Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico

It's a low budget Max Payne/GTA clone that takes place in Mexico. I've lived all my life in Mexico City, and I found this hilarious and fun 16 years ago. It is still today in 2022. The "Mexican" theming, it's a messy pile of cliché stuff: From the names of places that don't make any sense in Spanish, to the post-apocalyptic Cuban looking cities with the yellow tint, to the use of classical Spanish music instead of actual Mexican, to NPCs talking with the heaviest Argentinian accent you've heard. And all of these things, more than being a negative, just go to reinforce the Class B, low-budget, race-y vibe that the game has. Don't get let the low budget comment deter you. It's clunky, cheesy beyond belief, Class B movie fun. Some parts haven't aged as well as I remembered, especially the controls, but I'm surprised it runs flawlessly on Windows 11. No controller support, tho. Also, I don't know if there's a patch for resolution, but it doesn't go very far. It looks blurry on a 4K monitor, so I guess it's maybe better to emulate it on PCSX2 @8x res, which will be more playable thanks to the gamepad. Anyway, it's still a classic for me and I recommend you to try it.

Not as good as GTA3, but close enough, and distinct enough to recommend. Its best point is the combat system -you can use a variety of moves, many in slow motion, to deal with you enemies, along with "fantasy" timed scenarios -like becoming a luchador and picking a fight. The trailer and screenshots give you a good idea of the game, and its kind of humor. I never played Max Payne, so I can't compare this to it. Pros: - Mexican atmosphere makes it different and special moves riff on that - Not afraid to make fun of itself - Variety of shooting moves, very cinematographic and physical - Makes GTA look serious - Forgiving: you can obtain "rewinds" and use them when you die - Point-based leveling system rewards exploration and performance Cons: - Smaller, more limited open world, presumably due to hardware limitations at the time - As an older game, is a bit dated -think of an early PS2 game - Driving is doable but harder than it should -precision driving can be frustrating - "Open world" is actually divided by invisible walls. Loading times are less than a sec, but break the immersion. Each block is not that big. - There's a minimap centered on you but not a full, city-wide map; this, and the partitioned implementation of the "open" world sometimes makes it hard to orient yourself Keyboard and mouse controlled; controls are sane and configurable. If you are not used to WASD it might feel odd. No gamepad option, and it's really meant to use the mouse for aiming. As an older game, it runs letter-boxed (black bars on the sides). On a tv-screen is ok; on a laptop screen is playable but still there's wasted space. There's supposedly a fix to make it widescreen -I didn't test it, and installing unofficial fixes can be dangerous; I don't think it's necessary nor worth the risk but it's up to you. Runs OK on Win10 with Intel HD 520. Overall: recommended. Has its own personality, very action-oriented, and its drawbacks (like mediocre driving) don't break the deal.

Basically, GTA and Max Payne had a baby and its name is Total Overdose. Mechanically nowhere near as good as either, but there is so much charm here that it doesn't really matter. Total Overdose is just a truly fun time. After last playing this in like 2005 on the PS2, I was surprised at how well the game aged. Somewhat substandard mouse aiming aside, it still plays wonderfully. The characters, settings, dialogue and action are all just as ridiculous as I remember.

Note: works on Windows 10 out of the box. You'll need a Widescreen Fix - look it up. Total Overdose is the most entertaining action open world game I've seen. Everything about the game screams creativity, from the setting to the music, gameplay, combat and story. It's one of its kind. If you're a fan of the genre, then you owe it to yourself to give this bad boy a shot. The game's visuals have also aged well. The cities, jungles and farms have a charming PS2-era feel to them, which I find timeless. The combat is similar to Max Payne, but with a lot more depth. You're encouraged to be unique on the moves used during combat - jumping off walls in various ways, trickshots, stealing your enemy's sombrero and others. You'll also come across various special pickups that give you temporary unique ways to get rid of your enemies, such as a golden gun that 1-shot-kills any normal enemy, a bull-like berserk mode, Matrix-style air-spinning dual-wielding shooting to kill all nearby enemies automatically, and many more. It's very hard for the combat to go stale. There's also rewind pickups, in case you mess up and die. The story and the characters are also very fun and entertaining. It's basically a comedy revenge story all the way through. When not in missions, you have an open world to explore for secrets, items, side missions and challenges. However, it's not all flowers - the game has two negatives I have to call out: - The car handling is pretty bad. None of the vehicles feel very fun to drive, the physics are weird and unreliable. It's bearable, but it's not as fun as on-foot gameplay. Could be smoother. - The open world city is split into various zones, with connecting parts separated via a very short loading screen (on modern computers). The problem with this is that the world feels less connected than it should, and you can't bring up a world map (other than during the super-short loading screen). If you can overlook those, you'll have a great time. A classic.

I had been wanting to play this game for a long time now and GOG gave me the opportunity. I wasn't disappointed. Over-the-top story? Check, but no worse than most 80's action flicks. Lots of guns? Check, but they don't feel unique and using 40 bullets to kill one guy just seems dumb. Bullet-time moves? Check, but you have to use them so often it begins to stale near the second half of the game. Free-roaming? Check, but not that you'd really want to. Total Overdose is just a simple crazy action game and, after you finish it, there's really no incentive to come back to it. There's some humor (if you can deal with the racial insensitivity) and a rocking soundtrack. $5.99 isn't bad for a weekend's worth of entertainment.