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Total Overdose Web site shoots up

SCi and Deadline Games' renamed Grand Theft Auto-esque crime game goes online; screens and trailer inside.

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After briefly teasing the public with the URL gringo-loco.com, SCi Games has launched the Web site for its forthcoming crime game, Total Overdose. Formerly known simply as "Overdose," the game comes off as a Mexican-flavored Grand Theft Auto. The site offers a trailer, screens, and a brief plot background for the game, which reads as follows:

"The year is 1989 and deep in the sweltering heat of the Mayan jungle, camouflaged among the Inca ruins, Ernesto Cruz catches his breath for a few moments and admires his handiwork, bodies strewn across the temple ruins, as he makes a last gasp effort to board a DEA plane to take him to safety. He never made it home, the tragic victim of an alleged overdose."

"Two weeks ago Ernesto's son, Ramiro Cruz, was hauled out of jail by the DEA to be told his twin brother, Tommy, works for them as an undercover agent and has some new information about their father's death. But, Tommy has had an accident with a hand grenade and now Ramiro must take his brother's place in an undercover operation closing in on the ruthless drug cartel overlord Papa Muerte." According to the Total Overdose site, gameplay in total overdose will see players "crash cars, steal hats, shoot bad guys with style, jump bikes, fight in the street, meet girls, shoot more bad guys, find your father's killer, hot-wire tractors, eat burritos, catch planes, [and] drink tequila." The game's trailer, viewable here, shows its frenetic gameplay and irreverent comedy in action--and packs nearly a dozen movie references into 30 seconds.

Given its eerie resemblance to the Grand Theft Auto series, it should come as little surprise that Take-Two Interactive helped develop the game. According to a freely downloadable business plan stamped "confidential" on developer Deadline Games' Web site, Take-Two helped "finance production" of Total Overdose. However, Take-Two representatives told GameSpot the game was "not a Take-Two product."

According to its site, Total Overdose will ship in summer 2005 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PC. Considering its subject matter, the game will almost certainly be rated M for Mature when it arrives in the US. However, when that will be is unclear. The site currently lists the game with a PEGI rating of 18+, and SCi traditionally publishes in Europe. Representatives for the publisher were unavailable for comment as of press time.

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