Evolution of Games ...

I’ve seen the future of the Dreamcast’s network gaming potential, and the future is very, very bright and colorful with lots of little mice running around everywhere to happy music with nasty, hungry cats chasing them. (Mice?! Cats!?!)

Sonic Team’s newest release for the Dreamcast is ChuChu Rocket! A colorful view-from-above puzzle game in which you use directional tiles to lead as many ChuChus (space mice) to your own rocket before time runs out or they are eaten by KapuKapus (space cats). Lead more ChuChus to safety than any of your opponents do, and you win!

With a variety of play modes that pit you against one to three CPU opponents or one to three human opponents or against time in a single player puzzle mode, Sonic Team could have stopped there and still had a great game. But what should really make you pull this game off the shelf is that they didn’t stop there.

Using network mode, you can connect to one of eight US servers or a number of Japanese servers -- all live -- right from the game options screen. Register your nick name (find me as Cryptoknight), chat with other players around the world and challenge them to a few games. Form teams, make your own chat room. Whatever you’d like. Your wins are tallied and ranked against other players around the world.

More of a trickster than a competitor? You can upload your own evil puzzle creations or download puzzles made by other people and test their genius.

Not feeling very social? Connect to the ChuChu Rocket! home page with the game’s built-in browser -- accessed from the options screen -- and get hints & tips, upload your scores, check your rankings or fire off an email taunt to your worst rival. The browser is easy to use and everything is clearly labeled and intuitive.

That sounds great, you say, but what about gameplay? The controls are simple enough for a child to use, but skill and strategy are important enough to being good at ChuChu Rocket! that Garry Kasparov would have some trouble really mastering the nuances of the game.

It’s bright and colorful -- like most of Sonic Team’s games -- and the music and sound effects are wonderful. The game doesn’t take advantage of the Dreamcast’s graphics in the same way that Soul Calibur or Shen Mue do, but then again it’s not a 3-D fighter or role-playing game, it’s a puzzle challenge. It’s still amazing to look at.

Gameplay on the network is affected by a one- or two-second delay between the time you press a button and the moment a directional tile appears. Rather than detracting from the game, however, it adds a whole new element of strategy and interest. In other words, you need to practice on the network to get good on the network.

If you want to do a lot of chatting as well as gaming, you should get a keyboard. The chat system is IRC, and while a software keyboard that works fine for challenging people to a game is included, typing anything longer than “Hi!” and “Ha, you lose!” is difficult. To overcome that Sonic Team has pre-installed handy phrases like “Quick Game?”, “Nice to meet you.”,”Good game.” and similar such things. The phrases can be changed, so you can have them say whatever you’d like. If you want to game and not chat, leave the keyboard on the shelf, Sonic Team has you covered.

Good music, happy characters, bright colors, solid graphics and then what really sets it apart: the network component. Sega will gain its strength in the gaming market with SegaNet (coming this fall) and other endeavors into the world of the internet. The future of gaming is online, and ChuChu Rocket! does an excellent job of living up to that future.

So, pick up ChuChu Rocket! as soon as you can. If you plan on being an addict (I am) get a keyboard -- I’m getting mine next week -- and an extra memory card for all those puzzles you’ll create and download (3 blocks of memory each). Heck, go and download some of mine. You just can’t go wrong with this game.