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
Things are helped a bit by the inclusion of a handful of different power-ups. Some, like the dual guitar case machine guns, properly recall some bits of El Mariachi, while others are simply room-clearing 360 arcs of machine gun fire or instant headshots. Because every enemy killed and the way they're killed nets you more points or a higher multiplier, including these power-ups in fights can lead to absolutely epic combo strings, which is a blast, and there's an inescapable feeling that Deadline conducted some kind of séance to tap the creative powers and vision of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
Yes, that's a good thing.
About the only downside to chasing the combo fix is that you aren't really rewarded beyond the satisfaction of knowing you actually managed to cut a huge swatch of destruction through the entire level. All enemies were trounced, all barrels sent shooting into the sky, many a wall used as a jumping-off point for an epic cartwheel of destruction. In fact, aside from some seriously uneven difficulty, the game absolutely nails the feeling of tearing ass through Mexico and leaving a trail of baddie bodies in your wake.
Most of the boss fights in the game -- and the primary area where the challenge can spike a bit too much until you retry things enough to get down the patterns (or just get lucky) -- are actually diverse enough to break up the action in a way that doesn't feel contrived. Though they're usually fairly different from the main missions, they still fit with things, though it could be easily argued that major portions of the game keep you on your toes with how diverse they are.
The multiplayer (which supports Ad-Hoc in a whopping 50% of the two modes available), is fun, but it's mostly a rehash of what you've already played in the single-player game, and like the single-player bits, is really just dependent on the score for wins. It should be noted that Hangman, one of the modes, is played hot seat-style, so you only need one PSP (the person with the lowest score gets a bit o' their hangman until someone gets the whole thing is drawn in).
Perhaps the strongest aspect of the game beyond the humor, though, is just how damn good it looks. Stuff like software HDR, a wonderfully solid (and smooth) framerate, good textures, fantastic animation, a hefty variety of moves, and a slick overall presentation just make the game feel like it's pushing the PSP -- and better still that the PSP can actually handle it. It's a wonderful marriage of technology and software and the PSP sorely needs these days. Hell, even the cutscenes are done sublimely.
The audio is the same. Total Overdose's soundtrack, rich with acts like Molotov, Delinquent Habit and Control Machete, perfectly fits the tone of the game (and they're actually pretty damned entertaining -- this coming from someone who tired of the current hip-hop scene a while ago). Voice acting, while obviously rife with stereotypes, fits with the sort of tongue-in-cheek approach to the whole setting, and the sound effects -- particularly with good headphones -- sound great; thick, soupy shotgun blasts mix with rich explosions and clean handgun reports.
Here's the bottom line: Deadline actually delivered a game that not online improves on the stuff they introduced with Total Overdose, but feels absolutely perfect on the PSP. After swearing to myself that this sort of game couldn't be made upon playing through the abhorrent Dead to Rights port, I was completely unprepared for just how well the genre can work on the PSP. From technical execution to level design to plain fun, Chili Con Carnage actually delivers.
