In 1989, Ernesto Cruz, a deep-cover DEA agent, leads a troop of DEA agents against a militia in a jungle to take some information on Papa Muerte. After the attack, Ernesto is thrown from a plane and killed: his C.O. Colonel Trust believes it's a drug overdose. Ernesto's son Tommy, a high-ranking DEA agent, goes to Mexico and finds Marco, who is his primary contact with Morales Cartel. Tommy destroys a Virgillo gang convoy and their gas station but is seriously wounded by a grenade explosion. With no alternative, Tommy calls his younger brother Ramiro, an imprisoned criminal, to take the job.
A sequel was originally planned named Total Overdose 2: Tequila Gunrise, but it was cancelled after Eidos Interactive pulled out of it and Deadline Games suffered poor sales from their the episodic title Watchmen: The End is Nigh resulted in Deadline Games filing for bankruptcy only two months after its first episode released.
This game provides examples of:
Total Overdose
- Badass Family: You get to play as three different members of the Cruz family and all of them are badass gunslingers with the ability to entre Bullet Time.
- Bullet Time: Naturally because of it's Max Payne influences. Slowing down time while you open fire on your enemies are rather abundant. Although unlike Max, Ram has more than just Leap and Fire as his only options of entering bullet time.
- Car Fu: Thanks to it's GTA influences, drivable cars are an option for Ram and mixed in with the his ability to enter Bullet Time via Leap and Fire. Ram can pull some pretty damn cool stunts. Although if you want something more mundane Ram can open the door and lean out with it in order to smack any poor bastard in the face with it.
- Decoy Protagonist: A twofer!
- The first level has you playing as "The Father" Ernesto Cruz. At the end of the first mission he is betrayed by his allies and tossed out of an airplane to his death. The rest of the game focuses on his sons trying to bring his killers to justice.
- The second level has you playing as undercover DEA agent Tommy Cruz "The Good Son". After taking out a bunch of gangsters he is seriously wounded by a grenade explosion and spends the rest of the game confined to a wheelchair, which leaves...
- The true main character is Ramiro "Ram" Cruz, referred to in his introduction as "The Bad Son", whom the rest of the game places you in the shoes of.
- The '80s: The game is set in 1989.
- Evil Twin: Compared to his brother Tommy, who works for the DEA and is very morally upright. Ram is a criminal Heroic Comedic Sociopath who gleefully guns down anyone he's told to and is eager to take Tommy's role of being the mole for a criminal organization.
- Exploding Barrels:
- Above average amount of exploding scenery for a shooter/driver, and every car becomes explosive on contact after diving from it
- There is a button set aside specifically to target explosive object.
- Gun Fu: A specialty of the Cruz family, pulling some incredible stunts and moves with their firearms.
- Guns Akimbo: Almost every firearm that Ram can carry, can also be dual wielded. Although he has to unlock the ability to do so for certain firearms.
- It's Personal: At first Ram was mostly willing to help Tommy and the DEA just to get out of prison. Upon learning that their father was killed, he's much more willing to cooperate to find the culprit.
- Leap and Fire: Obviously because of it's Max Payne influences, Ram and the entire Cruz family can dive, enter Bullet Time and then open a can of hot lead on their enemies.
- Logo Joke: Both the Eidos and Deadline Games logos are introduced via humorous animations of luchadores and men in skeleton body costumes performing a juggling act with dynamite (with the Eidos logo) and doing a dance in sombreros (the Deadline Games logo).
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Revolvers are one of the strongest firearms within the game's arsenal.
- Sawed-Off Shotgun: Probably Ram's weapon of choice thanks to the amount of promotional stuff showing him wielding double-barreled sawed-off shotguns.
- Senseless Violins: The El Mariachi Loco Move gives you two large guitar cases that also have a fully automatic firearms hidden in them. Allowing you to cause a very large amount of carnage in a short timespan.
- Shout-Out: The El Mariachi Loco Move is a rather obvious shout out to El Mariachi.
- South of the Border: The game's main setting.
- Super Drowning Skills: If you ever fall into the ocean your character will immediately climb out of the water and a caption will show up saying "THIS IS NOT A BOARD DIVING GAME!"
- Super Mode: The Loco Moves , which range from either giving you powerful weapons or enter an almost invincible state.
- Time Bomb: Several missions and side challenges force you to run for your life.
- Twin Switch: After Tommy was gravely injured thanks to a grenade exploding near a gas station. He was forced to bring his identical Evil Twin Ramiro out of jail to fill in for him.
- The Unfought: Papa Muerte, the man behind everything. You never even come face to face with him.
Chili Con Carnage
Cover Art for the game.
Chili Con Carnage is sort of sequel/remake to its predecessor Total Overdosenote released for the PSP.Unlike its predecessor Chili Con Carnage drops the Wide-Open Sandbox elements (thus the Grand Theft Auto influences, yet the ability to drive vehicles is still around) and plays very closely to Max Payne with it's level-based design. The title was also developed by Deadline Games, then published by Sci Entertainment in Europe and Eidos in North America. There was a site
for the game, see also the page on the Total Overdose Wikia.- Adapted Out: A lot of stuff was adapted out in Chili Con Carnage. Such as Tommy and the DEA, with Ram's criminal background being non-existent (now being a street-smart gunslingin' wisecracker) and him being an only child with good relations with his father.
- Adaptational Heroism: Ramiro is hit with this in Chili Con Carnage, going from a Heroic Comedic Sociopath whom at first was only willing to go with his brother Tommy's mission just to get out of jail. Into a street smart gunslinger who cares for his father and even went out of his way to gift him a box of kittens for his birthday before his untimely death. Furthering the contrasts is that in this game he has a a red shirt instead of a purple shirt.
- Denser and Wackier: While Total Overdose has it's fair share of wild and wacky moments, Chili Con Carnage takes it up to elven. The game's tone, setting, characters almost feeling like some kind of over-the-top adult action cartoon.
- Red Is Heroic: Ramiro in this game wears a red t-shirt and is a great deal more nicer compared to his Total Overdose counterpart.
- Related in the Adaptation: Marco was a minor character in Total Overdose, but in Chili Con Carnage he's not only given a great deal of importance but was also turned into Ramiro's uncle who helps him in his quest for revenge.
