Chu Chu Rocket on Sega Dreamcast

Chu Chu Rocket.The title says it all doesn’t it. Doesn’t it?

It’s about as Japanese as a UK release is going to get this year and makesabout as much sense as Keyop from Battle of the Planets.

The story goes that on a far away planet there is a Space Port, inhabitedby thousands of litte ChuChus and they’re being invaded by the KapuKapus.In short – and in English – you have to lead a load of mice out of danger andinto a rocket by placing directional arrows on the floor.

There’s a one-player mode which presents 25 separate levels which have quitea simple edge to them in terms of design, but can be very tricky at times asa lot of them seem impossible until the brain cells fall into place anda solution presents itself. I completed all 25 in one hour.

A four-player mode is obviously the highlights though, with up to four humansplaying with the Dreamcast making up the numbers. You will each get a quarterof the screen surrounding your rocket and can place a maximum of threedirectional arrows at once in a bid to get more mice home than the rest.

Such levels only last a few minutes and frequently include random squeakyJapanese female sayings such as :

Slow down – all the action, er.., slows down
Speed Up – work that one out for yourself
Mouse Mania in which the mice flood onto the screen in directproportion to the rush of adrenaline I get when Geri (Joanna Taylor) in Hollyoaks appears on my TV screen
Cat Attack – while the mice are away, the cats will play and smashinto everyone’s rockets and diminish the number of mice kept
Everybody Move – it’s all change for the onscreen position of yourrocket.

There are also a number of other games modes to choose from including theability to play online from June 9th, 2000 and those who register online viathe Dreamarena site will be able to obtain a FREE copy of Chu Chu Rocket(UK and Europe only) which will obviously drive down sales in the shops of thisgame.

Graphics, Sound and Playability

The graphics are fast, colourful and funny, but only score near-half marksbecause they don’t push the Dreamcast’s capabilities anywhere near itspotential. The sound technically doesn’t fare much better, sounding ratherlike a Bontempi keyboard having an epileptic fit.

On the plus side though, the one thing in which this game excels is inplayability. It’s exceptionally easy to pick up and play without gettingbogged down by difficult controls. Everything does seem rather manic a lot ofthe time, but if you stick with it, it does induce an essence of excitementand several times I was close to scooping the winner’s title, but unfair playfrom the Dreamcast’s AI ability stopped me winning (ok, so it was fair playand I’m just a sore loser! 🙂

However, while it is a lot of fun, the fun is short-lived because it won’treally keep you coming back for more. It’s a good laugh for a short whileand I’d normally suggest a rental rather than a purchase, but when something’sfree…

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT



OVERALL