Total Overdose

Format PC

Developer Deadline Games

Publisher SCi

Genre Adventure

When faced with a generic third-person shooter with bullet-time, you have to make a decision. Do you deride it, kick it where it hurts, call it a filthy console mudblood (sorry, read the new Harry Potter book recently) and leave it begging for mercy? Or do you give it a chance, lock your lips into an 'ooh' position and play it for the mindless shebang it was born to be?

Well, it's looking increasingly like Total Overdose will prove to be part of the latter camp - with the caveat that we've only played four of the 20 levels, so the old 'variety' chestnut may yet loom large. It's essentially the lovechild of Max Payne and Serious Sam - albeit grown to adolescence and obsessed with Robert Rodriguez's films, Salma Hayek's breasts and the mashing of buttons in combo-chasing games like the Tony Hawk series. Confused? You won't be.

Left button shoots, right button zeroes in for a headshot and spacebar does all the sparkly magic with shoot-dodging and wall gymnastics that would put the youngest girl in the Ukrainian gymnastics team to shame. Barrels explode, Mexicans die and points are delivered for style - which in turn gifts you extra health and Loco Moves such as Desperado-style machine guns in guitar cases or one-shot-kill golden guns.

LET'S PLAY
In fact, in our playtest, the mission at hand became secondary to the pursuit of points, since a timer is always ticking from your last kill, showing how long you have to continue on your point-totting rampage. Eidos is clearly keen on the idea that obsessives will try to string out combos that last entire levels - assuming, of course, that they don't go outside and get a girlfriend first.

Another feature that's remained under lock-and-key until now is the sandbox-y town that you can traverse, if you so choose, in between levels and challenges. Hidden until now due to fears of unfair GTA comparisons (unfair since it's far more reminiscent of the wide open everything-is-a-grinding-surface arenas of Tony Hawk), it's another avenue for point-claiming. The flippancy of the game is very much on show here too, with mini-games like a blood bath in which all the pedestrians turn into versions of something similar to the skeletal Manny from Grim Fandango. The heavy use of chickens and exploding pińatas in the game proper also goes some way to boosting the silliness factor.

Whether or not the story and characterisations are all they're cracked up to be is also up for question, an area in which it's perfectly fine to compare the line-up of Mexican scuz-buckets to the sublime San Andreas. As a no-brain actioner, however, it's a far better prospect than other console fare - and surprisingly well-adapted for mouse control too. You can also steal hats from people who get angry about it and shoot you. No particular reason for it. But if you want a sombrero, then it's yours. More hats in games please.

PC Zone Staff