MAGAZINE: Electronic Gaming Monthly PUBLISHER: Ziff-Davis Media DATE: February 2000 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chu Chu Rocket Publisher: | Sega Developer: | Sonic Team Players: | 1-4 Genre: | Puzzle % Done: | 90% Release: | First Half, 2000 Also On: | None Web Adress: | www.sega.com The Good: | Fast-paced, great party game, Internet multiplayer. The Bad: | The graphics are stylish but a bit utilitarian. The Ugly: | You don't really need another addiction in your life. When Sega announced three new titles from Sonic Team last August, nobody expected Chu Chu Rocket to be among the hit list. Despite the glaring lack of a Dreamcast NiGHTS or Burning Rangers sequel anytime soon, Sega fans knew that Chu Chu Rocket would be special, just by virtue of hailing from Sonic Team. After spending all month with the import version of Chu Chu Rocket, we were ecstatic to learn that Sega of America is set to localize this bizarre little gem for the U.S. market. The object of Chu Chu Rocket is very simple: Guide as many rodents to your rocket as possible within the given time and watch the mice blast off into the great abyss. Each stage is comprised of six different objects: walls, mice, cats, pits, arrows and the player's rocket. Because it's a puzzle game, each item dictates one aspect of behavior on the playing field. Chus will run along until they hit a wall; if there's nowhere to go, they will either run in an infinite loop, or run along the wall until the next obstacle presents itself. Just like in real life, cats will traverse a pattern that's occasionally altered by walls and arrows...oh and they'll kill mice too. Players move a colored cursor around and can place up to three arrows on screen to control the trajectory of mice and cats. Is player one getting too greedy with the little chu chus? Send a cat over to his rocket and watch his numbers dwindle. Or you can place arrows to syphon off your competition's flow of mice and redirect them to your own rocket. When a pink mouse runs into your rocket, it triggers a random event. Events like speed-up, slowdown, chu chu fever (sends out an endless flow of mice for a limited time), and neko fever (neko means cat) provides plenty of opportunities for players to even out the score late in the game. It all amounts to one of the most hectic puzzle games we've ever played. The game is presented with a wide variety of modes. Among them are the one- through four- player versus modes, puzzle mode (which can be played co- op!) and even a Lode Runner-esque level builder. In Japan, Chu Chu Rocket sold for 2800 yen (about 25 bucks), or with a limited-edition Chu Chu Dreamcast controller for 4800 yen (45 bucks or so). It's still unknown whether Sega will sell the game at a discounted price stateside. [SIDEBAR] PEEK-A-CHU It's A Chu Chu World So what the heck does "Chu Chu" mean anyway? The word "chu" is the equivalent of a "squeak," or the sound a mouse makes (hence Pikachu, the lightning rat). In Japan, Chu Chu Rocket launched with the best commerical ever made (when the cat chomps down on the chu chus, there's blood everywhere). Here are the lyrics, as transcribed by Peter Bartholow of videogames.com. "Chu Chu Rocket, let's save the mice! Chu Chu Rocket, the cat is scary! Chu Chu Rocket, the rocket is awesome! TSUBABABABA!" The game rocketed to number one on the charts its first week of release.