It could be the sheer scale, the huge explosions, the sense of power or even just the inherent “coolness”, but whatever it is, there is no denying that big robots are great. Names like MechWarrior, Gundam, MechAssault and Armoured Core are familiar to many a gamer, so when SEGA announced their third Xbox360 exclusive, ChromeHounds, a Mech-Action game from FromSoftware, creators of the Armoured Core series, it garnered a fair amount of interest. However, except for improved visuals, what could an Xbox360 Mech game offer to innovate within the genre? Well, how does a Persistent Online Battlefield sound? Or the option of extensive Hound customisation with parts bought with money earned through online battles? Or maybe the promise of strategic play utilising different Mech Classes such as a Tactics Commander or Scout Hounds seemed to suggest ChromeHounds may be the Mech game to end all Mech games.

ChromeHounds was released last Friday and has been met with mixed reviews. The ever-popular Japanese videogame magazine Famitsu awarded ChromeHounds a respectable 33/40, however many western reviewers have criticised the slow tempo and occasionally dodgy animation. However the one thing most critics do agree on is that potential of the Online Mode. Players choose one of the three fictional Eurasian countries available and must fight as a mercenary with a team of five other squad members, each utilising a different Hound class, in battles for their chosen country. Players can then earn money through victories which can then be used to purchase parts for their Hound. The battlefield is persistent and through the efforts of the players, one country must eventually win, similar to the PvP Modes in many Massively Multi-Player Online games. Unfortunately, how this actually plays is still very sketchy, mainly because in Europe it is nearly impossible to actually get online. Obviously this doesn’t bode well for a game with a single player that is little more than a tacked on tutorial. The customisation, Classes and Faction gameplay is all in place and ChromeHounds should shine online, but if no one can play it, this is all for nothing. So why is there no reliable way to play online yet?  

Sega Of Europe :

“We are currently experiencing some issues with the online component of ChromeHounds. We have discovered that there is an artificial limit on the number of players that are able to play online at any one time. SEGA would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to assure you that we are working to correct this issue. We have already carried out two rounds of server maintenance and greatly increased the number of players that can play online. We are working with FromSoftware and Microsoft and hope to increase this number even further.”

This was added on 11th July 2006:

“Please note that the servers will be offline from 10am today for scheduled maintenance. This maintenance is currently expected to end at approximately 5pm UK time.”

So there you have it. It would appear SEGA underestimated how many people would want to play online and as such currently do not have enough available servers. They have said that the servers are down for maintenance currently and will be up again soon, but have not guaranteed that this will solve the problem. Today is also the US launch of ChromeHounds and considering the importance of that market to publishers, it’s likely that online hosting for that region will be a priority. Will UK gamers by able to play ChromeHounds online soon? Or is SEGA’s third Xbox360 game destined to be crippled by a lack of support for it arguably best feature?

G-man

11/07/06

Return to the Articles Archive 2006 here.

 Each of these articles has been written either independently of Electronic Theatre or by an external viewer. The opinions discussed in these articles in no way reflects the opinions of Electronic Theatre.

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