Chili Con Carnage

Chili Con Carnage is an action/adventure third-person shooter video game. It plays very closely to the terms of Max Payne, but is not as themed toward Grand Theft Auto as its predecessor Total Overdose was. Chili Con Carnage is developed by Deadline Games and published by Sci Entertainment in Europe and by Eidos in North America. Total Overdose was released September, 27, 2005. Many reviews of the game classify it as both a sequel and a remake.

Story
You are Ramiro "Ram" Cruz, an athletic wisecracker. Ramiro, after witnessing his father Ernesto being murdered, (Along with some kittens, which were Ram's birthday present to his father.) in a freak combine harvester accident, wants revenge on the culprits responsible. On your quest for redemption, you will be taking down sinister drug lords, cutting through corrupt bandidos, and battling it out with femme fatales, crooked mercenaries, and even ritualistic zombies. In between the missions you can choose to play mini games, in each of which you are plopped right into the middle of a situation and must complete a number of moves (Fly on the Wall, Burrito Blast, Etc.) with a limited number of enemies, or beat a set score in a limited amount of time. There is no free roaming option in Chili Con Carnage.

Characters
Ramiro "Ram" Cruz

The main protagonist in the game, You will be playing as him throughout the entire game. Ram is an athletic guy with street skills and a tendency for extreme sports and moves. He witnesses the assassination of his father when he goes to give him his birthday present. Fuelled by the need for revenge he embarks on a journey to bring the perpetrators the ultimate justice. His nickname, given to him by his enemies in the game is "El Gringo Loco".

Character Difference: In Total Overdose, He was more reckless, and was an insane felon, who was released from prison only to help the DEA. He could carjack and kill innocent civilians, in the city. He is more rightfully motivated in Chili Con Carnage, only wanting to avenge his father's death. He is not noted to have been a felon in Chili Con Carnage's storyline. His shirt color has also changed from purple to red.

Ernesto Cruz Ernesto was a Federales cop who investigated the largest drug cartel in Mexico. On his birthday, just as he was about to crack the case open, he was killed in a spectacular assassination ordered by the very same drug cartel that he was about to bust. His son, Ramiro, witnessed his death.

Character Difference: In Total Overdose, he has another son, Tommy Cruz. He also dies in a different manner, being pushed from a plane, after overdosing, instead of being killed by a combine harvester.

Marco Marco is the Cruz family's black sheep. He is Ram's uncle and his network of less than savory contacts in the Los Toros underworld makes Marco a goldmine of information. Marco is basically a coward and he finds all kinds of excuses for staying out of harms way leaving Ram to face the bad guys alone.

Character Differences: In Total Overdose he owned a junkyard in Los Toros, he also was not Ramiro's uncle.

Mama Virgillo As the matron of the Virgillo family Mama Virgillo is a scary creature. She has lived all her life in the dusty marijuana farm outside of Los Toros and has inhaled too many fertilizer fumes for her own good and therefore stands 3 meters tall today.

Equipped with two canes, dynamite sticks, meat cleavers and a stinking cigar she is trying her best to stop Ram from eradicating her family and demolishing her farm.

Character Difference: None, she is not mentioned in Total Overdose.

César Moralés Cesar Morales is the undisputed king of the Los Toros underworld. He runs the shady businesses of Los Toros with a firm bloody hand and his mischief is starting to spread into legitimate businesses that he uses for trafficking drugs into the US. His latest megalomaniac idea is to run for president of the local government.

Character Difference: In Total Overdose he is not so closely tied into the death of Ram's father, he is also confronted in a different manner.

In Chili Con Carnage, he is fought in his bullring, after making you face a living bull, and has a henchman, named Mini Morales, who is dressed as a bull. He and Mini Morales charge you in the bull ring, after you defeat his bull. In Total Overdose, he is fought in his office, and uses a gun instead of charging you.

Elvez Gonzales Elvez is the puppet master, the head honcho, the mastermind behind the biggest drug cartel in Mexico. When the federale Ernesto Cruz, Ram's father, gets a little too close for comfort he puts out a contract for the death of Ernesto through his partner in crime Cesar Morales.

Character Difference: In Total Overdose he owns a car dealership, and is also dressed differently in your confrontation with him. Unlike in Total Overdose, he escapes his mansion and is not killed there. Another difference is he is more closely tied in with Cesar Morales in Chili Con Carnage than he is in Total Overdose. In Chili Con Carnage, he uses a heavily armored tank to try to kill Ram.

Loco moves
Loco moves are an assorted selection of special moves that Ram can pull off. You may only have one of thesions. This is an obvious reference to the Mariachi Trilogy.

Gatling Gunzalez Summon Gatling Gunzalez to help you. Gunzalez is armed with two Gatling Guns and is very capable of unleashing devastating firepower on the enemy. In Total Overdose, Instead of Gatling Gunzalez, this Loco move summons Sombrero of Death.

Piñata Throw this at the enemies and they flock around it reverting back to childhood eager to see the surprise inside. In this case it's a nasty one.

El Gimpo Unleash the mad Mexican wrestler on an unsuspecting audience. He will run around screaming and yelling profanities while bashing every person and destructible object he finds along the way (In Total Overdose he is known as the Mad Wrestler).

Pickups
Rewind This is by far the most useful pickup in the game. When used, It can turn back time by a few seconds. Its main purpose is for use when you have died, but you may can also use it whenever you see fit. If you die and are out of these, it is game over and you must restart your current level.

Combo Extender This pickup adds a blue bar to your combo bar that slowly moves upwards. When it reaches the top, your normal combo begins to decrease again. Useful for extending combos to rack up more points.

God Mode This is another highly useful pickup. When picked up, it adds a blue bar to your health meter that decreases the same way that your health does. As long as this is activated, you are invulnerable. It is good for 10 seconds.

Bonus Points These pickups come in two varieties: 100 and 200 and points. No matter how many points, always grab these when you see them.

Overdrive When you strike up a combo-chain of 15 and over, your enemies will drop one of these power ups. They will increase your fire power to double strength, and also give you a dual of any weapon in your inventory (Excluding the Rocket Launcher and Explosives). These only last as long as you continue your combo chain.

Health These pickups restore your health. The smaller pickups restore partial health, the large pickups, full health.

Fiesta Mode Event Pickups
Camera Twist This pickup causes the camera to turn upside down, making it difficult for opponents to play.

Quake This pickup causes an earthquake when used, that makes it impossible for opponents to stand up or shoot straight.

Combo Steal This pickup steals one combo-multiplier point from each opponent's combos.

Combo Stop This pickup stops all combos, and causes them to cash in immediately.

Confetti The confetti pickup causes all enemies on the opponent's screen turn to confetti, making it difficult for them to score points.

Weapon Steal This steals all of the opponent's weapons except the small handgun.