Street Fighting is a horrid business. It may be the basis of some of the finest games ever created, but boy is it nasty. Getting embroiled in a tangle of fists, feet and broken noses can never be fun. That said, we’re old enough to cite age as a valid reason to weasel our way out of a fight nowadays, so it matters little to us. But to anyone of a fighting age, let The Con be a lesson to you: just don’t, it’s stupid.

It’s nice to see titles appearing for the PSP that have a uniqueness about them, and it’s even better when they’re well suited to the handheld. The trouble with The Con is that it’s just a bit of a rubbish game. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but anyone in their right mind would have to admit that it simply doesn’t seem to have received the sort of consideration that a PSP-exclusive title requires.

It did the rounds a little while back with the US import and, even up against the limited array of titles for Sony’s handheld, it fared pretty badly. Unfortunately, it’s doing worse now, despite being a fun few minutes’ play and, much like us, it shouldn’t really be fighting anymore.

There are plenty of great concepts lying about the place with The Con, but they haven’t been gelled into any kind of coherent game. The idea of fighting from over-theshoulder view is, if nothing else, intriguing, as it could well allow for some seriously intricate controls. It doesn’t though, and that’s just the start. The titular ‘con’ angle is another interesting point but again, it’s been left unfinished and, due to the nature of the twitchy controls, rarely comes into play. Fighting with a crew rather than as a loner sounds great on paper, but yet again hasn’t been implemented with any kind of finesse.

You can see many of The Con’s mechanics working themselves into any number of high-budget titles and being named, worked on and marketed until they become a reason to buy a title. Together, and badly executed, however, they make you want to give up fighting and shoot yourself in the face.

Tom Leclerc