Heed the call...
Call of Juarez makes it's way onto the Xbox 360 from PC a few years ago. While the game definitely shows some age and perhaps lack of polish in it's graphics and some of it's platforming bits, it's overall a pretty good first person shooter in an exciting setting with a decent storyline.
The game puts you behind the eyes of two distinct characters, each set against one another. As Billy Candle, a half caucasian, half Mexican young drifter who's been down on his luck his whole life, you'll be doing a lot of fleeing from baddies and trying to stay out of sight while you pick them off with your trusty bow and arrow. As Reverend Ray, a man of God and experienced gunslinger, you'll be basically just kicking down doors and shooting guys in the belly as you chase down your nephew Billy, who you believe is the murderer of your brother and sister in law.
The two person mechanic works out actually a lot better than one might think at first. Billy's sections are definitely less fun to play through, but they seem to do a decent job of slowing down the gameplay and focusing on the story itself. This is a pretty good break from the pretty much nonstop action of Reverend Ray's missions. Billy is a kid, and inexeperienced in shooting, but has youthful vitality, so naturally his missions center around avoiding conflict until you are properly armed to engage in it, usually by climbing up large surfaces or sneaking through shrubbery, AKA doing frustrating things. As Reverend Ray, all your special mechanics will revolve around shooting guys. He gets a concentration mode which lets him mow down an entire room of guys with little effort, and he also gets body armor for protection as well as the ability to kick doors down and basically just be a badass gunslinger, AKA doing things that are fun. Overall it's actually a decent mechanic, as you want to play through the less fun Billy sections just to get to the super fun Ray sections.
The shooting is your run of the mill solid shooter, and the weapons pack a decent punch. There are several different revolvers, each with their strenghts and weaknesses ranging from stopping power, to reload time, to durability. There are also a few rifles and shotties, but the revolvers will be your stand by weapon throughout the game.
The sound is easily one of the high points, while graphics are among the low. Voices and weapons both come with equal strength in the game with only minor lowlights, and this all helps for the authentification of both story and setting. The graphics however, fair less well. Enviroments as a whole look pretty enough, and there is some good detail to show rusty weapons and such, but the people in the game just don't animate well and are very wonky looking. Still, overall the combination of enviroments and sounds bring the presentation up to a presentable level.
Overall, Call of Juarez is a decent FPS that, although has flaws, is a fun romp through the old west setting that has an interesting mechanic not seen in many games.
The game puts you behind the eyes of two distinct characters, each set against one another. As Billy Candle, a half caucasian, half Mexican young drifter who's been down on his luck his whole life, you'll be doing a lot of fleeing from baddies and trying to stay out of sight while you pick them off with your trusty bow and arrow. As Reverend Ray, a man of God and experienced gunslinger, you'll be basically just kicking down doors and shooting guys in the belly as you chase down your nephew Billy, who you believe is the murderer of your brother and sister in law.
The two person mechanic works out actually a lot better than one might think at first. Billy's sections are definitely less fun to play through, but they seem to do a decent job of slowing down the gameplay and focusing on the story itself. This is a pretty good break from the pretty much nonstop action of Reverend Ray's missions. Billy is a kid, and inexeperienced in shooting, but has youthful vitality, so naturally his missions center around avoiding conflict until you are properly armed to engage in it, usually by climbing up large surfaces or sneaking through shrubbery, AKA doing frustrating things. As Reverend Ray, all your special mechanics will revolve around shooting guys. He gets a concentration mode which lets him mow down an entire room of guys with little effort, and he also gets body armor for protection as well as the ability to kick doors down and basically just be a badass gunslinger, AKA doing things that are fun. Overall it's actually a decent mechanic, as you want to play through the less fun Billy sections just to get to the super fun Ray sections.
The shooting is your run of the mill solid shooter, and the weapons pack a decent punch. There are several different revolvers, each with their strenghts and weaknesses ranging from stopping power, to reload time, to durability. There are also a few rifles and shotties, but the revolvers will be your stand by weapon throughout the game.
The sound is easily one of the high points, while graphics are among the low. Voices and weapons both come with equal strength in the game with only minor lowlights, and this all helps for the authentification of both story and setting. The graphics however, fair less well. Enviroments as a whole look pretty enough, and there is some good detail to show rusty weapons and such, but the people in the game just don't animate well and are very wonky looking. Still, overall the combination of enviroments and sounds bring the presentation up to a presentable level.
Overall, Call of Juarez is a decent FPS that, although has flaws, is a fun romp through the old west setting that has an interesting mechanic not seen in many games.
