Chromehounds

Controlling your Hound is a fairly easy process and the entire system adheres to a standard FPS style of control. The left analog stick controls actual movement, while the right analog stick controls your aiming and looking. The game also lets you play from a couple different perspectives -- third person and first person. Third person is the easiest to use, considering it gives you the largest breadth of vision around your Hound.

The drawback, however, is that while in third person you don't have an aiming reticule. To remedy this, you'll need to hop in to first person perspective (with a simple button press). While first person handicaps the view you get around your Hound, the aiming reticule that it includes is invaluable for pin-point aiming and sniping.

Overall weapon usefulness is heavily influenced by your perspective. Sniping rifles and other long-range weapons are essentially worthless in third person mode, while close-range weapons such as shotguns or machine guns are a bit more user-friendly at close range in third person. There's a delicate balancing act between the weapons and their overall ease of use, so be sure to experiment with their favorite mix.

There are some realistic touches, too, that keep the weapon use fresh. Most weapons can't be fired repeatedly in quick succession, such as rockets. Between shots there is a short reload time, making it essential that you either hit your target with the first shot or maintain a safe distance away from a targeted enemy so you can retreat after firing. While the system essentially makes it impossible to have prolonged "point and fire" battles, it does add a nice amount of strategy in to otherwise pedestrian battles.

Visually Chromehounds is shaping up to be a graphical feast, especially if worlds like "hulking" and "metal" get your juices flowing. Hounds are impressively animated, and the on-screen particle and visual effects are jaw-dropping. The environments, however, could still use some work, and fall in the range of sparsely detailed to outright blank. We're hoping that developer From Software can spruce them up before the game ships to retail.

Chromehounds will the first mech-based game on the Xbox 360, but so far it seems that Sega isn't simply going to be content with being first and are gunning to make a major splash with this upcoming game. The potential is already there for an engaging time, with Chromehounds' deep customization system and intense combat. But, the true test of Chromehounds will ultimately come in its highly touted online multiplayer offerings. Can the Hounds fare well in cyberspace? Stay tuned to Gamepro.com for our online multilayer impressions later this week.

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