If you're going to ape an arcade classic, you could do a lot worse for source material than 1990's Smash TV, which is arguably one of the greatest arcade shooters of all time. Its premise of an ultraviolent game show in which contestants kill for cash and fabulous prizes was awesome, as was its combination of tough gameplay and fantastic, gory style. A great number of shooters have attempted to borrow the formula over the years, though few have borrowed so liberally, with such meager results, as Cash Guns Chaos. One of the first downloadable games available for the PlayStation 3, Cash Guns Chaos tries to take a funkier, more cartoony approach to the whole violent game show concept, and includes the exact same brand of "left stick moves, right stick shoots" gameplay found in Smash TV. The trouble is that the game's style isn't good. The cheesiness wears thin about three stages in, and the enemy designs are dull. On top of that, there are some bizarre issues with the shooting and stage design that make the game way more frustrating than it ought to be.The basic setup for Cash Guns Chaos is that aliens, who have learned about our culture exclusively through TV shows of the '70s and '80s, have kidnapped you and are now forcing you to fight through a gauntlet of enemy-filled stages for their amusement. But all is not lost, because with each felled enemy and completed stage, tons of cash and fantastic prizes can be won. Bits and pieces of story are told through some still-shot cutscenes, but the story isn't relevant. It's just a foil to get you shooting lots and lots of bad guys as quickly as possible.
That's all well and good, except that the shooting isn't fun. On a basic level, the gameplay is functional. You move around the arena with the left analog stick, and shoot by pressing the right analog stick in the desired direction. All the while, you'll pick up upgraded weapons, cash and prize bonuses, and even a couple of scattered power-ups. That sounds fine, but the action is boring at best and frustrating at worst. The basic gun you're issued does a decent job of offing the baddies, and the bonus weapons are definitely more powerful, but they're not always any more effective than using the basic gun. Many of the more powerful single-shot weapons are tough to aim, and the rocket launcher is good only for big, honking enemies that don't move very quickly. A few weapons, like the chaingun, seem like legit upgrades, but even they aren't satisfying, simply because the enemies are dull as all get-out to shoot.