The three Bs of video gaming...beautiful, brutal and buggy.
Graphics: 10
Sounds: 7
Value: 8 (open world maps that encourages you to approach in different ways / good map editor tools)
Tilt: 7 (I love a good story however having conversations cutting short annoys me / yet other features mentioned in gameplay gives a tick for me)
Actual score: 7.2
Playing a mercenary for hire is pretty much a used up concept for any computer game. Yet it can make you some kind of hot shot that working for yourself with the main motivation for cash I guess there's no real harm. Chrome is no different here as you play a hero called 'Bolt Logan' (jeez who makes up these names…) who happens to be a mercenary. Yet like most mercenary stories there's a dark history of betrayal and deceit that eventually catches up with the hero. So welcome to Chrome where cliché stories come to life in one of the most striking visual game ever created for the PC.
So the first thing you'll notice once entering the game is the lush graphics. Surrounded by swaying trees, waters trickling the shoreline and the glorious sun casting its rays over the land, undeniably this is Chrome's greatest achievement. And of course throughout your adventures the landscape will change to the dusty outback that remarkably looking like America's Monument Valley to snowy fields to space outposts and more. So you can say this is the beautiful part.
And before you know it, the brutality smashes in like a hammer. As the first few encounters won't pose a real threat however once encounter a sniper you'll come to realise that whilst the AI are docile (i.e. rarely taking cover or simply just standing there) their aiming ability will astound you. That is they rarely miss and all have an extraordinary ability to see through anything. So before you know it Rambo style tactics gets thrown out of the window and in comes stealth.
Yet as the game progresses Bolt will unlock implants to assist him in combat. Similar in the vein of Dues Ex (some three years prior) these implants will assist you in aiming, reduce injury, move faster and enhance vision. As Bolt stated near the beginning of the game, the implants are a necessary to keep up with your competition, and he's not kidding either as you soon realise when running into your first boss encounter.
However before you embark on your mission, there's a layout screen where you can either select the default equipment or select your own. I highly suggest to see what the default equipment is so you get a good understanding of what lies ahead (i.e. if the default consists of a sniper you know the mission consists of snipers and so forth). Yet for the vast majority I select the sniper rifle as it does a great deal of damage from a distance. Note I didn't say 'safe distance'…just a distance as eventually they will all hunt you down like a pack of wolves (and at times give up and just stand there admiring the scenery…I guess I cannot blame them for that). But remember though that all the enemies have remarkable aiming ability so don't think for a moment that because you have a sniper rifle makes you unstoppable.
And before you think you can arm yourself to the max, think again. The game has an inventory system that's designed for you to carry limited items. Basically one two handed weapon, a side arm, several ammo clips and health packs. Yet rest assure that the enemy will also drop a few items once disposed off so it's worth your while to investigate fallen foes and pilfer what you need.
Still another strong point of the game is the mission design. Basically it's one huge map uncluttered at your disposal. Of course there will be markers to indicate your next objective / waypoint however the approach is purely up to you. So you can say there's no outdoor 'corridor' methodology. Also in some maps you get to ride on land speeders (and they are very good to run over enemies), jeeps with a mounted gun or even a walker. Yet don't think for a moment that riding these vehicles makes you the king of the mountain as the enemy, as docile as they are, are all crack shots (especially those 20/20 vision snipers). Approach with caution is your dearest friend.
Sadly though, some maps will pose tremendous drop in frame rates as the Chrome engine seems it's not robust enough. So there will be times that looking at a certain direction will cause the game turn into a slide show (thus getting a sense that there's tonnes of activity in that direction) and your only option is to approach that area sideways or find an alternative route. Naturally this will cause grief as all your stealth planning can easily fall on the wayside.
Yet and strangely enough, some of the cut-scenes also have this 'slideshow' effect and one of the solutions is to turn down the graphics settings (how ironic indeed as this is the game's strongest point). To add salt to the wounds the characters lip sync is out of whack as they will cut off mid sentence. And reading the text is not an option as the second the 'spoken' sentence is cut off the text will disappear. So there goes the storyline and it's a shame though as the game boasts three different endings.
Because of the open world approach and stealth is highly encouraged, will inflate the time completed to finish the game. For me it took around 24hrs however I'm sure 'speedsters' could knock it off within the 10 – 20 hrs. Yet finishing the game doesn't really entice to play again (unless you are a sadist and complete the game at a higher difficulty level). Yet there's a multiplayer option that sports deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, domination and assault. Also there's a level editor that encourages players to make extra maps yet sadly though I cannot find a decent one on the internet.
Beautiful, brutal and buggy is the best way to describe this game. Beautiful as in the graphics that will step and face the latest Unreal 2 engine for visual supremacy; brutal as the AI, even though as docile as they come, rarely miss (especially those crack shot snipers) and regrettably buggy. Buggy as in the sporadic 'slideshow' effect (a definite contrast to the superior graphics – blame it on the java programming) and conversations cutting short (thus missing vital parts of the story). A total shame though as vehicular combat is a blast (especially those speedsters) and the 'think before you shoot' approach is a welcoming approach to the ever-so-saturated FPS genre.