ChuChu Rocket!

"Listen not to the weird people who bash this game!"

Chu Chu Rocket was the first online adventure for the Dreamcast. Many people were skeptical of the quality of the game when they saw kawaii little mice being chased around by kawaii little cats in screenshots, but true Sega fans knew that Sega was famous for doing screwed up things like that and getting them right. Two years later, many strange people still refuse to try out this game, and many people are even further satisfied with their Dreamcast because they picked up this little gem. And yes, I'm a latter. This is some fun stuff, and I assume it gets even better online. Your goal? Use arrows to aim mice into your rocket, and keep cats out of your rocket. Yes, it sounds screwed up, but remember, everybody thought that Donkey Kong sounded screwed up. Just go with the flow, and you'll find you'll have yourself a good time.

Graphics: 7/10
The first thing that may turn you off is the graphics. Insanely cute mice and cats cover the box art, and the screenshots show small, three-dimensional cats and mice running around on a 2D board. Oh, the cuteness of it all. However, looking beyond the cute graphics, one will see a simple, eye-pleasing game that doesn't slow down when there are over 100 mice on the screen. Consistent frame rate does wonders to how a game looks, and Chu Chu Rocket is not an exception. When you win a battle level, the spaceship that flies away looks very nice as well. The game may have simple graphics, but there isn't any slowdown, and it won't annoy you.

Music: 4/5
Chu Chu Rocket features simple music, often only being one instrument playing at a time. Nonetheless, the music will get stuck in your head for days, and you will slap yourself silly trying to remove it from that position. The introduction theme is a simple repeating group of notes with occasional drums, but I still have it in my head, even 48 hours after last playing the game. When setting up the battle mode, a little tune plays that will join the first one in your head for eternity. The puzzle mode music is simple, and stays in your head. Beware.

Sound: 2/5
Fortunately, all sound effects are very simple, except the voices for the players. Don't get me started on that. It's the second thing that scares people away from the game. Unlike the graphics, the bashing is acceptable. Ugh... *shudder*

Control: 18/20
Menus in this game run smoothly, quickly, and efficiently. Everything is set up in an easy-to-understand format. The control pad works very nice in moving around the board, although it does move a little quick for my liking. Placing arrows works at the right speed, as well. I would be interested in the existence of a ''remove arrows quick'' button, but it works very good as it is.

Game play: 25/30
Chu Chu Rocket is an oddity, but is quite fun to play. It's a game that you can pick up and play for a few minutes, or can spend long hours on. In order to play, you place arrows on a board. Mice and cats come out of portals, and follow the direction of the arrows. Your goal is to aim mice into your rocket, and avoid cats. There are multiple very different modes of play, to keep you interested for a long time.
The first mode is battle. In this mode, you play against three other people or computers. Your goal is to get as many mice into your rocket, and avoiding as many cats as possible. Cats take away mice. At the end, the person who has the most mice in their rockets wins. You can play many rounds in a row, to drag a victory out nicely or keep it quick. You can also get that screechy voice of your character to insult your opponent, which is pretty fun. Computers can be set up for a variety of ways of play, such as ''hates cats'' or ''loves mice''. Specialized for 4-player.
Stage mode makes you complete a mission objective before time runs out. These missions vary from collecting mice into your rocket, to aiming the cats towards the mice, to sending cats into your opponent's rockets. The game runs fast, and is very fun to play single player. Lacks multiplayer mode, for obvious reasons.
Puzzle mode has you set predetermined arrows at the beginning, then let the game run and have it play out. Those arrows must aim all of the mice into the rockets, while still avoiding the cats. Very nice as a brain teaser, but can get frustrating.
Overall, all of the modes are fairly fun, with battle mode really standing out. Evidently, the game gets even funner online, but I lack an online connection, so I cannot comment. Bring over friends for an even better time!

Challenge: 13/15
Some of the puzzles in puzzle mode will challenge your brain heavily, particularly the final puzzles. These puzzles may frustrate you, but the frustration isn't very heavy, so you will be able to survive all of the insanity that goes with it. Stage mode is more frustrating, as it requires a very fast finger in order to play it properly. If you lack that, then I recommend staying away from it, as you will not be a happy person after a bit of play. Battle mode's difficulty is variable, depending on how you set the computers or how good your friends are. But rest assured, nothing will make you go TOO crazy.

Replay: 14/15
There is no specific way to beat Chu Chu Rocket. Your goal is to finish all of the puzzle modes, or finish all of the stages. But even after doing that, you will be dragged back to improve your mad skills at Battle mode against your friends. That lasts a long time, and evidently lasts even longer online. You can download people's custom puzzles for you to try out, or battle them if you want to. The possibilities are endless!

Overall: 83/100: 8/10
Enthralling game play and heavy multiplayer capability make Chu Chu Rocket a great purchase. Overlook comments from people who refuse to give the game a chance, because of horrible voice-acting or cute graphics. If you can handle a good puzzle game, then I suggest this as one of the better Dreamcast possibilities. And at only $8, how can you refuse it?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/02, Updated 02/09/02