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Good: Interesting betting mechanics

Bad: Very average everything else

Better than: A kick in the pants

The PSP is in desperate need of original titles to break its current $50 rehash stigma. The Con tries to do just that with its unique approach to one-on-one fighting.

The Con puts you in a position to build your own fighter and work your way up through the corrupted underground to become a renowned street fighter. You are given your standard fare of high attacks, low attacks, custom combos, throws and counters to do your damage.

After a fight, you can invest six different slots of time to rest, speed training, strength training or health training. While you won't actively participate in anything you choose, it simply boosts your current statistics. Is this was all there was to The Con, it would be a straight-to-bargain-bin venture.

Fortunately, The Con has a unique twist to it all. You can bet on yourself and rig the fight in order to get more people to bet on the other guy. You can let your opponent lay free hits on you while steathfully leaning away to make the damage not so bad. In order to make fights last longer to entertain the crowd a little more, you can modify the power of your hits to make it look like you're actually trying to fight back, but poorly. Once the bets are in and you've fooled the crowd into betting on the other guy, you can unleash your fury and cash in once you win the fight.

The new betting corruption mechanics work fairly well and are a welcome addition to an otherwise stale fighter. You'll eventually encounter boss-types to fight, but the routines are shallow and predictable.

The fighting mechanics aren't too deep or shallow and are only fairly interesting. The collision detection is great, but the moves become really stale after a few fights. You can upgrade to better combos and better attacks with different styles of fighting, but it's nothing that hasn't been done better by several other games, albeit with a little more emphasis on the "stick-and-move."

The multiplayer mode is there and straightforward. You can share the one UMD to play together, but with no betting mechanic in multiplayer, there is little-to-no reason to play all that much.

The graphics and sound depict the malaise of artists stuck in a cubicle-based, dreary working environment. Maybe that wasn't the case, but the very normal-ness of the entire presentation is nothing more than average and uninspired.

If you're bored, give it a rent and get your "oh that's sort of interesting" interjection out of it. Other than that, there's not much that's gonna stick to the ribs.

Graphics: C

Sound: C-

First Play: C-

Last Play: D

Gameplay: C-

Overall: 69% D+