Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega

The most important aesthetic consideration for a puzzle-oriented title like ChuChu Rocket! is that the action is easy for the eye to interpret, so that the players can focus on strategy as opposed to trying to discern what's going on. ChuChu Rocket! succeeds marvelously in this regard, and while there isn't anything particularly flashy about the game's appearance, it does have pleasant color themes and a sharp resolution.

The very first thing the player is presented with upon stating the game is a chorus of Japanese women: "Sonic-u Team-eh!", they sing! The game's audio only gets more "Japanese" from there, with a truly bizarre, genre-less, chaotic soundtrack befitting of the game's unique style and theming.

ChuChu Rocket! involves moving a cursor around a grid-like stage, placing arrows in order to guide mice-- good!-- towards your base, while directing cats-- bad!-- towards your opponents' bases. The control scheme works excellently, and the developers got the mouse cursor sensitivity and grid snapping threshhold just right.

The closest equivalent to ChuChu Rocket! is probably the Bomberman series-- they're both frantic, highly competitive, and ludonarratively rich. While ChuChu Rocket! isn't quite as multi-faceted as Bomberman, and doesn't even begin to reach Tetris' or Missile Command's depth, it does manage to set itself apart via its very Japanese style. Like the popular "human tetris"-style Japanese game shows, it's almost irresistable, even for those that claim to find it irritating.