One Heck of a Puzzler

Nothing

Since ChuChu Rocket isn't your normal game, this isn't going to be a normal review. I recorded my thoughts during my weeklong seclusion while playing this game, this marvelous, life-draining game and have decided to let you into the mind of an addicted ChuChu player. Warning: this review isn't for the weak hearted. Those who cannot stand those drug addiction movies best move on to another review. Now, to begin the journal:

Day 1: ChuChu Rocket is one of those rare and quirky Japanese releases that actually makes it stateside so I couldn't wait to play it. The DC screen appears and the tension to play the game builds up. As soon as the title screen pops up, I almost bust the controller choosing the mode I want to play. There is literally no end to the number of modes in ChuChu Rocket. Puzzle, Stage Challenge, Battle, Team Battle, Network, Create Your Own Puzzle; the list goes on and on. I really wanted to try out the Network mode because ChuChu Rocket is the first DC Internet game. Upon my first puzzle, I realize I suck and use my lack of skill to play the game from 10:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night, only stopping for the bare necessities of lunch and dinner.

Day 2: Wake up at 7:00 a.m. and immediately turn on the Dreamcast. I for go breakfast until lunch. Finally giving into hunger, I walk downstairs and get something to eat, a PB&J sandwich. My parents begin to wonder what I am doing upstairs in the bonus room. I reassure them it is nothing illegal, harmful, or disturbing. They let it go this time but expect me to actually have conversations with me later on in the day. Whatever, I think. I grudgingly agree and speed back upstairs. As I start to play the game again, I begin to admire the simple yet beautiful graphics and story. The ChuChus (space mouse), the Kapu Kapus (space cats), everything makes a complete whole of gaming proportions. The story revolves around the ChuChus fleeing the Kapu Kapus by jumping into rockets and you have to guide them to the rockets, of course. My skill is increasing but still not to par to play on the Internet. I know I'll get better.

Day 3: Wake up at 5:00 a.m. and fire up the Dreamcast. My parents subsequently wake up and drag me downstairs to eat breakfast. Eat a quick bowl of something; I really don't know what it was. After finishing whatever it was I ate, I hopped back on the Dreamcast and continue on with my ChuChu playing. During my ChuChu excursion, the music gets engrained in my head. It is the infectious beat that I walk to even if I'm away from the game. Wait, I'm never away from the game so scratch that. By 5:00 at night, my parents drag me off, force me to fix lunch dinner, and make me eat it. Go figure. Anyway, I once again run to my Dreamcast and go back to admiring the game. My skills have increased greatly today, due to the superb controls. They are simple as the graphics and the story but that makes the game so easy to master. I have quickly learned how to save those ChuChus with ease. Tomorrow, I plan on getting on the Internet to play.

Day 4: Get on the PlayStation Dreamcast and get on the Internet. I'm glad I had my Internet settings ready ahead of time. Still worried about skill and register under a different name, not Ace Sky. The ChuChus service gives you access to all servers, including the ones in Japan, a great plus. I prove my skill and end up ranking quite well. I stayed on to rack up a bill equivalent to that of the Federal Debt. By the end of the day, my parents cut the thingy circuit breaker in a desperate attempt to get me off the PlayStation Dreamcast. They always get worried over the simplest things. I am a normal male teenage with an affinity toward ChuChu Rocket. Something more than that, nothing less than that, or it could be something else. I really don't know.

Day 5: I'm going to have to make it short. It's 11:00 at night and my parents are threatening to kick me out of the house. I just want to play ChuChu rocket. Its not like I'm doing something wrong. Must get back to Genesis Dreamcast to play ChuChu rocket. I must save those little ChuChus. I must.

Day 6: Wake up. Turn on Atari Dreamcast, play ChuChu Rocket, parents try to stop me, call shrink. I chase him with kapu kapus, they help me, it help me, keeps ChuChus safe. He runs, I play ChuChu Rocket, happy, play online, happy, nighty night.

Day 7: Itchy, tasty.

Needless to say, my parents took the Dreamcast from me and returned the game. I was then sent to ChuChu Rocket Anonymous. The road to recovery has been long and painful but I now can reenter society a better man. I would like to thank everyone who helped me on that road; Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Cloud, Squall, Bernie Stolar, John Doe (I don't know which one, they all look the same), my parents, some guy named Bob, and the biggest help of them all, my Game Boy. Now excuse me the ChuChus-excuse me-I mean my friends are calling me.

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Before I start this review, let me get in a wee bit of gloating. I beat my wife at this game! HA! In your face, lady! I am the KING of all! Okay, I think my point has been made. Actually I won by default, because she didn't want to play it, because it looked "too confusing and the music was all mental and the screen was littered with mice or Chu Chu's and I have a headache..." Poor baby! Well, I stepped up to the challenge and kicked her ass! "Let me have at that," I said, and using my vast extra sensory videogame powers, I led the ChuChu's to the rocket with nary breaking a sweat. Then I tried level two. Okay, things admittedly got a little harder. But I did it. Did you expect any less?

Long after she tired of the insanity and went up to bed (so much for our "spending time together") I was there, swallowed whole by the madness. And it is madness. Most puzzle games generate about as much excitement as a chess match, but ChuChu Rocket is a pixie stick injected directly into your main artery. It's loud, obnoxious and so fast paced that if you don't have A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) when you start, you will when ChuChu Rocket is finished with you. I haven't tried the on-line play (long story involving the FBI, a talking chipmunk and Ernest Borgnine) but I imagine it's got to be "out of this world crazy".

The best puzzle games are easy to grasp and take forever to master, and ChuChu Rocket follows that formula to a tee. The concept is easy: Using the 4 buttons (A,B,X,Y), you place arrows on the board which correspond to 4 directions - Up, Down, Left and Right - If the ChuChu's touch this arrow they will then move in that direction. The goal is to send them to the rocket ship placed somewhere on the playing field. If they hit a wall they will make a right right turn and if you aren't quick enough to send them into the rocket by placing the arrows in the right spot, they may wind up falling down a hole. Of course, that part is mental enough, but throw in a KapuKapu (cat) that is intent on eating the ChuChu's and you have unbridaled chaos exploding on your TV.

As you may have guessed this game is very Japanese and it is wonderful that Sega would release it here on an unsuspecting public. If you are looking for a family game that harkens back to the frenetic gameplay of days gone by, ChuChu Rocket is a must have! I didn't think I would care for it, given my cautious nature concerning puzzle games, but it's downright addicting and infectious. So far both puzzle games for the Dreamcast, Sega Swirl (which is free) and now ChuChu Rocket have been instant classics. Shake up your reality and take ChuChu Rocket for a spin, you won't regret it. Highly recommended.