Call of Juarez makes an inspired design decision, which impacts on the game in such a hugely positive way.
To be fair to EA, they are also known for spotting, financing, and ultimately capitalizing on innovative game concepts - The Sims and the Battlefield series being good examples. That's what keeps them at the top of the game.
Going back to Ubisoft though, they reaffirm their business philosophy by signing Call of Juarez, a first-person shooter set in the Wild West. Its creators, Polish-based Techland, made a name for themselves by developing Chrome, a sci-fi first-person shooter in the vein of Unreal 2. The game did have its strong points, but overall, it felt just a bit too rough around the edges to make any sort of lasting impression.
With Call of Juarez, however, it's clear that Techland has made huge strides in the right direction, (although it is not clear if that is due to learning from past mistakes, or simply getting the proper financial support from Ubisoft). Call of Juarez was developed on Techland's proprietary engine that makes heavy use of NVIDIA Pixel Shader 3.0 support. I've played the game on a relatively powerful system (AMD 4200+, 2GB RAM, 7800GTX) and things worked smoothly on max details and in high res (1600x1200). The engine does a very good job of rendering both indoor and outdoor environments, with the emphasis on the outdoor stuff. The level loading times can be a problem, but only when you first fire up the game.
Much like the Far Cry engine, Call of Juarez code renders the background in full 3D and it does so visually quite similar to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. For some reason, the forest settings in Call of Juarez reminded me a lot of Oblivion, though the Oblivion code looks much tighter indoors. The character animation and the level of detail on their faces are exceptional, with good lip-synching. What also appealed to me in terms of graphics was the relative good use of special effects to create various sorts of moods in the backdrop. This was very effective.
I guess I kicked off this talk about Call of Juarez with engine details because I'm really impressed with how much Techland has progressed since the relatively shoddy Chrome code. Call of Juarez looks and feels like a solid game (even though it does take a stronger rig to run it right). In comparison, I played the game on a low-end system too (with a Radeon 9800XT card), and the graphics looked noticeably poorer (and that might be an understatement).
But the strong side to Call of Juarez is, surprisingly, the developer's willingness to experiment, as well as the personality of one of the two main protagonists.
Call of Juarez is played from the perspective of two different characters: one is a Mexican drifter named Billy, who was wrongfully accused of committing a heinous crime supposedly over the lost gold of Juarez - a mythical Aztec treasure. The other character is named Ray, a self-righteous preacher with a shady past who after years of leading the stray lamb of a small town decides to put down his bible in favor of his trusty six-shooters. Ray is a barking mad self-professed "hand of God," a religious zealot convinced in Billy's guilt. The game tells the tale of these two characters, the ties that bind them to each other and to the lost gold.
Gameplay-wise, Techland made a relatively clear distinction by making Billy into a stealthy, nimble character that is mostly required to sneak through bandit-infested camps and climb ledges, while the preacher is a mangy old coyote that will surely just blast his way through an area, rather than climb a single crate. From a gameplay standpoint, it would be fair to say that the Ray missions are action-oriented, while Billy's Episodes mostly involve stealth and platform puzzles in first person. Much like Indiana Jones, Billy uses a whip to swing off branches and climb up to hard-to-reach places.
That said, I must reiterate that Ray is the charismatic one, while Billy will likely strike you as a bit flat. Ray cites more Bible verses than Samuel Jackson does in "Pulp Fiction," and he kills more people. He is old, fast on the trigger, and totally psychotic. You just *have* to like him (if you don't he'll shoot you). He's a very likeable antihero. The actor who voiced Ray is also very good. A bit over-the-top at times, but the overly expressive acting serves the character perfectly. Controlling Ray, players will get to experience frantic gun battles that are just plain fun. Ray can go into "Concentration Mode" - a sort of bullet time quick draw mode that you'll use to deal with the toughest encounters. At the end of each Ray episode, the old preacher will face off a "boss" character in a good old-fashioned gunfight. The gunfight system takes some time getting used to and is no more than a gimmick, but it still complements the action well.
Billy's missions, on the other hand, can get dreary at times. Techland needs more practice in designing good stealth missions. The AI reacts unrealistically to situations when your character is spotted by not even bothering to chase after you for a couple of steps (just as long as you manage to get out of their line of sight). Furthermore, the overall level design doesn't really work in the game's favor. While this is far less noticeable in the action missions (where you are busy shooting and enjoying the rollercoaster ride-like action), the stealth missions will have you running into invisible walls and sort of noticing the repetitiveness and the constrictiveness of some of the maps.
Looking at the big picture, however, the story and the atmosphere in CoJ will be good enough to keep you going, so I wouldn't go as far as to say that the Billy missions ruined it for me. There were some that I found exciting (things pick up in the later stages).
Call of Juarez is also accompanied with a top-of-the-line musical score. By and large, the voice acting is decent enough to make the Wild West theme moderately authentic - by Hollywood standards anyway.
Call of Juarez, besides introducing a striking game character in preacher Ray, also tries to use the physics in a rather innovative manner. High ledges become deadly traps and your heroes are hardly able to just jump off of them merrily. You'll have to watch your step. You'll have to watch for the camp fire. The weather conditions like the wind and rain also play a role, giving the whole game a grittier feel. This also extends to the weapons, which are definitely fun to use.
While not quite realizing its full potential, I found Call of Juarez to be an enjoyable and refreshing shooter experience. The way that the story is set up was fun and new. Those of you looking for a good Western shooter should definitely purchase it.
A very good game, but not quite living up to it's potential.