The wind blows from the east, howling softly in your ears as tumbleweeds roll across the dusty empty streets. You see your enemy in the distance, his eyes fixed on you, his hand getting ever so close to his holster and the six-shooter in it. You keep your hand close, but not too close to your own. Sweat trickles across your brow as you hear your heartbeat getting louder and stronger with every beat. The bell could chime any moment now and you realise that a split-second will be the difference between who walks away on his feet this day.
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Adrenaline kicks in, everything else becomes a blur. It’s just you, your enemy and your trusty six-shooter. The bell chimes, time comes to a standstill, and in one swift movement you draw your gun and pull the trigger. The gunshot echoes through the town while you pray it was your gun that made it. Slowly time starts moving again and your vision begins to clear. You’re still standing.
You were quick and your enemy is dead.
Congratulations, you’ve just survived one of the many boss fights in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, the new western-themed first-person shooter from developer Techland and Ubisoft. And now I would like apologise for the rather cheesy opening paragraph, but the game is so drenched in its spaghetti western atmosphere that starting the review any other way just wouldn’t have been fair.
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Bound in Blood is essentially a prequel to the 2006 shooter Call of Juarez, a game which, despite being a pretty damn good title, went mostly under the radar. Those who played it loved it but unfortunately it was never able to rise amongst the many mediocre shooters that get released every year thanks to some rather frustrating issues with the gameplay.
However, fans of the first game will be happy to know that the prequel is a huge improvement on pretty much everything in the first game. For starters, the stealth-based levels which almost everyone hated are nowhere to be seen this time around. Instead, the levels are designed in a way that stealth can be an option, but is generally not required. The shooting mechanics have been improved a lot and the guns feel a lot more powerful and different from each other.
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The game tells the story of the McCall Brothers – Thomas and Ray (who was also one of the main protagonists in the first game) and their younger brother William who happens to be a priest and becomes an unwilling ally during the course of the game. The story is told from William’s point of view through various in-game cutscenes and voice-overs during loading screens between missions. Thomas and Ray are both playable in the single-player mode and pretty much all missions give you a choice to play as either character at the start.
The game starts with the brothers fighting alongside the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. This section of the game also doubles as the tutorial. However they are forced to abandon their military duties when they learn of the Union Army invading their home town. I wouldn’t like to spoil the plot beyond that as the story is one of the highlights of the game. It’s not terribly original and, like most western movies, it becomes quite predictable at times, but it’s entertaining nevertheless. The brilliant voice acting and well written dialog really adds a lot and keeps driving you forward. By the end, the game will take you through almost every single western movie cliché and set pieces ranging from stagecoach chases, daring jailbreaks, Apache raids and numerous quick-draw gunfights with villains, among others. There are some very memorable sections in the game which I’m sure you will want to go through more than once.
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Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood may be categorised as a first-person shooter, but don’t let that fool you. Yes, pumping enemies full of lead forms a large part of the gameplay, but it also has some other neat tricks up its sleeve that separate it from the usual mediocre FPS ilk. As I mentioned before, the game gives you can option to play as either Thomas or Ray. The way these two characters play is vastly different from each other. Thomas is the more stealthy and agile of the two brothers and can use his lasso to reach places that Ray cannot. The use of the lasso is mostly scripted, but it still does add some variety. Thomas is also better at using long range weapons such as various rifles and the bow as well as knives for some quick stealthy kills. However, he is also the weaker of the two and is more vulnerable to enemy fire than Ray is. So if you’re looking for a little more than just running around guns-blazing capping enemies left, right and centre, then Thomas is your man.
As you might have guessed, Ray plays exactly the opposite of Thomas and prefers engaging enemies up close usually with various types of handguns and shotguns. He can also dual-wield handguns and use dynamite, which Thomas cannot. This doesn’t make too much sense, since using dynamite isn’t really rocket science as evident from Looney Tunes, and it’s clearly done simply to compensate for Thomas’ lasso ability.
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Still, giving you an option to play as either character is a noteworthy addition to the game, which brings me to a rather obvious omission – co-op. The game literally begs for an option to play it co-operatively with the another player. The levels are designed around that; the story is about two brothers and almost every mission features both of them. So the lack of a co-op option is a rather glaring omission. With that said, playing solo through the story is quite a rewarding experience in itself thanks to the varied missions and a well-written plot.
Next page: The verdict
One of the major highlights of the game is its gunplay. Any fan of westerns will find the experience of handling the in-game weapons quite satisfying. There is a wide variety of revolvers, handguns, shotguns and rifles to choose from and almost every gun feels appropriately weighty and sounds punchy when fired. Like the first game, Bound in Blood also features an interesting bullet-time like mechanic called Concentration Mode. However it’s largely improved and far more effective this time around. The concept is simple – kill enemies and fill up a (rather cool-looking) meter. Once the meter is full, hit a key to enter the Concentration Mode. Depending on whether you are playing as Thomas or Ray, the abilities you get during this mode are different. Thomas can use the classic hammer “fanning” technique to quickly shoot multiple enemies, while Ray can use his dual revolvers to target multiple enemies and take them down in a single burst of bullets. These moves are extremely satisfying to perform and look and sound very cool. In addition to the regular gunplay, there are also some fun sections where you get to control gattling guns or cannons.
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As authentic as the gunplay feels, the same cannot be said about the other Wild West staple – horses. The levels in the game are large and wide open and there are certain sections where you will have to travel on horseback. Now this would have been a lot of fun if the horses did not control like spastic donkeys on roller-skates. It’s quite weird to see the horses perform quick 180-degree turns and come to a dead stop every time you let go of the forward key. The horseback riding does not feel one bit realistic and is a real shame considering how everything else feels so amazingly “western”. The animations during getting on and off the horse also could have used some work. It just doesn’t feel right when you’re standing next to a horse and a key press later you’re on its back with no transition animation whatsoever. This is a minor nitpick at best, but for a rather well made game, a little more polish could have gone a long way.
One of the new additions to the gameplay is a new first-person cover system. It works somewhat similar to the cover system in Killzone 2 on the PS3. Basically, you can crouch or press against walls and objects and automatically enter into cover mode. Once there, you can move the mouse up, down, left or right to simulate peeking out from cover to take shots at the enemy. You’ll stay in cover for as long as you do not hit the movement keys. While it’s a decent addition, it’s not as useful as most of the time run-and-gun tactics work rather well. Also, getting in and out of cover isn’t quite as the intuitive as the developers may have hoped for. It’s best to just stick to conventional first person shooter means while dispatching enemies. Most of the time, enemies aren’t too smart; they will use some basic tactics and take cover, but can be taken out with a single shot to the head. Besides, the “sticky” crosshair makes headshots very easy to pull off.
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As described in the beginning of the review, the game puts you in several quick-draw showdowns with enemy characters, which are essentially the boss fights in Call of Juarez. The set up for these fights is brilliantly done and the fights themselves are quite tense as you literally have a second to draw your gun and shoot the enemy before he does. The gun needs to drawn by making a quick movement of the mouse and it takes a while to get the hang of it as the mouse isn’t the most ideal controller when it comes to simulating movement. But once you’ve figured it out, these fights become extremely easy and you will begin to feel like a quick-firing badass gunslinger in no time.
Bound in Blood is mostly a linear game with a mission-based structure. However, Techland has also included a few sandbox type levels. These levels feature large areas you can free roam in and take up some optional side-missions in order to earn some extra cash. The missions typically involve riding around an area and killing wanted outlaws or recovering stolen items. Earning extra cash does help as it lets you buy new and better weapons and ammo. Buying new weapons is a good idea since the ones you’ll find on enemies are generally worn out and aren’t as effective as new ones. Besides, what Wild West gunslinger would like to brandish a rusty revolver when you could be handling a shiny silver-plated one instead? These non-linear sections aren’t particularly great, but offer a fun distraction from the story every once in a while. Besides, the levels themselves are a blast to travel through especially since the game features some of the best graphics you’ll see this generation.
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The first Call of Juarez was quite a looker back in 2006 and this one is no different in that respect. The wide open areas look amazingly realistic. Every level seems larger than it actually is and the developers have done a great job of making them feel every bit as epic as the movies it is inspired by. The outdoor levels feature some amazing lighting and shadowing effects. The draw distance is pretty impressive as well. The game takes you through a variety of environments, from desolate towns, harsh sun-scorched deserts, tall mountaintops and dense green woods – and all of them look stunning.
Character models look slightly dated but decent enough. However, there are some glaring clipping issues, especially when you’re trying to take cover behind low walls or objects, but that’s just me being too nitpicky. Overall, Bound in Blood is a gorgeous game and also isn’t too demanding on the system. I was able to max out everything at 1680 x 1050 on my (almost outdated) 8800GT and was still able to run it at a solid 55 to 60 frames-per-second.
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The game also sounds as good as it looks. The gunshots and explosions are loud and sound exactly how you would want them to. The music also deserves special mention as it adds significantly to the whole western theme. Listening to the soft acoustic guitar themes playing in the background while riding through the deserts and canyons during the free roaming sections feels strangely soothing.
Bound in Blood has full support for the Xbox 360 controller and it works flawlessly. In fact, some of the gameplay mechanics such as the lasso or the quick-draw fights somehow feel better while playing with the controller than the keyboard and mouse.
The story should take you about 12 hours to finish on the normal difficulty setting, which is a bit on the lower side. Still, the quality of the single player campaign more or less makes up for the length. The replayability however is a little bit of a concern. Once you’re done with the story there is little incentive to go through it again. You may want to experience some of the awesome set pieces again or try playing as a different character than you did the first time, but most gamers would just want to move on to something else instead. The game also has a multiplayer option, which unfortunately we could not try out due to certain technical constraints.
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Conclusion
Despite some minor flaws and a somewhat short single-player campaign, it’s hard not to recommend Call Of Juarez: Bound in Blood to anyone who enjoys first-person shooters. It’s a breath of fresh air in the midst of the usual bald-marine-in-a-power-suit type of shooters. It oozes atmosphere in each and every level, has some incredibly satisfying gunplay, and also features some of the best voice acting this side of GTA. Until Red Dead Redemption comes out (and hopefully blows us away) this will remain as the definitive Western-themed game. So if ya lookin’ for a game that ain’t generic, has a good story, well-developed characters ‘n some awesome action, give it a try. Won’t regret it son, tell ya what.
(+) Refreshing and authentic Western movie-like atmosphere
(+) Well written plot and characters, brilliant voice-acting
(+) Solid satisfying gunplay
(+) Looks and sounds very impressive
(-) Rather short
(-) No option to play through the story co-operatively
(-) Horseback riding is unrealistic
(-) Some minor graphical glitches
Title: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Developer/Publisher: Techland/Ubisoft
Genre: First-person shooter
Rating: 16+
Platforms: PC (Rs 999)
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