Chili Con Queso
Chili Con Carnage pours on the cheese and elevates portable gunfighting to something that's actually -- gasp -- playable?
Published: March 20, 2007
It's a little weird that Eidos and Copenhagen-based developer Deadline Games didn't even bother acknowledging that Chili Con Carnage is sort of a reboot of Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico, a TO 2.0 that takes most of the main elements of the mostestly-received (but obviously undersold) PS2 shooter, but given that Chili is actually a far better game, it almost makes sense.
With games like Dead to Rights: Reckoning seemingly sealing the fact that a slo-mo-powered action shooter can't really be done well on the PSP, it's actually surprising how frankly awesome Deadline's work on the PSP upgrade turned out. CCC ditches some of the more serious elements of the original story in favor of something that's campy and genuinely hilarious, but best of all actually plays well -- even with a single analog stick and the notoriously gimped controls of the PSP. This is how conversions of games to the PSP should be done, and though it's hardly perfect, it is an absolute blast.
The tone is set perfectly by the rapid-fire succession of honest-to-goodness guffaw-inducing moments of a wheat thresher crashing through a window moments after main character Ram's father exclaims "Oooh! Puppies!" with a fade into the next scene of Ram burying his father in a half-dozen little caskets. It's a slightly sick, utterly ridiculous feel, and throughout the game, the jokes actually continue to entertain without ever seeming terribly forced or even offensive (though it tiptoes the line, certainly).
It's a little hard to peg, to be honest, but this just feels like a handheld experience. The level designs are compact, allowing you to drop in/out quickly while still getting something done, the controls work marvelously on the PSP, the visuals are fantastic and there's enough content that you actually feel like you're getting a full game for the money. The bonus objectives and between-level challenges will probably be too tough to even attempt until you're partway through the story, but they're fun enough that you'll actually want to go back and give them a shot -- or if you're a perfectionist like me, spend hours retrying them until you nail it all perfectly.
So here's the basic jist of things: Ram's Papi is offed and he sets out on a personal mission to gun down the folks that did it to him. Not terribly important as a storyline (though the characters that range from a harrier-piloting boss that pops up after a great rail shooting sequence to a guy who thinks he's a bull are great), but it's good motivation to actually dig into the meat of the gameplay, which channels bits of Max Payne with the aforementioned Dead to Rights -- though in all honesty it's mostly the shoot dodging slo-mo bits.
So, yes, you can dive in a direction and then rotate 360 degrees to peg any targets around you. If you tap a shoulder button, you can actually aim for the head in a carefully-timed simple little delayed targeting system, and everything you do, from tagging explosive (or, uh, chicken) objects to just rotating around to kicking off walls to taking out people with different kinds of shots will rack up your combo meter. For every enemy you kill, you gain a multiplier so long as the ever-dwindling timer is still filled (and popping exploding barrels or, uh, chickens when there are no enemies around) will keep it going if you're quick enough. Keeping this going is the key to busting out a huge score, which in turn earns you medals at the end of the level.
With games like Dead to Rights: Reckoning seemingly sealing the fact that a slo-mo-powered action shooter can't really be done well on the PSP, it's actually surprising how frankly awesome Deadline's work on the PSP upgrade turned out. CCC ditches some of the more serious elements of the original story in favor of something that's campy and genuinely hilarious, but best of all actually plays well -- even with a single analog stick and the notoriously gimped controls of the PSP. This is how conversions of games to the PSP should be done, and though it's hardly perfect, it is an absolute blast.
The tone is set perfectly by the rapid-fire succession of honest-to-goodness guffaw-inducing moments of a wheat thresher crashing through a window moments after main character Ram's father exclaims "Oooh! Puppies!" with a fade into the next scene of Ram burying his father in a half-dozen little caskets. It's a slightly sick, utterly ridiculous feel, and throughout the game, the jokes actually continue to entertain without ever seeming terribly forced or even offensive (though it tiptoes the line, certainly).
It's a little hard to peg, to be honest, but this just feels like a handheld experience. The level designs are compact, allowing you to drop in/out quickly while still getting something done, the controls work marvelously on the PSP, the visuals are fantastic and there's enough content that you actually feel like you're getting a full game for the money. The bonus objectives and between-level challenges will probably be too tough to even attempt until you're partway through the story, but they're fun enough that you'll actually want to go back and give them a shot -- or if you're a perfectionist like me, spend hours retrying them until you nail it all perfectly.
So here's the basic jist of things: Ram's Papi is offed and he sets out on a personal mission to gun down the folks that did it to him. Not terribly important as a storyline (though the characters that range from a harrier-piloting boss that pops up after a great rail shooting sequence to a guy who thinks he's a bull are great), but it's good motivation to actually dig into the meat of the gameplay, which channels bits of Max Payne with the aforementioned Dead to Rights -- though in all honesty it's mostly the shoot dodging slo-mo bits.
So, yes, you can dive in a direction and then rotate 360 degrees to peg any targets around you. If you tap a shoulder button, you can actually aim for the head in a carefully-timed simple little delayed targeting system, and everything you do, from tagging explosive (or, uh, chicken) objects to just rotating around to kicking off walls to taking out people with different kinds of shots will rack up your combo meter. For every enemy you kill, you gain a multiplier so long as the ever-dwindling timer is still filled (and popping exploding barrels or, uh, chickens when there are no enemies around) will keep it going if you're quick enough. Keeping this going is the key to busting out a huge score, which in turn earns you medals at the end of the level.
