Here it is, the second in our weekly Spare Change? installments. It just occured to me that if I do this for a whole year I have to come up with 52 different cheap game pick ups. Raise a glass to long term planning ladies and gentlemen!

This week your task, if you choose to accept it, is to find a copy of Xbox 360 exclusive Chromehounds. Why you might ask? Read on and become wiser.

Chromehounds is one of those rare games, a not so great title that receives unfavourable reviews and yet generates a cult following based solely on an innovative feature that makes it unique.

The game is based around some war in a bunch of made up European and Asian nation states. It's all very interesting but on the whole the single player isn't that crash hot. The Chromehounds themselves, a series of mechs, are largely slow and cumbersome and actually walking to your objective in the game takes about thirty minutes, then blowing it up takes about five. Some of the missions are nasty difficult and demand that you make ridiculously fast responses to enemy surprise attacks with a tiny margin for error. One of its most innovative features is the different roles the mechs can have, there are standard assault mechs, scouts, artillery mechs, snipers and my favourite, command mechs that direct all the others. There are specific mission campaigns for each of these mech roles the completing of which unlocks extra weapons and mech parts. The idea being that you choose a role you like and then form a clan with a bunch of friends and join in one of the lengthy and surprisingly involved multiplayer campaigns. This will take up months of your life, getting everyone together on line at the same time and then convincing everyone you play with to keep to their character and role in the game, then hope to god you play against a clan of like minded loonies. As far as console online games goes Chromehounds has big, sweeping ideas that rely on a commitment to the game that for the most part isn't there. The aforementioned loonies exist but not in large enough numbers to make an impression.

I'm not painting a very good picture am I? Well let me tell you that this game sucked away months of my life and I barely scratched the surface of the actual game. One simple reason: Mech customisation. Call me crazy but there was something addictive about building and endlessly tweaking an armada of robot war machines. It sounds bizarre but myself and a friend spent night after night in our 'garages' arguing and bickering over our various designs and ideas then putting them to the test in the field before grumpily admitting that removing the extra heat sink to make space for the rail gun was not worth the armour cost and maybe the increased weight from using four legs instead of two would be worth the stability.

So on and so on and so on, until games like Rainbow 6 Vegas and Gears of War broke on the scene and drew us away with their piped piping; but for a long time this unusual early release title was my number one Live game. It was the first game I bought DLC for. It was like Lego by way of Smith and Wesson. It was just, plain, addictive. I like to imagine that in a far of future this is what car tuning would become: robot war machine tuning and when that day comes my friends, I'll be ready, then I'll show them, I'll show them ALL!

If you think you might be as crazy as me you'll be pleased to know you can pick up Chromehounds second hand for around $10. So until next week, save your five cent pieces children.