by Vinson Chen

Created on: July 06, 2010

Chu Chu Rocket is an exciting puzzle game originally made in 1999 for the Dreamcast, but was later ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It holds decent overall ratings from a multitude of critics where its average score among the many critics is around an 8/10. Overall, Chu Chu Rocket is an interesting and unique "cat chases mice" video game for the Game Boy Advance.

The goal of the game is to guide the roaming mice called ChuChus on the playing field into the rockets located on the field. The gamer does so by placing arrows on the arena, so that the mice can be directed into the named rockets. This may sound easy enough, but the gamer must do all of this while making sure that all of the mice avoid the cats that are also prowling about on the same field. Thankfully, both cat and mouse always move in a predictable pattern in which they always move straight forward in a clear path, turn around at dead ends, and turn right when they hit a wall. The placement of the arrows make the puzzle game "puzzling." 

The single-player portion of the game isn't quite so interesting despite the original 100 levels and additional 2,500 user submitted levels for the internet portion of the Dream Cast. This leaves the multiplayer section to be reviewed. Luckily, this portion is extremely entertaining and is an exceptional party game for the portable console meetings that all portable gamers hold. Amirite? Just kidding. Anyways, in the multiplayer portion, up to four players duke it out on the same playing fields trying to direct mice into their own rockets while sending cats into their opponent's. It may sound simple and boring, but trust in the game. It's a lot of fun for a handful of kids to sit around and play with cats and mice. 

However, there is more. A level editor is available for the gamer to create his own maps to play on his own, share with friends, or even battle with on multiplayer. Special bonus mice appear in the multplayer portion from time to time, too. They are signified by their unique colors and when they are captured super special things happen for the gamer. 

All in all, ChuChu Rocket is an exciting puzzle game for the Game Boy Advance and is a must-try at least for the general gamer.

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