most bad ass of all the clans. I dare any of you to name any clan or Inner sphere planet that is as cool as the Smoke Jaugars
Clan Wolf. Nuff said
I probably would’ve bought it if they publicized it more. Who knows? Maybe the game would’ve had a stronger core fanbase if Sega had put some faith into the game rather than focus on the crap the nex-gen Sonic the Hedgehog turned out to be?
hey is this game for ps3
Zomg, at the end of the video you say: “God knows where my Chromohounds 2 is!”. I guess this should be just Chromehounds
what matters: Great video! Laughed my ass of several times, like I do to all your vids
Im Bloggin’ BITCHES ;]
I really regret not playing it but I don’t think I really deserve an EFF you since I didn’t know the game excisted and I never even saw it anywhere…
I didint get a good look that demo and it was single player and i dont remember any multiplayer so it wasent that fun but I will by CH 2 if it comes for sure just for the multiplayer. You can only hope it comes early 2010.
Chromehounds is definitely on my list of top 10 greatest games ever. It had elements of all my favorite genres. Buying and unlocking new parts to make the hound better like RPGs, Shooting from FPS, Stategy and teamwork of RTS, no linear gameplay of open world games. Plus the slower gameplay meant that all the twitchy whiny children on xbox live were out playing other things.
EXCELLENT breakdown of the game. Amen.
Hey Joe
chromehounds is still very far from dead yeah there are Vets destroying noobs but still the noobs bring a helluva lot to he game they are now the back bone of it with tons of new players being brought in. The hounds are decent and playibility is still great so… c’mon back to chromehounds.. 
Man, never even heard of Chrome Hounds. Sounds like it would’ve been an awesome starter for my first year with my 360.
I also completely agree with your FPS comment(s). The only thing I dislike about them is that you frikken die SO damn easily. It’s funny though, how people complain it takes forever to kill someone on Halo 3 even though it takes 4 seconds with a BR, and even less with most of the weapons in it.
Now don’t even get me started on CoD.
I dunno, I kinda like the whole “one shot will kill you” thing. It keeps you on your toes! Not that I dislike games that you can take a shitload of bullets in, but those games always leave me out of ammo way too soon
Did you say BOGAN BITCHES at the end of that?
LoL, No but now I wish I had. What I said was, “Im Bloggin’ BITCHES!”
Oh lol, I was gonna say, Wow and American that knows the term Bogan lol