Call of Juarez

Guns, Cowboys, Indians, and drunken bar fights — all synonymous with the vision of the Wild West that’s permeated our entertainment culture for decades.

Be it the iconic characterization of John Wayne in many of the best Western flicks, or any classic “Cowboys vs. Indians” battle, Hollywood has always had a love with the iconic West, but why isn’t this theme seen in more games? Call of Juarez is the answer to that question, bringing in all these classic elements in spades.

While not our first entry into the Wild West, Call of Juarez for the Xbox 360 does manage to saddle up a certain amount of freshness in it’s presentation. Originally a PC game released over a year ago, CoJ has survived the journey to console-land, and builds upon the foundations set by previous games such as Gun andRed Dead Revolver.

You start the game as Billy Candle, a half-Mexican nobody with a last name stemming from a necklace he’s always worn. He’s returned empty handed to his hometown of Hope from a quest to find the lost gold of Juarez. After being greeted by a rather unwelcoming party, Billy comes home to find his Mother and Step-father brutally murdered with the words “Call of Juarez” painted on the side of his family barn.

This is where the second playable character, Reverend Ray comes in. A former gunslinger, the Reverend finds Billy at the scene, and in a long convoluted quest to track Billy down ends up banishing all the sinners in his path.

The storyline is actually pretty good and features some nice voice acting from each of the characters. It provides a certain level of campy humor that will entertain those looking for a quick fixin’ of western fun.

The graphical fidelity on display in Call of Juarez is rather hit and miss. On one hand, the texture work is simply incredible. Dirt looks like dirt, and rocks look like rocks — just what you would expect from a next-generation title. Objects look great from close up, and the camera work adds an interesting effect of blurring and focusing. On the other hand, the character models look like something seen on the original Xbox, moving rather puppet-like and lacking any real facial expression.

Adding two playable characters at odds with one another provides an interesting dynamic to the gameplay. Each character controls fairly different from one another, which provides a nice sense of pacing.

Since he rarely gets the chance to pick up a gun, Billy’s gameplay revolves around a lot of sneaking and clumsy platforming sections. There are many missions where you’ll be hiding in a bush, or sticking to the shadows while attempting to get past an NPC’s scripted paths that just seem to take way too long. You’ll need to do this several times to complete a level’s objective, and after a few times, it’s just not that much fun.

The first-person perspective is what really hurts the gameplay of Billy Candle. There are several sections where you’ll see more traditional 3D platforming puzzles put into play that just don’t work in the first-person perspective. Guessing a jump to another ledge several times left us guessing whether to keep playing the game — it’s just that frustrating, and the trial-and-error style gameplay of Billy’s sections artificially lengthen the amount of time you’ll be playing the game.

Billy also employs the use of his trusty whip to hook onto tree branches and glide across ledges Indiana Jones style, but it doesn’t really work too well either. To actually trigger the action takes a bit of trial-and-error in placement of your footing. What seems like would be the perfect footing for a situation usually won’t suffice and takes some getting used to.

While both unique, we found the no-holds barred attitude of Reverend Ray to be more enjoyable. There’s hardly any sneaking around to do, and a number of features were added to keep things interesting.

One of the most used ones is Ray’s Concentration mode. Similar to the bullet-time sections of Max Payne and Gun, you enter a slow-motion scenario with two reticules that you can use for both your left and right-hand six shooters. It’s a crutch you’ll be leaning on far too often though, and really dumbs down the gameplay. It recharges every 30 or so seconds, stripping out any element of difficulty.

Among other things, Reverend Ray uses one of the most unexpected weapons to date in gaming: The Bible. You can duel-wield the Holy book alongside of a revolver, and pulling the right trigger will allow Ray to spit out verses which temporarily stun the enemy while shooting with the left trigger — one of the most obscure ideas in a game to date, and pretty damn entertaining at that.

At the end of each of Ray’s levels you’ll come across a quick-draw boss battle. Similar to the “high-noon” battle cliches featured in just about anything pertaining to the Wild West, you’ll go mono-a-mono against a gun holstered baddy and attempt to be the first to get a bead on your enemy. After a count down goes off you can use the left stick to dodge bullets left or right and use the right stick to pull out your gun and aim. It’s a neat idea, but it’s fairly easy to deal with.

If anything can be said about the weaponry featured, it reminds us why we don’t see too many games that pre-date the WWII era. The guns are slow to reload, and altogether aren’t too interesting for those who enjoy a fast-paced game. You have the standard revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, and dynamite which fill out the bland selection. Not only that, but the actual gunplay leaves you with a small, nearly pixel-perfect reticule that makes aiming more of a chore than it needs to be.

A nasty bug we encountered was a corrupted game save, forcing us to replay through the whole game again. Granted, it’s most likely a rare occurrence, but it’s just enough to leave a bad taste in your mouth.

When all is through, you can check out the myriad of extra game modes and content unlocked by completing the campaign. Extra missions are unlocked that have you doing everything from putting out fires, rescuing babies, and straight up slaughtering anyone in your path of destruction. Also unlocked are a few new Dual Challenges — a mode that caters to fans of Reverend Ray’s boss battles.

Like any Xbox 360 game these days, Call of Juarez features a multiplayer mode if you’re into that kind of thing. There’s Skirmish — your standard team deathmatch mode, Capture the Bag — which, surprisingly enough is Capture the Flag, but with a bag, and a few other modes spread out. They’re all interesting, but they won’t be pulling you out of any games of Gears of War orHalo.

Call of Juarez isn’t exactly the shiniest diamond in the rough, but for those in love with the Wild West it’s pure, campy fan service. Following all of the now standard western cliches, the storyline is enticing enough to warrant a playthrough for fans of the genre. While for the most part, the graphics and sound exceed the median line, the gameplay is just too clunky. The first-person perspective, while great for the gunplay just doesn’t work for the game’s platforming and stealth sections. If you’ve been on the fence aboutCoJ and are a big fan of Westerns, you may get a lot out of it, but if you’re looking for the next great game you might want to pass this one up.