This western-themed First-Person shooter is a great resemblance of the wild west, and features well known western traits
Contains: Strong Violence, Language and Threat
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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a western-themed First-Person shooter which is set in the American Civil War period and presents the adventures of two brothers across different parts of North America.
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STORY - 3/5
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Ray and Thomas McCall are fighting in the American Civil War (1864). After the enemies have been defeated, they have new orders to retreat to the settlement of Jonesboro, but they refuse, and instead of going with the other soldiers they desert their posts to attempt to save their home from union troops. Colonel Barnsby promises he won't stop hunting the McCalls until he sees them hang, for what they did back in his unit - and accuses them of betraying his orders, their country and for the loss of Atlanta. However, upon finding their mother dead back home, Ray and Thomas flee with their younger brother William, knowing Barnsby will arrive soon to owe his promise.
A year later, the McCalls hear word of the lost treasure of Cortez, and go to Mexico in search of it, with which they will use to rebuild their home.
After a beautiful women becomes taken from a saloon where the McCalls were, they catch up to the criminals that took her, kill them, and find out she is the mistress of the most notorious criminal in Mexico - Juan "Juarez" Mendoza, where he says he is aswell looking for the treasure and promises them a share of it, if they work for him in the search for its whereabouts.
The game's story touches on many well-known Western motifs, such as honor, betrayal, greed, faith, and even love, and makes for a compelling narrative, even if the events unfold in predictable manner. The game is over fairly quickly, but isn't without its emotional and tense cutscenes, and a fitting ending for this western prequel that connects to the old Playstation 2 classic.
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CHARACTERS - 4/5
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Thomas and Ray always seem to be fighting over women and having fights, and its just fitting that a love interest is introduced on the hunt for the legendary gold of Juarez. Thomas is agile, can use a bow, knives and a lasso, and is good with the ladies, while Ray is a more head on type of character that duel wields pistols, is strongly built and has the ability to use dynamite. During cutscenes ad even gameplay, there is great chemistry evident between the two brothers, and they feed off each others actions perfectly. Humorous remarks are a constant throughout gameplay, whether one is complaining about the other stealing his kill, or simply because their making a joke over each others aiming, or even praising headshots from time to time, the McCall brothers are the type of characters you'll just enjoy to watch.
Ray and Thomas have lustful appetites for the women, treasure and killing enemies in their way, whereas the younger brother William is completely the opposite, and throughout this western is trying to divert his brothers towards religion, and how fighting is wrong. Many characters are enemies, and these are well designed to be deliberately unlikeable and have all sorts of betrayal ideas on their mind, and of course, the desire to see the McCall brothers dead.
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GAMEPLAY - 4/5
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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood derives from the spaghetti-western genre, and features its fair share of gunslingers, outlaws, duels, prison breaks, bank robberies, stagecoach chases and conflicts with Native Americans. Shooting mechanics are just right, and make all of the guns deadly in the right hands. Before each chapter, you are given the opportunity to play as either Ray or Thomas, each with their set of unique weapons and abilities in tight situations. Thomas' skill with the bow makes it a fine addition to your weapon selection radial, and when aimed, a brief slow motion period is initiated to give you a certain chance of sticking a bow to an enemies forehead.
Ray's chance to use dynamite is useful to clearing out groups of enemies and causing devastating wounds to his opponents that cannot be mended. With his strength, you can pick up Gatling guns when encountered and this gives you a brief chance to mow down anyone in your way with ease. The brothers also have their own special concentration mode, which slows down time and allows precise and quick attacks on enemies when a skull ring is filled (its filled by killing enemies, and goes up quicker with headshots). With Ray you just aim the controller over targets which automatically paints foes, then you press the trigger and unleash all your bullets into the designated spots that you placed the reticule on. The mode for Thomas works by the reticule whizzing to each target while you quickly flick the right analog stick, replicating the gun's hammer, but both end with the same result of mass death... and an epilogue of silence.
The game is linear, but there are a couple of opportunities given to you in a free world session, where you are free to wander the large area, purchase weapons, and engage in side quests. Side quests see you going to a hideout of enemies and killing the leader, or maybe lending a hand to someone in need of assistance, and all come accompanied with rewards. Money is normally gathered from dead bodies when walked over, but occasionally found in crates hidden around levels which could either be filled with gold, secrets (can be viewed from the main menu) or ammo. Like regular westerns, this game doesn't go without its insertion of gun duels, which are won purely on reaction time and accuracy. These are well done, and see you watching from just behind your characters waist and your focus on the enemy movements, which you must keep in sight by moving left or right, and your hand movement towards your gun. Watching both at the same time leaves tension, as you hotly anticipated the ring of the bell, which will end one of your lives. As the bell goes, you must quickly reach for your gun, aim and fire, all within a matter of a second. Gun duels act as the game's boss fights, and you'll probably die a fair few times before you nail the timing to perfection, and take your opponents life in a swift bullet. Like most boss fights, you can expect these gun duels to get slightly more difficult with each one you engage in, but its all tense fun and rarely frustrating.
Overall the gameplay is solid, with many exciting good old western shootouts which surprisingly don't get repetitive despite not as much weapons to select from as you'd probably expect, and with the choice of character selection before chapters, each chapter can have different objectives depending on who use choose to play as.
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GRAPHICS - 4/5
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The western locations look stunning, and the brilliant level design opens up all sorts of exciting scenarios involving frequently depicted movie-like set pieces that end in all sorts of cool ways. The detail in environments is sharp and exactly what you'd want in a game, with colours creating a perfect western resemblance and objects giving the game more sense of realism.
Some minor negative points include the draw distance, where objects frequently pop up, mainly noticeable on the ground with grass, rocks and tumbleweed appearing when you get within range, which can be distracting, but is mainly a nuisance in the open world sessions where you can travel anywhere in either directions. Also in the free roam chapters, when you go to an enemy gang hideout looking for a duel to settle matters and gain a reward for your troubles, there are some surfaces with poor textures, which make that rock face blurry and weird in comparison to the clear textures of the one next to it, which can also prove distracting but nothing too bad as to ruin the gameplay experience. Apart from these minor visual faults, the western locations are all impressive visually, with clever level design that brings out this stunning imagery.
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SOUND - 5/5
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The voice acting is really impressive, and makes the emotional and climatic cutscenes even more watchable because of the professional performances from all the actors involved. Along with the authentic western feel and well done voice work, is the well exhibited sound effects of dynamite explosions, rifle shots and other weapon sounds. Bullets cut through wood with realism and the western theme music captivates just about everything else in the gameplay to further enhance the experience and belief that you're in the game feeling what the characters feel.
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CONTROLS - 4/5
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Gun duels are not only well presented, but the controls during these short and intense sequences are easy and simple to grapple hold of, which make a failure your fault, and your fault only, with nothing to possibly question towards the game because of a resulting death. Concentration mode is just as easy to understand with the controls well matched to try and give you the feel of painting targets with the reticule, or the feeling of replicating a gun's hammer to fill your opponents full of lead before they have a chance to even draw. On a downside, the cover system is fiddly and awkward, and by the time you get into a suitable position to peek out, your brother would have defeated any posing threats with his revolver and leaving you only a kind-hearted remark of how you didn't manage to get a kill. The idea of the cover system is that when you are close to a crate or a wall, you'll attach to it, and when you slowly move the right analog stick you'll slowly lean out with your gun, but its an idea that just doesn't really work, and you'll more than likely never use it unless you're playing through the game on hard difficulty where you need to adapt to the cover system. Changing weapons is like many games, where you hold R2 to get a weapon radial up and then select the one you want. But its a shame that when you hold R2 it doesn't pause or slow down time in real time, as it makes changing weapons in the thickest of fights a bit of a panic. Other than that the configurations are well suited to this historic First-Person shooter, and organised into fairly simple and recognisable ways during duels and concentration mode.
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ATMOSPHERE - 5/5
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A fantastically authentic western atmosphere is generated in Bound in Blood, with much credit going to the graphics, level design, sound effects and music score. The action packed moments will make you think you've stepped right into a dusty and violent wild west, giving the right proportion of shooting so nothing is too packed and frustrating, and not too little and tedious. The spaghetti western vibe is evident in many scenarios including staring stand-offs in gun duels, dramatic high falls from balconies and roofs and of course the unforgettable shootouts in saloons, and make Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood a game where western atmosphere is difficult to rival without taking exactly the same course as this has.
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ENEMY AI - 2/5
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Basic enemy AI can make the game more forgiving than it should be, as the enemies stand out in the open letting you stand and deliver plentiful bullets until each one has dropped and there wounds are too severe for them to attempt getting back up. Its like an arcade game down crowed streets, as the only problem you'll face is making sure every shot you fire is exact and perfectly placed to splatter brains across the walls, because when you miss, the sheer number of enemies standing still can overwhelm you when its time to reload. Fortunately, friendly AI is better, and whoever you play as, the other brother will easily hold his own in a fight throughout much of the campaign. Enemy intelligence isn't terrible however, they do move around which makes them a more difficult target to hit, and they do take cover from time to time. Although when they do take cover, they never blind fire, only poke out their head asking for you to take their life there and then, which you'll surely do countless times.
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LENGTH - 2/5
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If you complete all of the side quests along with the rest of the game's chapters, you're looking at about 7 to 8 hours worth of gameplay, which isn't too bad, but does leave you wanting more action. You'll be shooting numerous enemies in a variety of brilliantly portrayed areas, such as Mexican villages, beautiful forests, scorching deserts and even a ghost town with an eerie like mist enveloping your vision, so while Bound in Blood is short, it touches many iconic western places in great style.
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REPLAY VALUE - 3/5
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However you play - aggressive as Ray or circumspect as Thomas - there are at least 2 playthroughs needed to fully experience this western First-Person shooter. Selecting a specific character before each level not only grants you their own unique set of abilities and strengths, but changes some aspects of the level, with different mission objectives, and sometimes when you get split up there is another path of gameplay to experience which is only available with that certain character. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood may be short and lacks intelligent enemies, but its hugely enjoyable wild west gameplay and stunning visuals will engage you completely on the quest of the McCalls, where your search brings you to realise this is no ordinary treasure, but these are also no ordinary brothers.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 8.5/10
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Good Points: Authentic western environments and gameplay, Stunning graphics, Compelling narrative with exceptional characters and voice acting, Clever level design makes the most out of each situation, Gun duels are tense and exciting.
Bad Points: Unintelligent enemies, Cover system is awkward, Game freezes briefly at checkpoints, Single player campaign is relatively short.