Chili Con Carnage (gamespot)
Released last year on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, Total Overdose enjoyed limited success and was ultimately considered a disappointing debut. But this hasn't dented Deadline Games' enthusiasm for tongue-in-cheek action games, and it's following up that game with another one based in the same universe. Chili Con Carnage is set for release exclusively on the PlayStation Portable in Q1 2007 in the UK and Q2 2007 in the US. We were able to get a first look at the game on a recent visit to Eidos' headquarters in London.
Deadline's clear intention with Chili Con Carnage is to take the strengths of Total Overdose and apply them to a game that is designed to be played in short bursts. To help it achieve this goal, Deadline has enlisted the support of an outside advisor in the form of Junichi Yamada. Previously working for Sega at Amusement Vision in Japan, Yamada has helped infuse the game with even more over-the-top action. The new design replaces Total Overdose's free-roaming city with smaller levels and individual challenges. The idea is to score as many points as possible by dispatching your enemies in a variety of imaginative ways, with prizes awarded in the form of new levels and a variety of weapons.
While Chili Con Carnage is a completely new game, it features the same lead character as Total Overdose and is also set in Mexico. Playing as Ramiro Cruz, you travel across the countryside in an attempt to avenge your father, who died at the hands of a rampaging combine harvester. The game seems to have a curious sense of humour, and Deadline's genuine love for these characters, as well as this world, is obvious.
To begin with, the game plays like a particularly over-the-top scene from a Robert Rodriguez movie. It's also packed to the brim with references to Mexican culture and movies. The gameworld is populated by characters who sport bandit moustaches and spout lines in Mexican accents, while the music is a combination of hip-hop and traditional Mexican music. One of the best special moves involves setting a giant luchador (wrestler)--like Jack Black from Nacho Libre--on your enemies.
The gameplay centres on high-octane, bullet-time action that is strongly reminiscent of Max Payne's memorable effect, and there are practically no limits to the number of stylistic flourishes you can apply to your kills. For example, if you dive off a building, shoot two people in the head, then spin around to kill a third, you'll be rewarded with a flurry of bonuses.
Ramiro Cruz has about 270 individual moves at his disposal, and each time you successfully kill an opponent, the combo meter--which slowly ticks away--will replenish. For every five kills you attain while the meter is hot, you'll get a number of cool special moves. One such move that we saw gives you the ability to clear an entire room of bad guys with a spectacular spinning-gun motion. Another move lets you go back in time 15 seconds to give you another chance if you die or if you simply want to try to improve your score on a series of enemies. You can also pick up a piñata to distract enemies while you take them out or take the brute-force approach with the aforementioned giant wrestler.
Eidos has yet to reveal the number of missions in the story mode, but we could see from the early build that there were plenty of short assignments tied together by vignettes, which tell the story. If you're short on time, the game also features a high-score combo mode called "el macho." These levels feature enemies that start out with mere sticks to challenge you, but as you progress, they steadily become tougher until they're finally equipped with rocket launchers.
Chili Con Carnage also features multiplayer game modes for both single consoles and wireless play. In hangman mode, two players pass the console back and forth to try to beat each other's combo score. The loser for each round has one part of his hangman drawn out, until one person has a complete drawing and loses the game. The second multiplayer mode is Wi-Fi-enabled, but it isn't a deathmatch game. Eidos describes it as something like Super Puzzle Fighter. Two players will play in the same arena but will not be able to see each other, and the highest-scoring player will force the other player to suffer problems, such as a shaking screen or inverted colours.
Although Eidos isn't letting journalists play the game at this stage, Ramiro Cruz looks like he could be an enjoyable character to control in the full game. The controls revolve around the X button, which makes Cruz dive, and the automatic aim helps perform the spectacular kills. If you fire once, the reticle turns yellow, and you can perform a headshot. If you aim at objects, such as exploding barrels, you can take out groups of enemies. Another one of the stylish touches is being able to steal hats from enemies or catch them midair on your head after performing a kill. And while we didn't get to see them, Deadline promises drivable cars and jeeps from which you'll be able to fire at enemies.
This is the first time that we've seen Chili Con Carnage, but the game already seems to be shaping up nicely. Deadline's decision to refine the core gameplay into a series of short challenges seems to suit the PSP well. We'll have more on Chili Con Carnage in the run up to release, when we will hopefully be able to report on the number of levels and what the game is like to play.
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