GAMEFURY

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Review (X360, PS3)

The first Call of Juarez was a decent shooter that looked to find a place in the still sparse western genre of video gaming. Bound in Blood clearly learned from the few faults of the original and is an excellent prequel that sets up the story of the original game nicely, though it makes a couple new missteps.

Set at the end of the American Civil War, the game opens up with you in the role of the McCall brothers in one of the final battles. The opening moments were intense and exciting, enough so that it made me wonder why a developer hasn’t taken a legitimate shot at creating a Civil War game. After learning that their family is in danger, the brother desert their unit and head home. From here on, the game becomes more of the western shoot-’em-up action that is expected of it.

With the exception of the very beginning and end of the game, you have the choice of which of the two McCall brothers to play as (a third brother, William, is present throughout the game but not playable). Ray is the straightforward bruiser, as he can take more damage, kick in doors, use dynamite, and carry a couple of the larger guns in the game. Thomas is the more agile and subtle of the two. He can climb ledges, use his lasso to climb to otherwise unreachable places, and use a bow and arrow (my personal favorite weapon in the game). The brother aren’t varied enough to make it seem like a completely different game depending on who you choose, but it is enough to keep a second playthrough feeling fresh.

While the action isn’t entirely unique, the limited technology of the time period actually adds some unexpected strategy to the fights. It is surprising how differently a battle will play out when you only have six shots as opposed to dozens or even hundreds per clip in games based in modern times. Reloading takes just about as long as it would in real life, so you really must remain aware of how many shots you have left. Quite often, I found myself counting shots fired and scanning the battlefield for locations that would be safe to reload so I wouldn’t have to search for them after things started to get tense. Other games have tried this approach and been considered boring or annoying, but I never felt that way here.

Money can be found throughout the world, either in chests or from fallen enemies. Weapon shops can be found in many of the levels and provide you with a chance to purchase new guns. Running through the game without exploring the areas will still provide you with enough cash to buy all the guns, but the most upgraded versions of each can only be afforded by a player that takes the time to search just about everywhere. There is no ‘best gun’ in the game, as each has varying stats that cater to each persons play style. For example, of the several revolvers available, I eventually settled on one of the weaker ones because of a faster rate of fire. Another player may play the game completely differently than me because they preferred a slower firing but more powerful weapon.

"Say we look stupid in these hats one more time. Say it!"

The story works, but only to a point. Even though the gold of Juarez is the main goal, the game never falls into the trap of becoming a generic treasure hunt. The plot is absorbing and always kept me wanting to know what happens next. Most of the characters are interesting and the motivation for each varies quite a bit more than would be expected in a search for gold. Unfortunately, the notable exception to this are the two main characters themselves. The playable McCall brothers, Ray and Thomas, are generally unlikable people. After the opening Civil War levels, they find themselves under attack usually because of their own stupidity, and then prefer to just shoot people in situation where there were obvious non-violent ways out of. Their younger brother tries to be their voice of reason, but he is largely ignored, to the point where I often wondered why they brought him along at all. In addition to this, they also say some dumb things that make them more obnoxious. When William makes a comment that he doesn’t know how to drive a stagecoach, Thomas replies with, “Horses are like women, you just have to tell them what to do.” This statement isn’t clever, helpful, or true (in the case of horses or women), which makes Thomas sound like a moron. Later, they allow a woman that they barely know to turn them into mortal enemies. It is because of this that, by the end, I didn’t really care if either of the playable brothers survived. It’s a big hit against a game when you don’t care about the people whose role you are put in.

The plot may be intriguing, but it is also depressing. For most of the game, bad things happen to good people, often as a direct result of the protagonists. Even though the game ends on a somewhat uplifting note, anyone who played the original will recall that every character that survives this prequel dies violently at some point in the first game. After playing this and Red Dead Redemption, it makes me really want to play a western with an uplifting story. Even with the bleak plot, fans of the original will love how well the events here are tied into the first game. Events in Bound in Blood give clear explanations to the motives of characters in the original, which helps richen the experience and gives both games a more epic feel.

The length could have been a little longer, as I finished my first playthrough in eight hours. The game was also artificially lengthened by two, seemingly pointless open-world sections. Twice, the game breaks the story progress to put you into small free-roam areas. In each, there are three optional side quests that have no bearing on the game at all. These breaks in the action don’t seem to have any purpose and the areas are so sparsely populated with so little action involved in them that they seem unnecessary.

Graphically, the game is impressive. The environments capture the look and feel of the old west perfectly. Any setting that you would expect from the time period is here: lively saloons, ghost towns, vast mountain ranges, and sprawling deserts. Water is a particular highlight, as it looks better here than in most games. Character models look good, but can be blurry up close. The voice acting is decent, but there are some oddities that hurt the overall experience. Native Americans speak perfect, nearly unaccented English but then make comments that only some of them speak the ‘white man’s language’. Ray McCall talks slowly and slurs his words so often that he seems either constantly drunk or mentally handicapped, the later of which would at least justify some of his questionable choices throughout the story.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood provides some fun Old West action, which is great for fans of this fledgling genre. It’s too bad that the main characters are so unsavory, as this and the length are my only major issues with the game. Hopefully a third game in the series is made with some more heroic protagonists that I can really be motivated to root for.

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