Chili Con Carnage

Platforms: PSP

Publisher: Eidos Interactive

Developer: Deadline Games

Rating: M (R16)

Players: 1-4 players Wi-Fi

Website:  http://www.chiliconcarnagegame.com/

A short-lived experience, but genuine fun! Just the second offering by Copenhagen based developers Deadline Games. Chili is a sequel to the little known Total Overdose released to mediocre response in late 2005. Chili takes everything that was great about Total Overdose, and jams it into a tiny, portable package that fits perfectly.

A story very fitting of the bizarre name, our hero Ramiro (Ram) loses his father. As Ram takes his father his birthday present, a box full of kittens, when an evil villain enters, his father is then murdered by being baled into hay. This sets up a revenge plot which sets Ram on a mission to find and kill those responsible. Over the course of his mission he finds himself tangling with many wacky Mexican crime lords. Chili takes a fairly standard and cliché story line and puts its own spin on it that is downright funny at times.

For the most part Chili con Carnage is a fairly standard 3rd person shooter however the scoring system is an excellent feature that adds a lot to the game. High scores are achieved by long combos, stringing together as many kills in a row as you can. The levels seem to have been designed so that a single combo could finish a level, however be prepared to pull your hair out as this is an incredibly frustrating task, but so worthwhile when you nail it!

What really sets Chili apart however is that it is the first game to successfully bring a shooter to the PSP. The control scheme is so simple, and it works incredibly well. Sound is equally good with actors making the most of a truly hilarious dialogue that is so cheesy you will be laughing out loud. The soundtrack fits in perfectly with the game, plenty of upbeat Mexican music that changes with the game too, building up intensity with long combos. The only real criticism of Chili is that the experience is over too fast!

Four or five hours is all that is required to finish the story mode, the high scores offer some form of replay value but not a huge amount. The multiplayer is a disappointment as you don't get to fight your friends; rather it's a competition to see who can achieve the highest score.

Chili con Carnage is certainly a game worth playing. It proves that shooters can be done on the PSP, and is a real step forward in the right direction. Everybody will get a kick out of this game, whether it be from the wicked humour, the story line or just plain fun game play.