I have been gaming for a long time, and a good portion of my gaming years have been spent on mech combat titles. Years and years ago I remember playing Mech Warrior on my PC, then Mech Warrior 2, Mech Commander and eventually Armored Core 2 for my import PlayStation 2 back before it released in the US. So when I heard about Chromehounds, developed by the same company that handles Armored Core and published by Sega, I knew it would get some play time in my Xbox 360.

When Chromehounds arrived at the office a few weeks back, I played through the single player and waited for Sega to setup some multiplayer matches. Unfortunately, Sega was unable to get any multiplayer matches going, and I was informed to wait until the retail version was sent out to get in some multiplayer. Well, the retail version arrived late last week, and to my surprise the Chromehounds servers were down. When I contacted Sega, the company informed me that due to the heavy use of the servers in Europe, it was taking them awhile to get the servers up in the US.

This review was originally supposed to go live on Tuesday, but because the Chromehounds servers were not live until Tuesday, the review had to be held. While some titles use multiplayer as an added bonus to a solid single player experience, if you're going to have any fun with Chromehounds, you're going to have to play the game online. Oddly enough, when I talked to a few UK players about the failed online experience (more on that later), they informed me that even though the game had been out for a couple of weeks, they've had no online play. Interesting, Sega told me that the reason the US had no online play was due to the heavy use of the servers in Europe. Oh well...

If you're unfamiliar with Chromehounds, it's a team-based mech combat title that features a variety of mech units, known as Hounds. Each Hound has a specific role in team combat, and you'll need to utilize each Hound properly if you plan on being successful. There are six different Hound types as follows: Soldier, Sniper, Scout, Defender, Heavy Gunner and Commander. Teams can be made up of anywhere from two to six Hounds, but a good team does not necessarily need all six Hound types to be successful. You'll have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each Hound type to determine the right team setup for each mission.

The single player experience in Chromehounds seems to exist for the sole purpose of acquiring parts for your Hound and learning how to use each of the various Hound types. At first, this is very helpful in learning the basics of each Hound. Each Hound type has a different story arc that is seven missions long, starting with a training mission. As you progress through each story arc, you'll earn new parts for your Hound, as well as experience points in each Hound class. These will all transfer over to the online environment which Chromehounds has been created for.

When you first head over to the Xbox Live portion of Chromehounds, you'll have to sit through several text screens and options asking you which Hound type you want to use, and giving you background information on the war in progress. You'll also choose which nation you wish to align yourself with. How well that nation does in combat will determine what parts you can buy and where you should be fighting at. When you've finally worked your way through all of that, you'll be able to select a clan to join or start your own clan. This is the bread and butter of Chromehounds as you'll need a solid team to be successful in the game.

The primary focus on multiplayer is of course, team-based play. However, the interface in very unintuitive, which made my time with Chromehounds multiplayer quite frustrating. You can choose between three play mode options for combat which include a battle related to the war you're currently fighting, a single mission that does not affect the war, or free combat where you just team up with random players and go at it no matter what county you're aligned with.