However, you may well wish to lengthen the experience, as there’s a lot to like about CCC. The graphics are quite impressive, by PSP standards, and the Mexican hip-hop soundtrack is interesting and quite fitting. The controls are fairly responsive and the developers did an admirable job of making up for the lack of a second analog stick. The analog nub is used both for movement and to look around, a setup that works fairly well. The only issue with the controls, however, arises during segments of the game that incorporate some platforming elements.

There’s no jump button, only the afore-mentioned dive feature. This means that, even if you reach the desired area, you have to worry about rolling off the other end, a common occurrence. The lack of a true jump button doesn’t hamper the experience too much though, as these segments make up only a small portion of the game. My only other issue with CCC, besides level design that is slightly unclear at times, is the outrageous caricature of Mexican culture, particularly the voice acting. The over-the-top Mexican accents would probably really offend my sensibilities if I was, you know, Mexican. As it stands now, I just find them slightly irritating.

Also, CCC’s bizarre ad hoc multiplayer is, generally, pretty worthless. In ‘Fiesta’ mode between 2 and 4 players compete, in the same environment, to see who can cause the most carnage and earn the highest score. The bizarre part is that, you don’t compete directly against your opponents. While you will see their character models while you play, they are actually computer controlled as your opponent competes in their own, separate representation of the same environment, complete with AI controlled models of your character.

While power ups do allow you the opportunity to interfere with your human opponents, flipping their view upside down for example, this provides little genuine interaction. Thus, fiesta mode doesn’t add much to the game as a whole. The other multiplayer modes, like ‘Hangman’, which requires you to pass one PSP back and forth, don’t fare much better.

Overall, Chili Con Carnage is a good game that makes a worthy addition to your PSP library. The relatively fluid controls and frantic, run-and-gun gameplay more than make up for its shoddy multiplayer and stereotypical depiction of Mexican culture. As decent action games tend to be few and far between on PSP, CCC is definitely worth a second look.