Computer And Video Games - The latest gaming news, reviews, previews & movies

	Tomb Raider: Anniversary ^{PS2, PSP} Preview: Could be the best Lara game ever
	VF5 Developer Diary #1 Preview: AM2 lead designer sounds off
	Chilli Con Carnage ^PSP Exclusive: First play of the pint-sized shooter
	Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 ^PS3 The most dependable man in sport comes through for PS3.

All

PC

PlayStation

Xbox

Nintendo

Mobile

BROWSE CVG

PLAYSTATION 2

Contact us
Feeds

Login

Not a member yet? Click here to register!

Video

Launch Player

More Magazines

PC Zone	OXM
Total Film	PSW
Next-Gen.biz	T3

PlayStation: PS2 Previews

SOCOM 3: US Navy SEALs ^PS2

WWE SMACKDOWN! VS RAW 2006 ^PS2

Preview

Total Overdose

Format PlayStation 2

Developer Deadline Games

Publisher SCi

Genre Adventure

31-Aug-2005

Don't let any superficial similarities to a certain free-roaming, shooting-and-driving crime series fool you. Total Overdose is a new kind of beast, a game that chucks wave after wave of brainless Mexican enemies at you and then lets you take them out with massive combos.

The makers have likened it to something from the Tony Hawk's series in the way you string together individual actions for bonuses, but we don't really see it like that. Total Overdose is in a peculiar world of its own, and more abstract than it first seems.

Here's how it works: you're a bad-boy undercover operative, covering for your out-of-action twin brother in the Mexican underworld. Exploring several wide-ranging city and country sections, you can steal vehicles and gun down passers-by as much as you like. But this is no GTA rip-off. It's all just a set-up for some extremely madcap and stylish shooting.

CHILLI CON CARNAGE
It all seems like a normal run-and-gun situation until you start diving through the air in bullet time, taking out multiple enemies with an extremely generous autoaim system. As well as diving, you can somersault off walls Matrix-style and generally perform all manner of acrobatic nonsense. The funny thing is, slo-mo is only activated for these acrobatics. The more kills you get, the more weapons and bonuses you get. The more weapons and bonuses you get, the longer you can keep killing. If Desperado and Sin City director Robert Rodriguez had made a videogame, this would be it.

The way in which this differs from other combo-based games, like the Tony Hawk's series, is that there's a much more generous amount of time given between moves. If you break the action to run to another area, you might still get to carry on your combo. It's odd, but this is a game that has you actively seeking out new Mexicans to kill. In fact, it reminds us of low-profile shooter Gungrave Overdose, which uses a similar combo system to rack up the kills.

NATURAL BORN TEQUILAS
Total Overdose is a game with its tongue firmly in its cheek. Needless to say, the further you go in the game, the more madness opens up to you. 'Loco moves' give you the opportunity to unleash devastation in all sorts of crazy ways. Turn yourself into an invincible bull-man! Conjure up the skeleton-suit wearing hombre on the opposite page to fight by your side! Throw irresistible pinatas! Use two guitar cases to dish out hot lead death to anyone nearby! Each and every Loco move is shamefully funny and shallow, and we pretty much love them all.

And there's more. In fact, if you were sitting around knocking back tequilas and suggesting ever more improbable moves for a game like this, you'd probably end up with the same kind of list. You can aim cars at enemies and dive out at the last minute, which effectively turns the game's vehicles into giant missiles. You can even target grenades as they're thrown at you, causing massive explosions. To be honest, we wouldn't be surprised if there was a special move that turned you into a gigantic Mexican moustache, raining hairy death on all around you.

And the madness doesn't stop there. Just like Prince of Persia, a rewind feature lets you wiggle back in time to try your attacks again. It's a testament to Total Overdose's varied gameplay that this doesn't feel like a big deal - it's just a nice idea chucked in there to broaden out the gameplay a bit.

Before we go, a word about chickens. Chickens are everywhere in this game, infesting the badlands of Mexico like a feathery virus. Shoot them, and aside from the obligatory shower of feathers, they'll sail through the air as if you'd kicked them instead of putting a bullet in their bodies. It's all about the chickens. For the life of us we don't know why, but it is.

And that's what Total Overdose is like. It makes absolutely no concessions to common sense or national sensitivity, and it positively wallows in the muck of its own stupidity. Translation: it's the kind of fraghappy game we could really get into. Are you looking at me, puto?

PSW Staff