Riddle me this. What do you get when you take the large environments and probably the freeform gameplay of Grand Theft Auto III, the gunplay and “bullet time” engine of Max Payne 2, and send it south of the border? You get -- besides another attempt to ride the Grand Theft Auto coattails for one more clone game -- Total Overdose coming soon for the Xbox, PS2 and PC. And this is your first look.

From what I’ve seen of this game I have more concerns that hopes for this one.
It’s supposed to be like Grand Theft Auto, but there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of -- well -- fine I’ll just come out and say it, prostitutes. Yeah, why is it it’s OK to gun down drug dealers and run them over with heavy machinery but it’s horrible if you pass by one (bleep)ing prostitute!

Then it’s supposed to be like Max Payne 2, which means it’s yet another chance to see “bullet time” (from, yes, The Matrix franchise) get overused to an insane excess. I don’t know about you but I can kill people just fine without using bullet time, no matter how “cool” it looks… and yes, if you are tired of seeing another game with an overusage of “bullet time” in it’s gameplay engine then blame the creators of The Matrix for creating “bullet time” in the first place.

Finally we have the resurrecting aspect of Max Payne 2...

Which seems more like an aspect from Prince of Persia : Sand of Time. Apparently “bullet time” allows you to rewind time after you die, which sounds like something they stole from Prince of Persia : Sands of Time more than something stolen from Max Payne 2.
Yeah, I’m sure the game uses bullet time that way so whatever.

And of course lest we forget we have the wonderful place where this game is set : Mexico. Sure, you want to run south of the border for this game, despite the fact most of Mexico’s own residents would rather run north away from Mexico, since a trip to the local Taco Bell just isn‘t enough to feed your Mexican needs. Go figure.

Who do you play in this game? In this game you play a loner who ends up working for the DEA to search for your twin brother who worked for them, but now is running around rampant in Mexico causing trouble.
Maybe he had one taco too many… then I read what the game is about from the Playstation site.

Apparently in this game you’ll play as BOTH brothers… but since they’re twins how can you tell the difference, though I guess that saved time on character animations though. Anyway while the X-Play preview didn’t go into much detail, the brief notes here were a little more in depth.
Seem the one missing brother is that way because he might be looking for both brother’s father’s

killer. Yeah. That wasn’t mentioned on the X-Play preview. Anyway since that killer is hiding out in Mexico (since apparently a trip to Taco Bell isn’t south of the border enough for said killer, nor is common sense enough for me to avoid re-using the same Taco Bell joke again) you and your bro are going to go down to Mexico to go fight Mexican drug dealers… oh, and you also get to pull a tour of duty in California since that’s mentioned in the game’s description.

From California you’ll head on down to Mexico where you’ll dig out those pesky drug lords, and their many minions wherever you’ll find them. From the cities to the desert and the jungle, look everywhere and put a bullet through each drug baddies head… or body… or whatever. And since you’ll have free reign over the collection of a large arsenal of weapons, vehicles (Grand Theft Auto style) and freeform missions to use said things on you’ll have a great many chances to deal out bloody revenge on those who wronged you.

Yeah. And the power to bend time, space and known reality to unleash your vengeance will also be yours.
Apparently you somehow gained the power cosmic in order to deal out vengeance. Go figure.
It could be worse though -- oh, wait, it‘s worse. You steal vehicles Grand Theft Auto style, drive like a reckless maniac (and sometimes you’ll drive in things you probably wouldn’t be caught

undead in), after which you’ll jump out and run around utilizing your reality bending powers to shoot Mexican drug lords and their cronies. Yeah, lord know THAT sounds like fun, don’t make me wait just ship the thing to me ASAP so I can be “thrilled” by this spicy salsa full of “hot” gameplay… right.

And that is basically it. Yeah, try to keep your excitement levels steady while you think about that.
I don’t know if the game will have the same depth of freeform gameplay (and side missions) to keep you interested in the title ala Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas or Incredible Hulk : Ultimate Destruction (the only game to come to mind as of this date that truly honors it’s Grand Theft Auto III heritage), but if it’s all shooting (and in “bullet time” as well) then be sure to have your lowered expectations on full standby for this one. Of course it doesn’t help the game that it has a cheap aspect in that the game often calls out how well your doing with stuff like “Spicy Kill” after you kill somebody such and such a way. I mean really.

It’s not original, it’s not unique, and heck it might have a hard time convincing some it’s good, but it’s there and I have to review it sooner or later… because I have to.
I’ll give you a full review of this title somewhere down the road.