Chili Con Carnage Hands-On

Seconds after entering his policeman father's office at the Policia Federales building somewhere in Mexico, Ramiro Cruz's father is murdered by a madman driving, of all things, a harvesting combine. Ram immediately vows to avenge his father and hunt down the murderer, and thus begins the over-the-top Mexican revenge movie disguised as a handheld game for the PlayStation Portable, Chili Con Carnage. We recently spent some time with this fast-paced, easy-playing game, and loved every minute of it.

Iin Chili Con Carnage you control the hero, Ram--the hero of Deadline Games' previous effort, Total Overdose--as he makes his way through multiple levels of the game, mowing down wave after wave of bad guys and destroying property at an alarming rate. During the run-and-gun battles, you'll be picking up everything from high-powered rifles to sawed-off shotguns, driving tractors and pickup trucks, and using various hand-to-hand combat moves to take down the baddies.

Controlling Ram is easy--you use the analog stick to move him around and fire your currently equipped weapon with the square button. To cycle through the weapons you pick up along the way, you can press the left or right buttons on the directional pad. The key to Ram's abilities is the X button, which will cause Ram to jump in the air and perform any number of spectacular moves. By moving the analog stick left or right and pressing the X button, you will cause Ram to dive to the left or right. Similarly pushing the X button and forward or backward on the analog stick will cause Ram to jump accordingly.

All of these special leaping moves cause time to slow down, giving Ram plenty of time to target multiple enemies or twist and turn in the air. With a little creativity, you can get in some truly spectacular kills--such as spinning Ram in the air 360 degrees and wiping out all the enemies that surround you. All of these moves fill up your combo meter, which is located on the right-hand side of the screen. The more moves you chain together in a sequence, the more over-the-top the moves you'll earn as you go.

As Ram progresses through the levels in the game, he'll pick up special one-use moves and health packs and will even rewind powers that will let him reverse time briefly and start over in a particularly tough part of a level. If you have a stored rewind power when you die, you'll automatically be given the option to rewind and try again.

The levels in the game show off an offbeat sense of humor that really keeps the action moving. If you shoot an enemy up close, for example, his cowboy hat or sombrero might fly into the air and land on Ram's head. If you collect enough hats, you'll gain a bonus at the end of a level. Late in the second level of the game, you'll be tasked with toppling a huge manure silo in an enemy-controlled town. After blasting your way through some enemy-infested halls, it turns out you can topple the tower by simple pushing it over--only to have a chicken push you off the edge of the building. In fact, murderous chickens seem to be a recurring theme in the game, which suits our tastes just fine.

From a presentation standpoint, Chili Con Carnage seems to get a lot right. The cheesy voice acting is just insincere enough to be funny, while the game's character models and environments look good, with a cartoonish vibe that, despite all the bullet-spewing violence, doesn't feature much in the way of blood or gore.

In addition to the main story mode, the game will feature multiple style challenges where you will have to take out various enemies often dressed as chickens (there are those killer chickens again), using a variety of prescribed special moves. If you finish the style challenges, you'll unlock new levels in other modes of the game. The game will also feature an online fiesta mode for up to four players.

From the moment the game's mariachi- and hip-hop-inspired soundtrack began, Chili Con Carnage had us hooked. Easy controls, wave after wave of bad guys to plow through, inventive levels, and a sense of humor that will keep a grin on your face even as the bullets fly look to make this game an attractive option on the PSP. The game is due for release later this month.