Customer Reviews

Call of Juarez

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

I really like this game. It is an authentic recreation of the old west. Very fun to play and easy to learn controls. I recieved this product in 3 days and it was easy to install. I suggest this game to anyone who enjoys westerns.

The most underrated game this year. Excellent graphics. Fun gameplay. Very good story (as far as stories in video games are concerned). The writing and voice acting didn't suck, which is more than I can say for 95% of the games I've played.

Despite some critical reviews of this game, I found it unique and enjoyable. It may be repetitive with some annoying enemies (ie. wolves), but I really enjoyed stealth killing bandits with a bow and arrow. Overall I found this a fun game and very much worth it's current low price.

I have to say that this is the best western I have played since Lucasart's Outlaws. The game is definately unique and has a mixed pace throughout the game. I found myself struggling to keep up at times and at other times I found myself having to think through the game pretty hard. This is a difficult game and if your looking for that action buzz, this isn't the game for you. This is a very story driven game with lots of landscapes and different situations to deal with. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because, as some other reviewers have mentioned, you get very little chance to explore the scenery. However, I know for a fact this is something they remedied in the second game. This game blows GUN out of the water and, for the record, Gun is a horrible western.

I regret having found this game as late as I have. I actually ended up playing the sequel before this one so unless there are others out there in a similiar situation, I doubt my review will mean much to anyone. However, pick this game up!

I just don't understand how some mediocre games get such great press, and yet games like this never find an audience. Its puzzling.

Call of Juarez must be the most pleasant, rational, compelling and different game I've played in a long long while, if ever. Its a shooter, a western, as much a cinematic experience as that trainwreck Mass Effect, and a super fun time, with very few real frustrations and head scratching moments. I played it on Vista, with DirectX 10, and the graphics are simply unbelievable....Truly!! I find them imagery to be much more engrossing and stunning than Crysis, which has its own problems.

There are some puzzles, ala Half Life (stacking boxes a specific way to get somewhere, using a whip to swing from branch to branch, etc), there are some nice weapons, but not too many, including an easy to use bow and arrow, and a hilarious sawed off shotgun. There are lots of interesting characters, as well as horse back riding, mountain climbing, rabbit hunting, archery, pistol duels, and lots of other things you never ever see in most games.

There is nothing generic about this game. The only thing vaguely similar was Gun, which was ok, but somewhat boring. In Call of Juarez, you play 2 different characters, which makes it stay interesting. The voice acting is excellent, as is the gameplay. The only frustrating part that I found at least were the duels, which tool some getting used to, but eventually made sense.

For 10 bucks, this game is a total steal and a gem. Highly recommended for anyone who loves shooters, and engrossing games. As a side note, the PC version came out great. It doesn't reek of consolitis at all. It feels natural and the save system is excellent.

This is an enjoyable game. The story is engaging, and the game play fun. If your looking for a western diversion get this. It is not earth shattering in any technological way (as it appears to the player), but it is a lot of fun.

I can't stand games where you save the world...again; fight heaven and hell, but you're not really sure which side you're on; or start off in the real world with great game play and then drag you down into this absurd fantasy/supernatural land for no apparent reason, like the Theif series. Call of Juarez fills a much needed void. The story is well written. There are a few laughs if you wait to overhear the conversations before offing the bad guys. The overall gameplay for an FPS is great. You won't make it if you go in guns ablazing, nor will they let you be overly cautious. The game is difficult enough to keep it interesting, but not so much that you get stuck and give up after dieing and reloading for two hours straight (I hate that).

The graphics overall look amazing with all the settings turned on high. And contrary to a previous review, there is wind. Everything from dust clouds, to moving trees/vegatation, to swirling smoke, to flying hats, to rolling tumbleweeds. But you have to have a system with some serious processing power to handle the effects. I did have a little graphics trouble with stuttering and tearing when the camera was in motion on my Nvidia 8800GTX card, but turning on Forced Vsync in the Nvidia Control Panel > Advanced Settings fixed that problem.

The story is rather linear, but I think that ensures you won't get lost. I'm not sure why this is such a complaint. Movies, books, etc. are all linear. Besides, not many people can finish games like Grand Theft Auto without a walkthrough, which just makes the game more linear.