Gather around,
amigos, and I’ll tell you a violent and bloody tale of drug cartel lords and the
desperados that stepped foot into Mexico to wipe them out and avenge their
father’s death. It’s a tale filled with bullets and drug dealers posing as
burrito cart vendors and, while Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico
might seem to mimic other great action games, it serves up its own spicy
action with a side of spicy humor.
Total
Overdose
immediately brings to mind the action films of Robert Rodriguez with its nods to
two specific Latin-styled action movies like “Desperado” and “Once Upon A Time
in Mexico.” The game begins with a DEA agent in the middle of a raid of a
Mexican jungle where drug dealers have secured a hanger where crates filled with
narcotics are ready to be shipped out. In the middle of the skirmish the agent
dies and thus his son (who is also a DEA agent) goes into the heart of Mexico to
infiltrate the biggest drug cartel in town only to be taken out of action during
one gun battle. As a last resort, the agent springs his twin brother, Ramiro
Cruz, out of jail and guides him into the underbelly of Mexico’s criminal
underground. The trouble is that Ramiro is something of a loose cannon and seems
to want to solve everything with his guns.
Welcome to Los
Toros, a big border town complete with its industrial zone, port, centro, red
light district and even a nice little area surrounding the bullfight ring. It’s
a thriving town with people walking the streets, taco vendors selling their
specialty and traffic composed of old clunkers and dusty pickup trucks. Much
like the Grand Theft Auto series, Cruz has the total freedom to explore
Los Toros and even “commandeer” any vehicle he comes across. While there’s
really not much of a reason to go exploring (the game allows you the total
freedom to move around the massive map but then again it tends to constantly
remind you that there are missions you should tend to right away) there are
mini-games scattered throughout. The mini-games, though, come in two variety:
Day of the Dead (a game where you have to kill as many gun-wielding costumed
thugs wearing sombreros) and a game that turns you into a crazed Mexican
wrestler. Not much of a variety, huh?
Where Total
Overdose does excel in is the action that draws its inspiration from the
Max Payne games. Like Max, Cruz can dive backwards or forwards while
shooting – when this occurs time slows down enough for you to aim the reticule
for some headshots. There are skill points icon scattered throughout the streets
of Los Toros that upgrade Cruz’s gun slinging skills so he could wield two guns
at the same time and increase his accuracy. When your stats are high you can
perform a number of interesting tricks such as wall bounce or wall walk moves
that not only look great but spice up the action. In fact, the game is filled
with specialty moves that happen to have oddball names like Burrito Blast,
Tequila Takedown and the repetitive Spicy Move.
What sets this
game apart from Max Payne is the Loco Moves, which bring seven different unique
special moves that are wonderfully wild. There’s the Tornado move that has you
spinning up in the air with two uzis in hand as you spin wildly in the air
spitting bullets all over the place. El Mariachi pays homage to the movie
Desperado and has Cruz lugging two guitar cases that act as chain guns. Then
there’s the more madcap Pi
