A Wild West epic only surpassed by the Red Dead Redemption...
Set in the 19th century's Civil War torn US; this game is the prequel to Call of Juarez (2007) and follows the McCall brothers Thomas, Ray and William in the search of the cursed Gold of Juarez. The storyline is the best thing about this game, it has got all these rapid twists along with the heart-wrenching transformation of Thomas and Ray from brothers to bitter enemies.
The game-play is good but can often get repetitive, especially the duel part which can be as hard as hell. Additionally the game follows that same Wild West formula of stage coach chases, robberies, prison breaks etc.
The game can also be said to have two complimenting stories because before most missions you can choose to play either as Thomas or Ray, each with different objectives and motives. The weapons are also quite detailed in terms of physics and hold true to the period the game belongs to; nothing get betters than a smoking revolver swinging around your finger and into your holster after you come out as the victor in an one-on-one.
Being an avid gamer, I have seen many games over the years that utilize this bullet time feature but they never try to experiment with it. I give full marks to both the CoJ installments because they came up with superbly innovative bullet times. It is doubly awesome in BiB because of the two different versions there; Thomas automatically pinpoints the targets and you kill them by pulling the mouse towards you (It is super fun!!) while Ray lets you set where the bullets should hit when normal time resumes. Thomas's bullet time sure is the winner.
The graphics present quite an improvement from its predecessor and are more highly detailed, almost at par with the other games of the era. The environment is beautifully rendered with gorgeous forests and waterfalls in the Indian territory and barren deserts in the scorching Wild West. The ground cover is well advanced of the previous CoJ and is way more realistic.
The music is also top notch and compliments different situations very well. The ambiance noises are also great and provide a more engrossing game experience.
All in all, this is one historic shooter you can't miss even if you don't have this penchant for Wild West games; the unpredictable story alone is worth the money...
Gameplay: ****1/2
Graphics: ****
Music: ****
Replay Value: 90%