ChuChu Rocket is one of those games that doesn't initially appeal to casual fans. It probably went overlooked to many Dreamcast owners due to its unusual appearance. However, this is a game that cannot be ignored.
Story Puzzle games rarely have compelling stories, and ChuChu Rocket is no exception. The story boils down to this: on a far away planet there is a colony of space mice called Chuchus. Then one day space cats called Kapu Kapu invaded and started munching mice like lineman at a postgame buffet. Their only escape is via rockets, and you must guide them to those rockets.
Gameplay The goal of ChuChu Rocket is to guide your mice into your rocket while keeping the cats away from the mice and your ship. You control a cursor, which can place arrows on the checkerboard layout either in one of four directions to guide the mice to your ship. The mice follow these arrows until they bump into a wall, cat, hole, or someone's rocket. The cats will also follow the arrows too but if they run into an arrow that points in the opposite direction, it will grow smaller and disappear if hit again in that manner. The arrows themselves will also fade and disappear in about 15 seconds as well. Mice and cats will take right turns when they hit a wall, and when a cat runs into a mouse, that mouse will disappear from the board.
There are also special mice which can quickly alter the course of the game. Golden mice are worth 50 mice when they board someone's rocket. Then there are the mystery mice with a question mark adorned over top of them. They automatically activate a temporary game mutator of sorts. These are the mutators:
Cat Attack - All but one player gets a cat sent to their rocket. This is unavoidable.
Cat Mania - All the mice disappear from the board, and 3 cats start roaming.
Everybody Move - Randomly switches the placement of the rockets.
Mouse Mania - Similar to Cat Mania, only the cats disappear and streams of mice appear on the board.
Mouse Monopoly - One player gets a stream of mice sent directly to their rocket.
Place Again - All arrows disappear and the game pauses for a few seconds allowing players to replace their arrows.
Slow Down - The mouse and cat movement slows down dramatically.
Speed up - The mouse and cat movement speeds up dramatically.
The key to this game is adaptation. Since the different mutators take effect dozens of times in the 2 1/2 minute span of the game, the more you have to adapt to given situations both by what other players are doing and what the conditions of the board are. The more creative the ways you can shuttle mice into your rocket, while redirecting the cats to your opponents, the more likely you are to find success.
What's great about this game is the learning curve. While micromanaging your mouse-flow is rewarding, a novice who struggles to keep up with the pace can still compete on the game board. When you add in some random mutators from the mystery mice, you really level the playing field.
However the mutators are the greatest detriment to the gameplay. They can be way too random and can level the playing field a little too much at times. Mutators like "Cat Attack" and "Mouse Monopoly" can swing a game without any skill required by the recipient. Similarly, the "Cat Mania" and "Mouse Mania" mutators can swing a game for people with only minimal skills. What this does is creates a more randomized outcome than one determined by skill. This is usually a big no-no for puzzle games as they are supposed to reward skill over luck. However, for a game like this, it really becomes an excellent party game because you don't have to worry about the novice players watching the experts duke it out all evening long.
Modes ChuChu Rocket has many different game modes which allow you to play by yourself, against another player, human or computer. The computer player has 4 different skill levels: weak, hates cats, loves mice, and tough. You can also select a random computer skill level just to mix it up. Those of you familiar with my style and preferences know that I generally like randomized settings.
There are 100 single player puzzles in which you guide as many mice to your rocket before the cats can get them. You start out with 25 puzzles to solve, and once those are finished, another 25 are unlocked. If you solve all 100 or get stuck on a certain one, you can always create your own puzzle or copy designs available all over the web.
You can also compete against one, two, or three other players on a wide open board. This is split up 4-player free for all battle and a 2 vs 2 team battle. There are 24 battle levels available or you can have the levels randomly assigned.
There's also an option to play the game over the internet. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on this since my internet connection is broadband and my Dreamcast can only support dial-up.
Controls The controls for ChuChu Rocket are pretty basic, which is fantastic for a puzzle game. The analog stick moves the cursor, and each of the four face buttons place arrows in their corresponding direction. The two trigger buttons send preset taunts to the opponent. Start pauses the game. It's really that simple. The controls respond really well and the cursor moves at a speed that is quick but not too sensitive. Overall I can't be happier with the control scheme. The only thing that would improve the game is if there was some sort of mouse or touchscreen interface to move the cursor, but that's just about it.
Graphics The graphics in ChuChu Rocket are pretty decent. The game does a fantastic job of creating a great visual flair in an arcade style. Given the pace and flow of ChuChu Rocket, the effect fits in extremely well. The arrows, gameboard, mice, and cats all are bright and colorful. When a mystery mouse is caught the mutator effect pops up on the screen prominently with color coded mutators spinning around like a slot machine. At the conclusion of each round, the rocket blasts off and instead of seeing a sprite-based gameboard, it switches to a 3D polygonal view. While this wasn't exactly nessessary from a development standpoint, it looks fantastic and it deserves the credit for taking a risk and implementing a new graphical scheme for what other games view as a throwaway visual scenario. With the exception of the previous example, ChuChu Rocket isn't excessively graphical. Sonic Team certainly wasn't trying to create a puzzle game with the same visual power as a First Person Shooter. But the themes and graphics all fit into the game well, and to this ChuChu Rocket should be viewed as a graphical success.
Sound Like many other Dreamcast games, ChuChu Rocket's aural experience is very similar to that of being at an arcade. The sound effects are vibrant and deliberate. I really enjoyed the sound effects from this standpoint. The biggest drawback is the music. There is no variation in the song played during a particular round. It's the same music score each game, which can get annoying for many gamers. I enjoyed it at first, but began to notice that it was the same song. While it didn't get on my nerves, it was very disappointing and archaic. The music isn't bad, in fact it does a good job of maintaining that arcade-like feel, but the lack of variation is a huge oversight.
The sound effects do a great job of fitting into the whole arcade puzzler theme as well. Voice overs mention major events in the game like time milestones, mutators that take effect, etc. The sound effects of the mice entering a rocket are done well because you can tell when someone's hogging all the mice without dropping the controller to cover your ears. Similarly, you can pick out the sound of a cat entering someone's rocket from all that's going on. Overall I don't have any complains about the sound effects in this game.
Replay Value ChuChu Rocket has a decent amount of replay value. The tougher AI opponents seem to throw multiple strategies at you and adapt well to your creative maneuvering. The multiplayer aspect is where the game really ramps up this game's replayability. Given the sheer speed of the game and the competitiveness and creativity of four different players really yields thousands of differently played out games. The different random modes also do a great job of randomizing the situation. Given the simplicity involved with ChuChu Rocket, it's amazing to see just how many ways a game can develop.
ChuChu Rocket's biggest detractor from a replay value standpoint is actually a flaw in the gameplay. The randomness factor is a little too high where a game is never decided until the last second. If someone hits a "Mouse Mania" or "Mouse Monopoly", it can turn the tide of the game in seconds. This randomness can turn off many human players, but there is enough strategy involved where the game is fun, but rarely decisive.
Every console needs at least one hidden gem games. A game where its boxart, story, or graphics that turn off casual gamers, Katamari Damacy is a perfect example of this. Tetris for the original Gameboy would have been another if it didn't come packaged with the system back when it launched. Even though ChuChu Rocket is a hidden gem, it is far from perfect. However, I can say with confidence that ChuChu Rocket is a reason to go out and get a
Dreamcast in its post-death era. The game is so cheap, but so good. Even though the internet multiplayer is non-existent, the single player game provides a great challenge and the multiplayer is unparalleled.
