20-Apr-2005 Grand Theft Auto wannabes must cut the mustard to grab our attention these days, such is the glut hitting us. Well, here's a novel take on the genre, Total Overdose - it's El Mariachi meets GTA. Hell, we'll even carry around guns disguised as a couple of antique guitar cases, something neither Tommy Vercetti or CJ ever did.
Following our father's murder at the hands of a brutal drug cartel, we'll be whipping up a storm on a revenge-fuelled rampage through the streets of Mexico, the sweltering streets of California, and in the depths of South America's jungles. Working as an undercover DEA agent, we'll have to infiltrate and chase down the drug overlord responsible for his murder, plus we'll be expected to undertake a few Mexican twists to the standard GTA shenanigans. Forget stealing sports cars and living it up in a mansion; we'll be hot-wiring tractors, eating burritos, organising tequila-drinking contests, and schmoozing with the hot senoritas. We'll also have to work our way into the drug lord's gang, which will mean the needless slaughter of peasants and bystanders, including a few machete-wielding chicken pluckers (look to the right, she's clearly not having any of it).
While playing Total Overdose we'll also need to learn how to use the environment to our advantage. There'll be various different ways to accomplish objectives, so as well as driving a flaming car into a poppy field (a perfectly acceptable option), we'll also have the opportunity to zip-line above it mowing down the banditos below. It all sounds like perfectly good chilli-powered hokum, especially as developer Deadline Games cites one of its inspirations as John Woo movies, giving our man the characteristics usually seen in Cage or Travolta roles. The combat-style sequences are clearly taken from John Woo as well, as we'll often switch into slo-mo mode in gunfights, allowing us to run up walls, all guns blazing, as desperate gringos attempt to mow us down mid-flight. Whether this happens during other cool, cinematic moments has yet to be announced, but judging from these exclusive screens of cars exploding everywhere and ragdoll bodies flying through the air, we reckon John Woo, and Robert Rodriguez for that matter, would be proud. We'll have a full preview and more screens of this flaming hot shooter very soon.
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