Chromehounds review

After painstakingly constructing a Hound, you need to take it online to get the full Chromehounds experience. The war of the robots comes alive over Xbox Live, and joining up with a squad of other Hound pilots to dish out some pain on others results in the kind of joy known only to the testosterone and adrenaline flooded veins of a gladiator. Watching another chump's Hound erupt in gouts of fire as it's enveloped in thick, black smoke becomes your sole reason for living.

Again, however, this pay-off comes only to the most dedicated Chromehounds players, so casual gamers may be a bit put off by the diligence required to make this game actually fun. Due to the strategic limitations of most Hounds, only the Tactics Commander with his giant radar array can see any of the enemies on the radar screen, so having one on your team is essential - and that facetmakes free-wheeling through online play nearly impossible. For those with a couple of friends determined to become an elite squad of Hound pilots, however, Chromehounds offers a unique chance to take all of those team-building Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter play sessions for a spin in giant robots.