Or will it? The bizarrely titled Chu Chu Rocket is an extremely original puzzle game from the makers of Nights, Sonic Team. Sega, those loveable cuddly bears that they are, gave us Dreamcast owners this game for absolutely nothing. This was a really stupid thing to do, I'd have payed for this :D
The game's basic premise is that the mice, Chu-Chu must escape from the Kapu-Kapu in their awkwardly placed rockets. In order to do this, arrows must be placed to direct the silly critters into their rockets. Simple yes? Not quite, for the Kapu-Kapu are here to consume our furry friends for their own amusement (and possibly nutrition, who knows how many calories a Chu-Chu has?). As with all good puzzlers, the game has several modes. The Puzzle mode is a brain-taxing romp which involves planning and placing various arrows throughout a maze and then releasing the mice and hoping for the best. If one of your mice get's eaten, you'll have to start again. For the more insane action craving player, their is the most famous mode. This mode allows you to compete with 3 other players, human or AI, offline or online to get as many mice as possible into your coloured rocket using directional arrows. The tactics available are endless, though at the speed those little critters come, you probably won't have time to work them out. This mode is completely insane, it's fantastic fun and ideal for parties. To add to the already mad mix, Kapu-Kapu come every now and then to consume the mice and if they manage to land on your rocket, you'll lose a sizeable chunk of your stored mice. As if that weren't enough, prized gold Chu-Chu can appear which are worth 50 normal mice. Any more? Yes, the elusive pink Chu-Chu provides an interesting bonus when captured. A wheel containing several events appears which is spun and the appropriate event carried out. These events range from Mouse Mania, where the mouse flow in droves to be captured by the players to Cat Attack
which 'rewards' the spinner with Kapu-Kapu attacking their coloured rocket. All this makes for some addictive puzzling fun.
Their are also a few other modes and a level designer which will allow you to make your own fiendish mazes to trade with your friends (soon to be enemies if you're not careful) or upload to the internet for others to suffer ;)
The online mode is equally fun, ruined only by the odd person who quits in order to preserve their perfect winning ratio. It's unfortunate, but some people in the world are just jerks. There is a also a delay in placing your arrows but this can be overcome by some more careful tactical planning.
This game really doesn't have any faults. You could mention it's graphics if you wanted, but it's a puzzle game, what do you expect? It's sound is quirky and fun, it's more addictive than Pringles laced with nicotine and it's multiple game modes will keep you going for ages and always coming back for more. I'm not sure if Sega have stopped their free game offer, but if they have, you can easily pick up a copy cheaply from any auction site or even your local games shop. Get it and enjoy the insanity.

TB.