Written by Jeff Buckland, 7/6/2009
Played on:
Xbox 360
When Call of Juarez was released a couple years ago, many gamers had never heard of it or its developer, Techland from Poland. But with some solid first person shooter gameplay, the relatively unique spaghetti western atmosphere, and a story that took some players by surprise with its depth, Juarez wound up being much better than some expected (especially as an Xbox 360 port that had a much better frame rate than the PC version a year before).
Now, Techland has a prequel out. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood takes place during the Civil War and tells the story of the first game's Reverend Ray as he and his brother Thomas transition from Confederate soldiers to homestead-defending deserters, and then on to greedy treasure hunters. This is before Ray found redemption and became a Reverend, so you do get to see a new side of him if you found him to be an interesting character in the first game.
As a first person shooter, Call of Juarez has some fairly standard action with a couple of innovations that wind up being hit and miss. For one, killing enough enemies allows you to enter Concentration Mode . You'll get a minute during which you can activate a slow motion mode where you simply sweep your crosshair over enemies and the game automatically puts up to twelve little bullseyes on a number of enemies. You can put them all on one guy to really put the hurt on one guy (and usually overdo it in the process), or you can spread your shots out to anyone else in view. Or as Thomas, you flick the right stick and get a similar effect.
The other innovation is an attempt to implement a cover system entirely in first-person view. Instead of turning his back on the enemy when hiding behind cover, he ducks behind crates and barrels (or in pre-determined spots, lit up in red, behind some walls) and as you slide the right stick to adjust your view your character will start to expose himself and allow him to take shots from behind cover. Overall the system does mostly work, but sometimes your guns will pass directly through the object you're behind - game developers know this as clipping - and it really kills the immersion in what otherwise is a great-looking game with some really nice views of an undeveloped United States in the 1800s.
During the game you'll swap between Ray and his brother Thomas, each with unique abilities, much like you did between Billy and Ray in the first game. But it's not quite as interesting here since Ray and Thomas aren't adversaries at first, so it's more of a conventional experience. Both are pretty combat capable, but while Ray can dual-wield pistols, carry gatling guns, and kick open locked doors like they were made of paper. Thomas, on the other hand, is a crack shot with a rifle, can take out enemies silently with a bow, and stab people with a knife. But unlike Billy in the first game, he's not running scared at the beginning; Thomas comes out killing right from the start.
For quite a while during the game, you'll get the choice to play as either Ray or Thomas and get their unique abilities. In the end, though, the difference isn't huge between the two because the enemy placement is the same, the AI is pretty dull, and the game is rather easy overall with frequent checkpoints, regenerating health, and the cover system sometimes making it a little too easy to avoid enemy fire. (At least in Halo the enemies would actually move around regularly.)
Still, the whole experience is made more exciting with some great, epic fights on a steamboat, in a sinking temple, and during a Civil War battle itself. The boss fights come by way of a classic western duel where you want to line up your body to make the shot and also keep your hand near your holster at the same time. These are generally difficult to get used to at first, but the checkpoint that is hit before the duel starts means you won't be set back if you fail. Even with a few deaths counted in the game won't last you quite as long as the average FPS nowadays, but there is some alleged replay value in playing the game at a higher difficulty or as the McCall brother that you skipped last time. I think for most people, though, that won't add quite enough for some players to be entirely happy with.
The presentation in Bound in Blood - the fantastic views, the gritty western feel, and the variety of places you'll fight - really does help one overlook the game's shoddy AI, lack of cooperative play (even though both Ray and Thomas travel together throughout most of the game), and sometimes poorly-written dialog. But the actors actually do a great job, though, save for a few minor characters, and Ray and Thomas are definitely the stars of the show.
The multiplayer that is included consists of several competitive modes in class-based, teamplay action over Xbox Live for up to 12 people. As you play, you'll unlock all of the game's wide range of classes, including slow and powerful dudes who can take a few hits, snipers, sneaky natives with bows, miners with explosives they can toss, and more. These modes are quite fun and generally feel well-balanced, but I'm still doubtful that they'll be taking any players away from Call of Duty or even more recent games like Red Faction: Guerrilla.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is just as good as the original game, and its two main characters do a great job of keeping you interested even when the action falters. The western atmosphere is about as good as we've seen yet and while the lack of cooperative play seems like a missed opportunity, the competitive modes almost make up for it. You won't find any serious innovation in the first person shooter genre here, but Bound in Blood at the very least is worth a good weekend of offline and online action.
