Of course, everything starts off innocently enough. A successor of the console title Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico, CCC begins with the reintroduction of Ramiro Cruz as he surprises his father with a birthday visit. What better a gift than kittens, eh? Furthermore, what better than a heartwarming setup than an unfortunate twist of events as Ram’s father is torn to pieces by a harvester just seconds later? That’s right; an actual piece of farm equipment busts through the wall of this detective’s office and destroys any hope of cracking the case that Ram’s former father had. This setup kick starts what basically turns into a rocket-riding, gun-slinging, rollercoaster ride that lasts throughout the entire game.

Over-the-top dialogue and moves supplement the blazing soundtrack as you bust through missions to figure out just who Senior Cruz’s murderer is and more. So now the question slowly crawls out, of what could possibly go wrong with a game this cool? A few things, really; most notably the configuration of how everything controls on the PSP. As far as translation from the PS2 goes, everything comes out pretty nicely –environments look great, along with a steady frame rate, good sound, and enjoyable cutscenes. However, as other titles have found, the absence of a second analog stick can nearly kill a title ported over to the PSP.

Chili Con Carnage dodges the bullet here, using a lock-on system that targets bad guys in view of you. Unfortunately there is no camera system, leading to the targeting system being a win/lose situation banking off the comfort of having everything in view selected, and somehow leaving the rest of those 360 degrees open for business. As long as players don’t get into too many close-quarters situations, this won’t be a huge issue, although it does hinder the gameplay when gunmen are pouring in from all angles.

The shooting mechanics are just plain fun. With dozens of special moves, the implementation of bullet-time, and melee attacks, it seems like you’ll never die. This is almost always the case though, as my experience led me to find the game relatively easy, leading to shootouts making players feel like God. There are several weapons at your hands, and they all do the same thing: kill. Headshots are cake if you’re willing to spare a few seconds to get the music kicking in the background as a reward.

The main game serves up a ride that’s fast, but comes out too short. Missions basically consist of total annihilation up to a boss fight or cutscene, both of which are a great time. Boss battles can last for a good long time compared to an average level, along with featuring another wacky character with some crazy motive or another. At least they’re hilariously creative. There are a few extras, such as a number of bonus sections for players to explore the game’s tiny, untouched corners.

Next to the single-player game is a multiplayer fare which is good enough for kicks and ultimately makes the main game all the more appealing. Multiplayer includes the score-based “Fiesta”, where up to four players are dumped into a level filled with enemies and whoever garnishes the most kills wins. The other option is simply a hot-seat fashioned shoot’em up in the same vein of the former mode, titled “Hangman.”

Every time this game was in my hands, I didn’t want it to end. It will make you laugh, feel great about yourself, want to visit Mexico, and mostly wall-run so you can yell “Spicy move!” because you just ran off a wall. Chili Con Carnage is worth every penny, especially if you’re the type who will forfeit perfect controls for an excellent experience. There are control issues, mostly coming out of the PS2 to PSP port translation , but in the end there really isn’t that much getting in the way of how much fun is packed into this UMD. It looks great, plays well, and begs you to come back for more. The only thing genuinely wrong with Chili Con Carnage is that it doesn’t come with a pack of fireworks included.