Chu Chu Rocket
Score: 100% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Sega Developer: Sega Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: Chu Chu Rocket's graphics aren't the most jaw dropping graphics that you'll see on the Dreamcast, but they more then do the job. For the most part, graphics are very colorful cartoon-like graphics with detailed backgrounds and characters. The simple graphics allow the game to keep it's very fast pace, allowing hundreds of Chu Chu's and Kapu Kapus on the screen at once, which is impressive once you see it all in motion. The music is extremely catchy with an upbeat techno beat, which suits a puzzle game of this nature. Sound effects range from wacky Chu Chu voices, Kapu Kapu voices, and an announcers voice - all very nice.
Gameplay: Chu Chu Rocket is an adrenaline-packed action/puzzle game in which players must direct multitudes of mice into escape rockets while redirecting predatory cats into their opponents' ships. The objective is to lead as many mice as possible into a rocket, which will launch to safety at the end of each round. Gameplay options vary, allowing players to challenge friend's offline, strangers online, or engage the single player mode with over a 100 different puzzles. Gamers can also design custom puzzles for unlimited replay. The single player missions are nice, but the best feature is that this is the Dreamcast's first online game. After getting past the registration, you're ready to play against real life human counterparts. During multi-player matches, each player has a color-coded rocket into which they must direct mice. Whoever has the most mice in their rocket at the end of each round wins, but watch out! Cats can wander into rockets or be guided into them by opponents, thereby depleting the saved mouse count by 1/3. Mice and cats constantly run in straight lines, but they can be directed by placing arrows on the screen. These arrows dictate turning points to lead cats and mice into or away from rockets.
Difficulty: Once you get the feel for Chu Chu Rocket, you'll have no problem with the difficulty. Nothing here is too difficult, but bring your thinking caps with you, as some of the games puzzles will definitely have you stumped for some time. On thing about puzzle games is that almost anyone, even the non gamer, can play this game with a huge smile on their face as they challenge their human counterpart or test their thinking skills against the pesky computer AI.
Game Mechanics: Like most good puzzle games, the controls in Chu Chu Rocket are very simple, and for the most part, anyone can pick up the game and begin playing. The D-Pad is used to move around the board, the Y, A, X, and B buttons are used to place the arrow panels used to guide the path of the Chu Chus and Kapu Kapus. Overall, Chu Chu Rocket is very enjoyable and there honestly aren't any dull moments in the game. It's fast, fun, and one of the best puzzle games since Tetris. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.
-Raider, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Duran
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