Electronic Gaming Monthly: The Con

Good: Smooth and quick controls, fresh concept

Bad: Load times that’ll make you go gray

The Female Characters: Are distressingly burly

Jenn F: The Con is actually two different fighting games. Arcade mode is a by-the-numbers brawler, while story mode is a game of strategic hustling and planning—decide whether to win or “throw” the round and lay bets on yourself or your opponent. Then fake the fight until all bets are in and suddenly turn the game around at the last second without the crowd noticing the dupe.

The real challenge here is not to accidentally knock out your opponent when you’re, say, actually trying to lose to him. This fusion of strategy and muscle makes for nice depth, in theory. But I found myself enjoying plain-Jane arcade and multiplayer bouts more than, you know, winning cash by having my ass kicked. Kind of an existential ego-smasher for me.

The controls are fine, if simple—a little swooping and button-mashing will find all the combos. Still, in arcade mode, each match felt weirdly short...with almost unbearable load times that often seem longer than the actual matches, bouts are vaguely unsatisfying.

The premise, however fresh, has completely thwarted my innate bloodthirsty brawler instinct. Combine that with some missteps, and you have a fighting game that is ultimately, cosmically, unfulfilling.

Kathleen: I learned a lot playing this little brawler. During its 40- to 120-second load times, I managed to read the latest Harry Potter, weave a macram bandolier (the world’s first), and teach my dog to dance. The two to three minutes of actual gameplay between Sisyphean loads isn’t awful, but not remotely worth the wait. Over-the-right-shoulder camera and stiff character movement gives way to a fun blocking/dodging element, team building is highly customizable, and the match-throwing element is a solid gimmick. Too bad the story mode is silly, with ugly ghetto stereotypes that smother even the smallest flash of fun.

Official PS MAG—Scooter: The fake-out mechanic that allows you to maximize your gambling dollar is pretty cool, and the over-the-shoulder camera gives a neat Punch-Out!! vibe...but that’s about it for the highlights. The rest of the game, from the shallow fight mechanics to the load times to the bland backgrounds, is very mediocre. And it sports some of the worst character graphics I’ve ever seen—it’s highly unlikely that The Con is progressive enough to feature transsexuals and more likely that the female character models are so poorly made that they look like men with long hair rather than women.

The verdicts (out of 10):

Jenn F.: 5.0

Kathleen: 2.5

Scooter: 4.5

Publisher: Sony CEA Developer: Think and Feel Players: 1 (2 via local Wi-Fi) ESRB: Teen www.playstation.com