Call of Juarez

by UBI Soft

Product Features

• Play as two opposing characters, each equipped with differing skills, abilities and weaponry - As Billy, use your bow and craftiness to sneak in and out of trouble; as Ray, stop enemies in their tracks with your mesmerizing preaching & take them down with your six-shooter
• Recreates the distinct rough-and-tumble beauty of the Old West through detailed and realistic environments that spread across miles of terrain
• Encounter intelligent Old West enemies, each with individual skills who use their environments to their advantage
• Realistic Old West-era weapons & equipment -- from the standard issue six-shooter or the traditional bow and arrow
• Shoot your way out of some of the Old West's most infamous events, such as Billy the Kid's shootout at Stinking Springs Ranch

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000FSS8MO
• Item Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: June 5, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,528 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PC

South Texas, 1882 - Billy Candle has just turned 19 and he stands accused of murdering his mother and stepfather. Hot on his trail is Reverend Ray McCall, his stepfather’s brother and an infamous gunfighter who believes the Lord has chosen him to be Billy’s judge, jury and executioner. Call of Juarez is an epic western adventure about vengeance, survival and the search for a legendary lost treasure.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars And still we miss Outlaws, July 11, 2007

By 

Richard P. Marsden - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Call of Juarez (CD-ROM)

It's been how long now? And I still think Lucas Arts Outlaws was the best Western first Person Shooter. Since that time the Western genre has been oft ignored and only recently had an upswing, with games such as Gun, Dead Man's Hand, and Desperadoes I and II. Still, nothing has been truly memorable and the "Call of Juarez" is no different.

Story
The story line is nothing unusual. An out of luck kid (Billy Candle) gets blamed for something he didn't do, while a rentless Bible thumping Reverend Ray chases him. Meanwhile a sinister (not really) plot (not really) draws the two together time and again.

During the game players take control of Billy, who is on the run armed only with his abilities to hide, to use silent weapons, like the bow and arrow, climb things, and use a whip in the same style as Indiana Jones. Sorry, no hat included.

In a genuinely unique twist, players also take control of Reverend Ray and chase Billy down. The two perspectives to the same storyline is interesting, but sometimes I felt cheated as I had to go through the same map twice with each character. Ray is fun. No doubt he alone almost makes the game worth buying at full price. He is mean. He is old. He is quick on the draw and during the game you can have a Bible in one hand a sawed off shotgun in the other. Supposedly the use of the Bible stuns enemies, but I found it more useful just to shoot them, then read from the Bible for kicks. Ray however cannot climb things, and I suppose we'll just blame this on his advanced age.

Gameplay
Gameplay is fairly standard. Characters can lean to the side (a major plus), run and jump. Shooting is easy enough, though even the rifle is fired from the hip it seems. You never use iron sights, though with some weapons you can zoom in.

In combat both Billy and Ray have a weapon which can slow down time. For Billy this enables you to aim percise shots with the bow, while for Ray you can draw two pistols and theoretically take down six opponents with six head shots. Both are nice features, but almost too nice. Much like FEAR, slowing down time made the game too easy. In fact, there isn't anything difficult at all about the game. Health in the form of whiskey bottles are plentiful as is ammo. Weapons eventually overheat and break, but replacing them is no challenge either.

Most the game you find yourself following a prescribed route, and gunning down enemies who at the most seem to show up in groups of four, and usually less. There is some sneaking involved, and a few mountain scaling challenges, but both end up a bit dull. On the plus side, quick draw gun duels are interesting, as is a chase sequence on horseback.

Graphics
I live in Arizona, so I can tell you that the Call of Juarez looks exactly like what a desert in a movie studio looks like. There are cactus and shrubs and a neat haze effect from the heat. What there isn't? Wind. Most things are static (except for falling leaves, pollen and rain) which is ashame since games like Ghost Recon, which are older, had at least mastered the effect of wind moving shrubbery. Not in this game. Thus players tend to follow the, if it moves shoot it, theory. Not that the game will let you shoot innocents, animals, or dead people; for it places a big RED x over them and says, "No". Odd for a rated M game. More on that later.

Characters look good. In fact they look great. So good, that you wonder how they ended up in such bad scenery. It's like when you see your favorite actor in a B movie and ask yourself, "You doing someone a favor?"

Rated M?
It didn't really have to be. The game, for no real reason, has a sexual reference in the beginning. It's a bit akward and nothing else like it occurs throughout the rest of the game. Blood is dark and plentiful on walls when you shoot people, but corpses tend to just get red where they were shot. No smoking bullet holes, or twitching bodies. Language is mildly coarse. Which is fitting given how the game itself is equally mild.

Overall
The game had potential and could have been better with a supernatural twist midway through, or if they wanted to stay in the 'real world', if they had the game feel like a Sphagetti Western. Neither occurs. Gameplay is dull, enemies are too easy, graphics range from good to bad and ugly.
I bought it full price because I've been yearning for a great Western genre game. I'm still waiting. I reccomend you pick "Call of Juarez" up when it is about $20. Reverened Ray and his Bible/sawedoff combo is worth that much.

PROS = Reverend Ray. A great character! The graphics used for characters. Chase sequences. Mano y Mano gun duels.

CONS = Nothing truly unique about gameplay. A short game, that still tends to be monotonous. Scenery that surely could have been better or more dynamic. Rated M just because.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still waiting for that western masterpiece, January 7, 2009

By 

Chef Sean (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Call of Juarez (CD-ROM)

A lot of games in the western genre have flirted with greatness without quite getting there. This is one of them. Call of Juarez is a fun FPS that throws a few twists into the mix but it is just shy of being great. You take the role of two characters, the Reverend Ray and Billy Candle. The reverend is chasing down Billy for a murder he thinks he committed. You get to play the cat and the mouse which is a fun twist. The cat, Reverend Ray, is a classic western gunslinger. He turns his enemies to swiss cheese with his trusty six shooters and sends them to the afterlife with quotes from his bible. Ray can enter 'concentration mode' that slows time and allows you make numerous head shots before the enemy knows what hit them. This does make things a little easy but it's a very cinematic experience and a lot of fun. The mouse, Billy Candle, is a sneaky kid who's good with a whip and a bow and arrow. His levels become rather tedious. They are mostly stealth missions that get old fast. Start at point A, sneak past an army of enemies, end at point B. If you are spotted you can't fight or run for it, you just fail the level. In order to stay hidden you must crouch by pressing and holding the Ctrl button with your pinky finger for long periods of time which becomes uncomfortable after a while. Adding stealth kills or stuns would have made those levels a lot more entertaining. He does have some interesting platforming levels that are kind of fun though. Playing both characters requires you to play through the same map more than once which may put some people off. The routes available and enemy placement are different for each so I didn't mind.
The story, music, and voice acting are top notch (except for Billy, his actor doesn't even try). You've got train robberies, saloons, horse and carriage chases, duels at high noon and the western landscapes and towns are beautiful. That was a small problem actually. The levels are very linear but the landscape is just begging for exploration. There is no opportunity or reason to though. If they had taken this story and gameplay style and put it in a huge sandbox ala GTA or Elder Scrolls this would have been the masterpiece fans of the western genre have been, and still are, waiting for. But as it is, it's worth a play through. Now that it's hit the bargain bin you shouldn't pass it up!

P.S. I've heard a rumor that some versions of this game contain the SecuROM virus. The version I have doesn't so I can't say for sure. Good luck!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun western game, June 10, 2008

By 

Craig (NY) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Call of Juarez (CD-ROM)

I agree with the reviewer who said this game is highly underrated. I almost didn't buy it but am so glad I did. The graphics are great, sound and music fit right in. The character development is terrific for a fps. Without spoiling any of the plot, the two main characters are very different and this keeps things interesting since the episodes interchange between them. Great story also. After a few episodes you begin to care about what happens to them and want to play to the end.

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