This is a good game, but maybe a couple more in the old west then tap back in to this era.
The Cartel
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Techland
Platform: Xbox 360
Rated: Mature
Released: July 19, 2011
Visuals:
The visuals for Call of Juarez: The Cartel are interesting, well on the detail to the environments were in some of the level's seemed a little bland and on some level's they used a foggy look which was alright but was a little annoying and their is some levels that take place in the desert which was the best looking environment's in the game visually.
So I'll talk about the levels that were a little bland first and they are the levels that are in the urban streets of Las Angeles and the docks they seemed a little under done and it felt like they were not thought out to well and the level design for these level's could have used a little more work and a little more polish to them.
Now the mentioned foggy look that is on some of the level's like the first mission where you have to go and burn up some marijuana fields(sorry for the little spoiler) and this foggy effect is on the level docks which kinda was annoying because that mission is at night so you have that and add the illusion of fog but it's not that foggy it's just the look ( like a little misty fog effect ) but still add the night and a misty fog effect it was okay but could have done with out it and this effect is on about maybe two or three more levels.
Now the best looking detail of level design for this game or even the franchise and that is the design of the levels in the desert and just like in the first Call of Juarez and it's prequel Bound in Blood the design of the desert levels were just as amazing as it's predecessors and the detail to all the desert levels were visually the best looking in the whole game's level design.
So now I'll talk about the design of the main character model's and I'll be honest and that is I think the detail to Ben McCall which he is suppose to be a direct descendant of Ray McCall from the last two game's but he's a L.A.P.D and the detail to him alright and not bad, the detail to Kim Evans is a little similar to Halle Barry, but a little over the top in the detail, and the detail to Eddie Guerra also looks great and I just can't put my finger on which actor he reminds of, but still the detail to all the character's and all the main villain character's look really great. So in short for the visuals are a little shotty on some level's and looked great on most of the other levels like the one's in the wilderness and the one's in the desert of Mexico and in fact they were in one word just great.
Audio:
The audio for Call of Juarez: The Cartel is quite good, from the voice work to the sound track and most of the sounds of the guns. So I'll start with the sounds of the guns and most of them sounded great and that included the U.Z.I's all the way to the AK 47 and all assault rifle's and with that said their are two heavy weapon's by the name of the PKM and the M60, the PKM sounded really nice, but the M60 had the same effect as the M60 in Call of Duty: Black Ops and that sound is it sound's like a helicopter was flying over head in slow motion now I'm not sure if that is how that weapon is suppose to sound but it did not sound right to me, but that is just me.
Now the sound track to this game and that is it was great with a nice mix of a musical score that made some parts of this game make you really get into the game and their were some urban hip-hop or gangsta rap for the areas in the urban gangsta streets of this game and both mixes of music really help set the tone in this game and went well together and the music for this game was good.
Now the the voice work for this game was just great for two of the three character's and the overall voice work for this was all great just like the first Call of Juarez and the prequel Bound in Blood, so the voice work for Ben McCall was just excellent but I still missed the guy who did the voice work for Ray in Bound in Blood and the first Call of Juarez and if it was the same guy then he really is a great voice actor, the voice actor for Eddie Guerra was great and just like the character's likeness where I could not figure out who he looked like and the voice work for him was familiar as well but I could not nut my finger on but it was still great voice work, now the voice work for Kim Evans and I did point out that the character kinda looked liked Halle Barry and now their were time's where the voice work for her sounded like Halle Barry as well but their were time's the it did not and in fact in some portion's of the game it all ways sounded different and at other time's where it sounded like Halle Barry it still sounded great and those other time's it did not sound that great, but the voice work for these three character's and the supporting cast was all great.
Now I'm going to mention two bad thing with the audio and that is in some part's of this game mainly in a cut scene at the beginning of the game and in two other cut scene where the character's were inside like an office or a room they sounded a bit muffled like the were talking through a glass or a bottle and the other bad thing is well it did not bother me much at all and that is this game as a lot of excessive language. So in short for the audio for this game is this despite some minor thing's with the audio, like the for mentioned some parts of the game the character's sounded like they were muffled and the excessive language, but the audio is still great as always in this series.
Gameplay:
Now the gameplay for Call of Juarez: The Cartel is great from a story aspect and is decent from the actual gameplay mechanic's. I'll start with the decent gameplay mechanic's and that is if you are familiar with the control's from the last two Call of Juarez game's especially with Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood where they are almost the same as one another but with some changes cause if you remember from the last two game in the series you could just tap the right bump or hold it down to see what you wanted to cycle through and now in this game you can tap the right bump to cycle through the weapons which you can carry three guns and a grenade or more grenade's depend on how many you pick up along the way and if you hold the right bump you will duel-wield two pistol's or depending on which character you use you can duel-wield two U.Z.I or two Scorpion's or a U.Z.I and a Scorpion or a pistol.
So the gameplay is quite fun but it can get a little repetitive at time's because the enemy A.I. are not that bright in the ways of tactics and like most first person shooter's you have friendly A.I. which they can handle their own but it's more about you getting the job done and one more thing about the enemy A.I. and that is this, their are some time's where you catch one or two of them aiming at your teammate's and while they are doing that they seem to never miss you at all but that is just one of the problem's but not that much though.
Now the story for this game is quite good and in fact it was surprisingly good and as I mentioned in the earlier parts of my review I mentioned the character's and in the story and you have three character's to choose from and they are Ben McCall which he is an L.A.P.D Robbery-Homicide detective and he is also a direct descendant of the McCall's from the original game's and he is teamed up with Kim Evans and she is a FBI agent with tie's with the gangsta life and the last member is an DEA agent named Eddie Guerra which as a troubled pass with gambling and other stuff.
So you have three character's play as and they all have their own plot line's with hidden agendas and some plot twist's and different ending's if you choose their second choice at the end, but if you choose the to pick the first option you will get the same out come every time except when picking the other option and you get their alternate ending's.
So with that said these character's are brought together to investigate and take down the Mendoza Cartel and their is some review's that I have read and seen and they say that their is not much in comparison's to the other two game's except for Ben McCall which is the main character, but their are some other ties to this game from the other two game's and this might be bit of a ( spoiler ) if you see it that way and their is a Character that you meet in the game that is selling weapons to the Cartel and after he show's of those weapon's he ask's you what do know about the ancient gold of Juarez and their is the fact that you are trying to chase the cartel that is lead by Juan Mendoza and another man named Tony Alvarez and I don't about Alvarez but Mendoza sounds familiar, oh I would like to point out that their is no more gun duel's for boss fight's and the have been replaced by boss fight's with helicopter's but their is one of these boss fight's with the character who asked you about the legendary gold of Juarez and in this fight he mention's he is a direct descendant of the General that was in Bound in Blood I think and the last thing that was put in this game to make it a tie in with the other two game's and that is the fort from the end of the last two game's.
So in short this game has decent controls and a great story and with half way through the game they put ties in this game from the last two and it make's the single player for this game just great.
Multiplayer:
Now for the on-line for Call of Juarez: The Cartel and the on-line is not that great but it is still fun to play and it only has two mode and you can play the single play with drop in drop out co-op and you can do that with some competitiveness to see who can get the most head shots and stuff like that.
Now with the two mode's and they are your standard team death-match and they other is a objective style game mode with both side's having objective to do and to prevent the other teams to complete and as you begin the on-line for this game you get to choose which team you be with and one is COP's and the other is GANGSTA's and as play you get to unlock some new weapon's some body armor, and perks for this is the good thing about the on-line for this game and that if go up to some one and press the X button you and that play become part of a partner up and when the two of you are near one another it make's the two of you give a little more damage and let you take a little less damage which is a cool feature and the on-line is pretty good but their are some technical issues and some lag problem's and this may be from that both Techland and Ubisoft was not expecting a big out come of people getting this game in the first week of being out and I'm sure they are fixing the problem as we speak so if you experience these issues when you pick this game just be patient with the and for the moment despite these issues the on-line is still fun to play.
Overall:
Now the overall point on Call of Juarez: The Cartel is this and despite some issues with some of the level design on some levels and on some of the non-playable-character's and some of the level design was great and the detail to most of the main character's of this looked great. The audio for this game was amazing with a superb sound track and great voice work.
The gameplay was decent and the story is great when playing it from three different perspective's and plot line's and a small but great tie in from the previous game's. The on-line for this game has only two modes and drop in/drop out co-op and as some issues. I would like to point out that the main menu is not all that great to look at they could have made the main menu a little better and in the overall aspect it could have used a little more polish but other than that there are some great areas to this game, but still there are just some not so good areas as well in this game.
So with that said this game is fun and worth checking out and if you are not sure about it then rent it first before you buy, I would like to point out that this game is nothing like Call of Duty at all and it is part of the Call of Juarez series. So anyways you should check this game out anyways, you might like it.
7.5 out of 10