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Chili Con Carnage

Not half bad - as rocket riding, chicken fighting games go

And although the free-roaming bits have been chucked out, there's still fun to be had with vehicles. Cars strewn around the level can be driven about, but their main purpose is making things explode. In the first mission you have to destroy three fertilizer towers. You could shoot them, but the most effective method of destruction is driving towards them, then diving away in slow-mo. The car careers into the towers, exploding gloriously as you roll away unscathed. Or you could just use the motors to run people over and reverse over their heads.

It's funny too. Overdose had its moments but Chili is full of genuine laughs, including an incredibly irreverent intro in which your father - and some kittens you'd just bought him for his birthday - are crushed beneath the spinning threshers of a combine harvester. OK, so laughing at tequila-slugging Mexican stereotypes might make you feel like a bit of a pig, but it's all in good fun. The soundtrack's also top-drawer, featuring classical mariachi music and contemporary Latino hip-hop by licensed artists, including the brilliant Delinquent Habits. Get a combo going and the music kicks in, which gives you an incentive to keep them going.

New to PSP is a series of challenges between missions that test your skills, from clearing a level of enemies to performing a list of certain moves within a time limit. They're a decent enough distraction, although they serve no practical purpose and you're given the option to skip them altogether, which you'll find yourself doing with alarming regularity. Other than that, though, Chili is very similar to Total Overdose and anyone expecting a brand new game will be disappointed.

 
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The Knowledge
Chili Con Carnage
Chili Con Carnage

Genre: Action
Expected release date: Spring 2007
Published by: Eidos
Developed by: Deadline Games
8 GREAT
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