The Con is a fun and different style fighting game but has some small problems that take away from it overall
The fighting is pretty simplistic, but still has a decent amount of strategy in the form of the "lean back" more, dodging, and countering punches. There's a lot more fighting game in this title that there is in the new Marvel Nemesis game for example. But this is no MK in the way of fighters. There are combo strings and build in combos that you can edit or build if you like.
What The Con does bring to the table is it's wagering system. You can bet on yourself and then kick the crap out of the competition or you can place a bet on your opponent and then take a dive. The interesting thing about this is you have a "fake" button that allows you to "lean into" punches to convince the crowd that you're losing and it also acts as a "pull" button when you need to convince the crowd you're still trying, but your opponent is low on health. Tapping the 'L' button when you're being hit will make you lean into the punch and holding it while throwing punches yourself will "pull" them so they don't do as much damage. Overall I really like this feature, but throwing a fight leaves the "Lawful Good" side in me feeling a little dirty. The other important thing about the betting system is the "con meter". The crowd will start to think there's something fishy if you just bet against yourself and then go get a drink while you get your butt kicked so you have to make it believable by fighting back. You need to keep the "con meter" on the thumbs up side to avoid the crowd kicking YOUR butt after the fight. This makes placing a wager on your opponent a challenging and (emotionally) rewarding experience because you really have to manage the fight.
I really like the third person over-the-shoulder viewpoint of the game. It makes it easier to dodge and throw counter punches I think.
Another thing I also really like about the game is the training system. After each fight you get to pick your next one and the schedule tells you how many weeks you have to prepare. This will make a big difference since your fighters might have to take a trip to the hospital, rest, and/or train up before the next fight. The system allows you to pick how much they will rest, if they will visit the hospital and where and how much they will train. You can build a powerhouse fighter or a speedy fighter, or just make him tough as nails. Some interesting things about this system is that if you're planning to take a dive you might decide not to rest or not to visit the hospital that week so the dive will be easier. If you plan to take many dives then maybe you won't train the "toughness" attribute. Very interesting I think.
Ok now on to the one thing that makes this game hard to swallow. The load times. The load times are VERY long and they occur WAY too much in the beginning of the game. It seems there's a small cut scene and then a load time, and then a selection screen and then a load time over and over again. Also the game accesses the UMD constantly which is a little distracting and also slows/stops the framerate occasionally. Later in the game (once you completes the 'tutorial' portion) it gets better, but if you like to save every time it's presented, like I do, it can be a little frustrating to get the 'loading...' screen every time. Another aspect is it takes too long to "load" the fight and the animation gets old since it's the same one over and over.
All in all, I like the game. I think it's a good one to pick up if you're a fan of the fighting game genre, but because of the load times it's not, in my opinion, go if you're looking for an "on the go" game.