Call of Juarez
Review
Maybe this game heralds a new era and we'll see more good Western-themed games coming up in the future
by Sergio Brinkhuis
reviewed on PC
Scripted
You'll have to guide Billy and Ray through a total of 13 chapters and each chapter comes with a number of missions. Techland has worked hard to ensure that the game doesn't repeat itself and as a result the missions feel fresh and unique. Finding a horse for instance, is not as simple as it sounds. Walking around a barn will confirm that there is a horse in there but reaching it without being seen is difficult. Once you do, you find out that horses need saddles and that you will need to use all your stealth and cunning to find one, get back, saddle the horse and rush off while being shot at by its former owner.
No matter what mission you are on, you will always experience the games' scripted and linear nature. While in many games this would irritate the crap out of me, in Call of Juarez it serves really well. At times it makes you feel as if you are playing a shooting gallery, you know, the ones where you hit a target and a squirt of water hits your neighbour? That may sound a little cheesy but I can assure you, Call of Juarez is not.
Save, save and save some more
In fact, Call of Juarez is extremely challenging. The fact that the Bullet time is so often available is no mere luxury, I can tell you that. You will need this somewhat unfair advantage on many occasions as you would certainly be a dead man without it. While the Artificial Intelligence is not particularly bright (You can shoot someone, then hide and his buddies will be alerted but will give up on searching for you very soon after) your foes are plentiful and they love to surprise you. You need to be wary of every crate and every rock because an enemy may be lurking behind it.
I can't even count the times where I was locked in a fight with someone who kept ducking away only to be shot at from a different direction by someone else. Areas you have cleared but need to return to are sometimes re-populated which instills a feeling that you're never really safe anywhere. That said, the challenge is never insurmountable. There is always a way out or a way to kill your opponents but you will no doubt need several passes at some of the harder parts in the game. The quick-save is under F5, remember that and use it well.
Stunning
I like taking the screenshots that go with my articles while I am actually playing the game. It helps me to capture action-packed moments that will truly give you a sense of what you will encounter in the game. In this case however, my screenshots do not do the game justice. I know this because I tried to set the game on 'full graphics' before taking the settings down to medium. With the graphical settings at maximum, the game simply looks stunning. The amount of detail is incredible, the scenery is beautifully rendered and the animations of horses and humans are really well done.
Techland realized that part of the fun of a Western is all the over-dramatic dying scenes and have gone through great lengths to animate how people die. Enemies go down in many different ways, depending on the type of weapon you use, the distance to the target and even where bullets hit the body. A gunshot at point-blank range will cause your target to be blasted away, tumbling over objects that might be in the way, all in gorgeous 3D with lots of blood splattering all over the place. Call of Juarez is not for the feint-hearted, that's for sure.
So, it's all good?
A review with only positive points? Well... mostly, but there are two issues that deserve a mention. While the game has the ability to completely immerse you into its action and story, its load times may pull you out. My graphics card could use a replacement but the rest of my PC is pretty beefy so the load times should not be much of an issue. The rest of the game runs like a charm so one has to wonder if these load times have been properly optimized. The second point is its first chapter, in which you learn some of the basics of the game. Starting with something of a tutorial is good but unfortunately it is an incredibly difficult chapter, especially considering it is your first time in the game. A poor start of an otherwise fantastic game so be aware of this when you buy it.
Those two points aside, Call of Juarez is definitely worth your time and money. In the above, I haven't even mentioned the great voice-acting, the way sound really helps you to determine your course of action or the fun I had racing through the mountains and valleys on horseback.
Yes, it is unforgiving sometimes when it comes to difficulty and to get the most out of it you will need a top-notch gaming rig. But at the same time, it is among the most fun I have had in ages with a shooter. While the first missions may not turn you on, the third will show you exactly what I mean. Guns blazing, women screaming, bad guys dying as you empty your two revolvers in unison, how much more exciting can it get? Seriously, do yourselves a favour and go buy it.
9.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
