The battles in the game will unlock sequentially and tell the story of what Alexander faced and the various tactics he used. The expansion is set to include seven movies to keep the story going and they have signed on Brian Blessed to do the voice acting. Besides that, four new factions will be added to the game along with 60 new units.

Rome: Total War Alexander is set to release in June 2006.

The original games were simplistic, only involving destroying everything in sight including buildings, cars, helicopters, and even eating people. Midway has mentioned that more monsters other than the original three will be unlockable.

Rampage: Total Destruction is set for a Spring 2006 release for the PS2 and GameCube with an MSRP of $19.99.

This would be similar to the recently announced 989 Sports titles, ATV Offroad Fury and Twisted Metal: Head-On. Currently, this is still just a rumor, but if true it could lead to the assumption that EA Sports titles would also be online.

We'll keep you posted if and when further details come about from Electronic Arts.

Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico is a combination of Grand Theft Auto mixed with Max Payne and recent popular movies as you shoot your way through the drug underworld of Mexico. The elements in the game aren’t new by any means as you have slowdown (bullet-time), open-ended environments and rewind amongst other things.

The story puts you in the role of Ramiro Cruz, the twin criminal brother of an injured DEA agent who is chasing down drug dealers and corrupt agents that murdered their father. The plot really is not important to the game as you predominately shoot-up everything in site wherever you go.

Definitely the best aspect of the game is the gun battles and variety of weapons. The actual shooting controls are easy and intuitive; even pulling off complex jumps and flips are simple with the touch of a couple buttons. You’ll have a choice of pistols, rocket launchers, grenades, automatic weapons, shotguns, grenade launchers and plenty more. Subsequently each weapon varies in its effectiveness. Starting out, the weapons don’t provide players with enough ammo, especially considering this is a shooting game through and through, but as the game goes on you can upgrade to get more ammo.

Along with the weapons is a variety of moves that you can do in bullet-time including lunges in every direction, wall flips, and more. Head shots are fairly easy to pull off and as you move through the game players can accumulate special or loco moves. These are fun and as the name suggests crazy because they take out all the enemies in sight and certainly fit the style of Total Overdose. Some moves include El Toro which has you run like a bull at enemies while another is El Mariachi which has you wielding two guitar cases with automatic weapons shooting round after round at your enemies. Another, and perhaps the craziest of them all, is Pinata Boom-Boom which has you throwing a piñata that is essentially a grenade and then all the enemies gather around it and it blows them to pieces. Though the moves are fun and somewhat exhilarating, you can pull off loco moves whenever you want and they do make the game way too easy especially in relation to boss fights which are over in a matter of seconds.

Like many of the other games in the genre, Total Overdose features an open-ended city although it’s not quite on the line of a Grand Theft Auto since you drive to the highway or walk to the subway to travel between locations and then just select where you want to go next from a list. Despite that slight drawback, the cities, cars, people and environments do aesthetically fit the overall experience. Although if you just go on a shooting rampage it’s highly unlikely that cops will show up. What does that tell you about Mexican law?

One other nice feature in the game is the side missions and attainable points to gain more skills. The side quests are simple and they include missions like kill certain people or blow up a burrito stand while other side missions are out there for you to accumulate points in which you have to go hunting on buildings or slide down zip lines to gather points. As for the actual missions, they do feature a variety of sections and a good amount of save points.

Finally, the sound effects and voice acting are decent in the game. The voices won’t win any awards, but fulfill the need and that’s I guess all you can ask for. The real problem with the voice acting is not the actual voices, but more what they say which is pretty stereotypical and even offensive. The sound effects on the other hand are solid with explosions, gun firing and more. The best thing in the audio though is the music which fits the style and edge of the game wonderfully. Eidos recruited rap-metal group Molotov and Delinquent Habits whose styles fit very well with the game. Besides that, gun battles will also have mariachi and other Mexican music playing in the background that keeps the game fun and exciting.

There are many problems with Total Overdose including the graphics, repetition, vehicle controls and linear storyline. Although everything works together on-screen, the graphics are not very impressive as characters are blocky and not very detailed. A problem that goes along with graphics is that characters don’t move realistically either and there are lots of glitches in the game including enemies getting stuck in cars or just stopping what they are doing altogether.

Total Overdose also is way too repetitive - the game is short and the enemy A.I. is terrible. Going through the game, all you’re doing is lunging with bullet-time and shooting up enemies and while it is fun for a bit, it becomes the same old thing over and over as time goes on. Besides that, the game shouldn’t take any more than 10 hours to get through. Finally, the enemy A.I. is bad as enemies rarely kill and even if they do you have rewind to fix the problem.

The shooting controls in the game are surprisingly good, but the vehicle controls are awful. The cars handle terribly and the physics for all of them are the same. You’ll find yourself mostly using the cars as just a way to get from point A to point B instead of another fun element in the game. There are jumps throughout the game, but because the driving controls are so miserable I wouldn’t even want to attempt it.

Finally, one last problem for the game is that unlike in Grand Theft Auto, where you have multiple missions to choose from, you can just do one at a time in Total Overdose. This linear experience certainly kills any excitement in the game. The only thing you can do besides each mission is the side quests which have nothing to do with the story.

Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico obviously took elements from other popular games and movies including Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, The Matrix and Desperado amongst others. The game’s audio, variety of weapons and moves keeps you interested for a while, but the game isn’t that long and is very repetitive, which certainly kills any buzz you originally had. Overall, Total Overdose is an average shooter with interesting elements, but no matter who you are it isn’t worth the full retail price.

The loco moves and action is fun, but it gets repetitive quickly. The driving is very poor.

The graphics won’t blow you away and the cut-scenes are alright, but overall it's just average.

The sound effects and voice acting are solid. The music is impressive and fits perfectly.

The moves you pull off certainly make the game fun, but it does get repetitive after a while.

There are side missions, but Overdose is pretty short with less than 10 hours of gameplay.

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