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| | Title:
Total Overdose: A Gunslinger`s Tale in Mexico
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System:
Xbox
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Genre:
Action
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Publisher:
Eidos Interactive
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Developer:
Deadline Games
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Release:
9/28/2005
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Rating Pending
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“Lets Dance, “ are the words --the last words-- some of Mexico’s meanest bad-dudes ever heard as El Mariachi spoke them, looking deeply into the camera...but not before pulling out his trusty bullet impregnated pistols, ready to give birth to a glimmering screen-shot of a fancy over-the-top shoot-out as seen in the likes of Desperado. These are the sort of action elements one should expect from the upcoming third-person, action game by the minds over at the development studios of Deadline Games.
This is not just another fanatic run-and-gunner with the cops scrapping at your heels with foul mouths and bullets ricocheting off ambient structures nearby. Instead, the player is put into the shoes of an individual who will be doing almost all of the chasing, shooting, killing, and foul-mouthing in what would seem to be a game paying homage to Robert Rodriguez’s action-style directing.
The story revolves around a young chap from Mexico, who conveniently is an ex-con, out to get revenge for the death of his father. The hero’s name is Ramiro Cruz, and he is actually just one of the three playable characters in this game. The story evolves and takes place throughout the course of 18 highly interactive environments from lowly inhabited small towns, to the sandy dunes of Mexico. The scenery is made to be bright and vigorous, immersive yet vibrant, kind of like the dance the “Cha-cha”. As the graphics are easily tolerable and the gameplay is smoother than your last Brazilian wax; but this wasn’t made simply to be pretty, or to have players simply stuck on the eye-candy.
In this game, every single gun-totting wrong-doer who even blinked in the direction of this “El-gringo Loco” will be in for a smouldering pile of bullet buffets, served up especially from Mr. Cruz and his wide array of a weapon arsenal. In fact, there are twenty different weapons to deal out your choice of revenge. From the Uzi to the Shotgun to a machete and much, much more. But that’s not the fun part.
What’s New
Total Overdose treats it’s shoot-outs as if Max Payne was on crack and just drank twenty tequilas after taking a bottle of "pills". Unlike other shooters, this game takes shooting to the next level of over-the-top entertainment for the older crowd. For instance, bonuses are given to players who score combos with the killing of their foes. The more outrageous stuff you do with killing off enemy forces, the more bonuses you receive for killing them. The Stunt system works based on what environmental objects you utilized or how much gravity you defy doing a move while taking out the selected target(s).
After receiving a fair amount of these [combo] bonuses, players are rewarded with abilities or specials they can utilize at any point during the gameplay, to create even more methodical mayhem. For instance, power-up the Golden gun, which gives the player the ability to always get head-shots on the target. Considering that head-shots on this game are based upon a circled reticule, which shrinks around the intended-target’s head and, depending on when the trigger is pressed and where the reticule is around the target’s head, makes the distinction on whether or not it counts as a head-shot. So you easily can see how an instant-head-shot Golden gun could account for some effective sniping at any range on any target. There is also the Tornado speciality, in which the player leaps up in the air, spinning like a whirlwind and spraying up the area with the current weapons, causing extra damage and wiping out any nearby enemies. There’s even a nod to Robert Rodriguez’s trio of Mexican gun-shooter movies, where one of the specials allows the player to wield two guitar cases in which they unleash tidal waves of bullets, similar to what was in seen in the movie Desperado.
There’s even a rewind system here, insofar that players who manage to rack up a fairly neat row of unredoable combos using specials or not (or made by mistake pressed the wrong button) they can simply rewind the combo back to the point of which they royally screwed-up, and simply re-do the combo the way it was intended to be done. The designers have the game setup where players can literally complete the stage without ending their combo. This way, for players who really must complete each and every stage without missing a beat with the combo system, they can try and do so at their own leisure, over and over again.
It might be old, but if it works, use it
Grand Theft Auto was renowned for its seemingly constant grant of freedom, and for the ability to manipulate vehicles at just about anytime during the gameplay. Even though the majority of the game takes place pulling off some fancy cartwheels and spin-flips, blasting down enemies in droves and showing-off your criminal killing skills, Total Overdose adds another neat aspect to the game. It's formulated on the idea that vehicles make neat decorations in video games. From fork-lifts, tractors, trucks, muscles cars and much more. Neater yet, is that the formulae of a decoration being used to slam full-speed ahead into a nearby structure while you jump out of the driver’s seat in slow-motion shooting at the surrounding bad-guys with a gun in each hand, blazing away with the explosion of the collision going off behind you, is sure to spark the fancy of destruction-crazy shooting fans.
This adds a whole-new spin effect to driving vehicles. While you could shoot and drive in True Crime, Total Overdose wants the vehicles to not just be utilized as transportation, but rather more-so as a transportation device into total-destruction of whatever lies in front of the bumper. Taking out certain targets in this game is not simply about blowing it up with a big gun, but depends sometimes on how you use vehicles to your advantage for accomplishing a selected task without doing too much harm to yourself. So, for all the critics of violent action video games out there, it can’t ever be said that there weren’t any moments during the gameplay in which they were always forced into no-brainer choices.
A Fistful of Goodies
Total Overdose, while lacking multi-player features, promises to deliver licensed music from the likes of Control Machete, Delinquent Hall, Molotov and much more. No word yet as to whether or not the Xbox version will feature the custom soundtrack option.
But even with all the mayhem this game dishes up for action fans of "super-action" games, SCI and Deadline felt that this just wasn’t enough. Bonus games have also been tossed into the mix, giving players the ability to exercise different shooting options or abilities for certain tasks. Which, no doubt, will keep players sharp in case they manage to get bored creating their own wicked combos and touting around in some fancy automobiles. (Sense the sarcasm)
If you liked Tony Hawk, Max Payne and Grand Theft Auto, then you’ll be sure to find this hitting your game collection real quick. Be sure to look for this hot tamale to hit store shelves on September 23, here in the US, and September 1 in Europe.
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