| Total Overdose | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Deadline Games |
| Publisher(s) | EU SCi Entertainment NA Eidos |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox |
| Release date(s) | EU September 16, 2005 NA September 27, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter, open world |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | Optical disc |
Total Overdose (or Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico as it is known in the US) is an open world action/adventure third-person shooter video game that was developed by Deadline Games and published by Sci Entertainment in Europe and by Eidos in North America. It contains a demo for Tomb Raider: Legend on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions. Chili Con Carnage, a PlayStation Portable game using some of the original characters but following a different plotline than Total Overdose, was released on February 13, 2007.
Contents |
The player assumes the role of Ramiro "Ram" Cruz; criminal turned DEA Agent. He has been sent into the Mexican border city of Los Toros and its surroundings by his twin brother Tommy, who wants him to find out who killed their father Ernesto. The player will be tasked with infiltrating and taking down the biggest drug cartel in Mexico and battling it out with dope dealers, banditos, corrupt Federales and Mexican Army, loco luchadores, guerrillas, and other assorted bad guys. Between story missions the player can do optional challenge missions as he or she wishes, exploring Los Toros and gathering bonuses to rack up a high score.
At the beginning, the player assumes the role as Ernesto Cruz, the boys' father. After Ernesto and the DEA attack the military in the jungle to take some info on Papa Muerte, Ernesto is thrown from the plane and killed. Colonel (Commander) Trust believes it's a drug overdose, however, Tommy suspects an agent. In second mission you are Tommy. Tommy meets Marco, who is his primary contact with Morales Cartel. Then Tommy destroys Virgillo gang convoy and their gas station, but is seriously wounded. His twin brother Ramiro takes the job. While searching who is responsible for his father's death, he will have to kill, befriend and interrogate many banditos, gangsters and drug dealers to get to the truth.
The Morientes gang only appears in a challenge called Morientes Mow Down where the player must take an elevator to the top of a tower and then kill the gang members from top to bottom of the tower.
The Virgillos are a Mexican drug cartel, led by Joey Virgillo and his cousin (or brother) Rico Virgillo. They mostly live on farms and ranches where they keep their drugs. They also own a gas station outside of Los Toros, El Macho Bar and Los Toros Boatyard. They are primary enemies to Morales Cartel. At the beginning player will have to battle against them, but later he will be allied with them.
Led by Papa Muerte this is huge organization controlling part of Zona Industrial, meat factory outside of Los Toros (they actually keep drugs in there), Elvez's Car Dealership, Elvez's House, and also a military camp in jungle. They are antagonists on the game and are also on bad terms with another drug cartel, the Virgillo Gang. It comes in these factions:
Controlling major part of drug business in Los Toros, notorious Morales Cartel is led by Cesar Morales and their arch-enemies are Virgillos.
Led by Elvez Gonzales, wealthy car salesman, this gang is heavily involved in arms trafficking.
Led by General Montanez, their military camp is deep in jungle.
Led by Officer Mendez.
Led by Special Agent Johnson, who betrayed DEA and killed Ernesto Cruz.
Fist
Your basic weapon. Always with you, always useful if you're in range, and never costs ammo. Note that your method of using them changes depending on your angle to the enemy. You can punch, kick, elbow smash, groin stomp, head butt, and do all kinds of dirty smackdowns. Even when you have another weapon equipped, if you're close enough to your target you can do unarmed attacks and gain bonuses for them.
Melee Weapons
Iron bar, baseball bat, rake, shovel, machete, etc. Grab these to increase your hand-to-hand skills. These take the place of the fist and have a greater range and higher damage.
Handgun
The most common weapon. Ammo is plentiful and guns are accurate. At higher levels of skill, its accuracy makes it as lethal as any higher powered weapon.
Heavy Magnum
It holds less ammo than the pistol and is bit rarer, but its shots are more powerful.
Sawn-Off Shotgun
Like the pistol it's quite plentiful. Very powerful but runs out of ammo quick. Short Range.
Combat Shotgun
Packs more ammo than the Sawn-Off Shotgun, and can't be dual-wield like the sawn-off shotgun.
Submachine Gun (SMG)
MP5s, Uzis, Ingrams. These hold lots of ammo and are great for spraying around while shoot dodging. The smaller ones can be dual-wielded once you have enough Weapon Skill.
Rifle
Your basic long range gun, usually found in the hands of enemies. You can get Hunting Rifles or basic Rifles- which can be Dual Wielded with enough Weapon Skill.
Assault Rifle
AK47s or modern M4s. Long range with rapid fire.
Grenades and Other Explosives
Grenades, Dynamite, Molotov Cocktails. All useful, all available. Note that the Grenades and Dynamite bounce when you throw them so be careful. You can also shoot them while they're in the air for maximum effect.
Grenade Launcher
This gun launches bouncing explosives over a long distance.
Rocket Launcher
Heavy damage, very hard to find. Will blow up most any structure or vehicle in one shot. Be careful you're not nearby when the shell impacts.
Gun Turret
These can be found in freeroam and some missions on high places overlooking the street.
These moves are special attacks you can pick up by scoring large amounts of points and combo kills. Use them wisely to eliminate particularly tough foes (like bosses) and/or groups of enemies. Note that you are invincible for a limited time while executing a Loco Move. The time the loco move lasts is EQUAL to your maximum health when it begins, but the time of the locomove drains during the use of it.
Golden Gun
You receive a literally golden gun with four bullets that are automatically lethal to all enemies except bosses. This weapon does NOT give the headshot combo message like the other weapons capable of doing a headshot due to it being an auto-headshot weapon which the lack of the headshot combo message also applies if used from two shots to its four rounds during a "wall-walk" (running jump off the wall; a headshot during the Wall-Walk is either called Fly on the wall or King of the Wall depending if you get the headshot while running on the wall or during the flip off the wall). Ram can be harmed during this loco move.
Tornado
Ram spins around firing twin sub-machine guns and takes down all enemies in a 360 degree radius. Sometimes Ram will shout "Huracán Ramírez!!" after accomplishing this move. It is an easy way to get the Uzis in your inventory.
El Toro
Ram lowers his head like a bull and runs around in an automatic forward motion. Anybody he bumps into dies. It is ineffective if the enemy is in an area out of the reach of Ram during the Loco move (for example an enemy on the higher level that Ram is unable to reach Before, during and after the Loco move is used.).
El Mariachi
This special move gives you two guitar cases with machine guns with infinite ammunition hidden inside. The attack is an obvious ode to the Mariachi Trilogy.
Sombrero of Death
This move creates a AI sombrero-wearing zombie wielding a grenade launcher who will help you eliminate your foes. The zombie is invincible for the duration of the move, but Ram is not, which makes this loco move one of the three loco moves that leaves Ram vulnerable for attack during use. Ram can also be damaged by the grenades, making this one of the two moves Ram is vulnerable to friendly fire.
Explosive Piñata When used the enemy is distracted by the piñata (which is either a duck or goat) which can be shot or left to explode on its own. When it explodes, it takes out the enemies that went near it and humorously showers confetti during the aftermath of the explosion.
Mad Wrestler/Mysterioso
This move summons Numero Cinco, a powerful luchador wielding a random melee weapon. In Chili Con Carnage he is replaced by El Gimpo. Ram is vulnerable to attack during this loco move, and can even be damaged by the mad wrestler's melee attacks. Possibly a homage to Numero Cinco, the luchadore featured in the Angel Season Five episode The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco
Vehicles can be boarded from either side door, whether parked or in motion. Commandeering a vehicle that already has a driver moves that driver to the passenger seat as he makes panicked or pleading remarks in Spanish. Many passenger vehicles have a novelty horn which plays La Cucaracha or a few bars of Für Elise in beeps. Vehicles can range in size from the semi to motorcycle.
Vehicles can be used offensively, either by directly ramming a target, or opening the driver's side door to strike a pedestrian. Leaping from a vehicle in motion turns it into an improvised explosive; it will explode on any front-end contact, even if it has coasted to a near stop. Kills made while leaping from a vehicle are rewarded with significantly high point values, and targeted shots while in mid-air are the highest scoring in the game.
Although all cars in game are fictitious, they are based on real cars and unlike other games, they bear over 95% resemblance to their real life counterparts, making them easy to identify and connect with real life counterparts. Here's a list of cars found in the game.
1988 Olds 88, 1992 Nissan Tsuru, 1985 Chevrolet silverado, 1986 Chevrolet beauville, 1986 Mercury colony park, 1984 Pontiac Trans Am, 1999 Kenworth rig, 1940 Ford Flatbed, 1980 Ford Rig, 1960 Chevrolet pickup, 1975 Chevrolet El Camino.
In the game, there are several vehicles found throughout the missions. Most of them can be found in free roam around Los Toros.
Joey Virgilio's "Conquistador"
Red with a black stripe in color and a protruding engine from the bonnet. This vehicle is nicknamed the "DeLoros" by fans due to its slight resemblance to a (heavily modified) DeLorean Motor Car. This car appears early on in the game and is possibly the fastest custom car in the game. Unfortunately, at the end of the mission in which it appears, the player must give it up. Made more unfortunate since the player had to keep the car in good condition as an element of this particular mission. However, this car can be found in free roam on the curve of the small stretch of road leading to Angel's Apartment. This car is considered excellent for making the big jumps to get any high bonuses.
Caesar Morales' Orange Dirtbike
After killing the Morales character and escaping from his exploding bull-ring on the said dirtbike, it will be parked outside the bull-ring ready for the player to take when they want. Like most cars in the game it will always spawn there, even if the player is already driving it.
Angel's Purple And Flame Pickup
This car is available to drive in free roam as well. Although, it's a little bit more complex to get this vehicle. To find it, the player must first, go to end of the tunnel near Angel's flat where there are cars overlooking the cliff, one of these cars will be a rusty pickup like Angel's. Steal this car and drive to, then through, the magic of sharp eyes and spawning you should see Angel's pickup parked somewhere (unfortunately without the Gun Turret on the back) for you to take whenever you want. Like most cars this will spawn in many places even when you're driving it. Ram has possession of the car in the intro of the game as well in Chili Con Carnage, causing speculation if Ram or Angel own the car or share it.
Marco's Tow Truck
After being used in a mission Marco's tow truck is always available at his junkyard.
Police Cars
After completing the game, it is possible for the player to get back to the DEA just by traveling along the side of a hill near the toll-gates while keeping close to an invisible barrier then the player will be able to find a Police Car to drive. In the PC version, there are also drivable Police Cars in El Centro, parked along the beach expressway from the gas station. Also sometimes at the cliff near angel's apartment where the two cars are parked, the van sometimes is a police van, but other times it's just a rusted beat up one.
DEA and Military SUVs
These may be found in later missions, and in free roam in random locations after certain story missions. These are most often locked, but it's possible to shoot the driver out of a cruising DEA or Military vehicle, and then take possession of the vehicle and drive around with the broken windows. These can take more impacts and gunfire than many other vehicles in the game, but like any other vehicles will explode on contact when Ram leaps from it while it's in motion.
Others
Angel / Hooker by Yeni Alvares
Cesar Morales / Papa Muerte (voice) (as Simon Isaacson) by Simon Prescott
2nd In Command / Truck Driver by Carlos Carrillo
Tommy / Ram / Ernesto (voice) (as Daniel E. Mora Jr.) by Daniel E. Mora
Johnson / Montanez by Frank Davids
Trust / Elvez / Agent Pierson / Montanez 2 by Paul Eiding
Hooker 2 by Claudia Velarde
Additional Voices by Manuel Espasandin, Soren Trautner Madsen, Anders Thernoes Jensen, Henrik Lunardi Weide, Jonas Chonovitsch, Katrin Lyngby Kristensen, Rob Peterson and Kate Orsini.
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Total Overdose received average reviews.