Extended metal atom chains constitute an interesting class of molecules from both theoretical and applied points of view. In the chromium-based series Cr2M(dpa)(4)X-2 (with M = Zn, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cr), the direct metal-metal interactions span a wide range of possibilities and so do their associated properties. The multiplicity and symmetry components of the metal-metal bond are herein analyzed via the effective bond order (EBO) concept using complete active space self-consistent field wave functions and compared with similar bimetallic Cr2L4X2 systems. The bond multiplicity follows a trend dominated by the Cr-Cr distance which, in turn, depends on the nature of the axial ligand (X). Cr2M compounds present asymmetric structures with virtually no interaction between the Cr-2 unit and M, whereas fully symmetric structures with delocalized bonding among the three metals are also possible in Cr-3 complexes. In such cases, a strategy that involves localization of the molecular orbitals into each Cr-Cr pair is applied to quantify the contribution of each pair to the overall metal metal bond multiplicity.