The Hounds of Hardcore

There are games that made the hardcore player unconsciously drool, and Chromehounds™ is one of them. What gamer worth his thumbs wouldn’t love to assemble their own mech from a pile of parts and weapons and then take it into combat to test it to destruction? This game has exactly that, and it's only the beginning. There’s so much potential for hardcore goodness here that when you're not playing, you'll be dreaming about ways you can improve your personal Hound.

Games with giant metal war machines have historically attracted the more hardcore gamers, and hounds is no exception, so expect the Xbox Live® competition to be fierce. The hardcore fan base will be bringing their biggest, baddest mech expectations to the game, so constant and ruthless play will be in order.

A Hound gets ready to show his hardcore stuff.

On Your Own
In Story Mode, you’ve got six storylines, each for a different role type (RT). You will always have the option of using a pre-built Hound, designed specifically for the mission you're undertaking. That would be the sensible play. But as the hardcore player, you don't have to make sense, and you sure as hell don't have to take any generic, pre-packaged Hound into battle. It's your ride or no ride at all.

Each of the six RTs have special Hound designs chosen to support their roles. Heavy gunners, for example, carry long-range weapons and aren’t intended for close combat. Scouts trim down their weapons and armor in favor of faster mobility. Without ever even trying these out, you should already be tired of doing what's expected, taking the easy way out. Can you build a Hound that perfectly straddles the balance between armor and speed, armament and mobility? Assemble your own ultimate Hound and successfully complete all six storylines with it.

Every gamer has the advantage of trying again after they fail. What separates the hardcore from the weak is the determination, the fortitude, and the skill to get it right the first time. Suck it up and complete each mission the first time through. Complete one storyline without defeat and you have something to brag about. Complete all six without dying? That makes you the kind of hardcore mercenary everyone wants on their side.

Can you build that perfectly balanced mech?

In the Mix
When you hit the front line of the Neroimus War on Xbox Live, you won't be alone. You and five of your buddies team up against an opposing squad. Don't think though, that just because you have some support you can slack off on representing the hardcore nation. Just because you have to cooperate, doesn't mean you have to give up on showing the world what you're made of.

Set up your team with one of each Hound type; this will actually make your team missions more difficult. Just like trying to find the single perfectly balanced Hound, here you'll have to work as a perfect unit. You can't all take Scout Hounds and outrun your opponents. You can't all take Heavy Gunner Hounds and dominate the Battlefield. You're going to have to cover each other, and learn to work as a well-oiled machine. A hardcore machine.

Set lofty goals for your team to push them harder. Tell your team that their mission is for each of them to capture and hold as many COMBAS (comm towers) as possible. The victory here is simple, just hold more COMBAS at the end of the battle. Most competitors will just settle for destroying all of the other Hounds, instead however. You and your hardcore squad will make it your goal to take and hold as many COMBAS as possible until time runs out. Feel free to set individual, more challenging goals with the help of the Debriefing screen. Don't hold back. If you're not going to make yourself work for it, no one else is.

Go hardcore, or just go home.

Twisted Missions
If you’d rather not join the fray in the Neroimus War, then you can take your team on freelance missions in the Individual Missions mode. There are financial benefits to this, but more importantly, you can warp the mission goals to challenge your players. Take a raid on an enemy HQ, for example, and instead of using heavily armed Hounds, turn it into guerilla warfare by making hit and run attacks on the base. You’ll want fast-moving Hounds for this, so plan ahead in the Garage.

Or, play a long-range game using Heavy Gunners where you might normally send soldiers charging in. This will force you to flex your targeting muscles. For a different kind of challenge, use the clock to put pressure on your team. Give them your own time limit, one that’s shorter than the one imposed by the game. After all, if your team is truly hardcore, it should easily be able to finish the mission in less time than normal, mortal Hounds pilots, right?

This game is fertile ground for challenging yourself and your team above and beyond. Use your imagination and don’t be afraid to push yourself that little bit further. That's what being hardcore is all about.

Article by Hardcore