I’ll be honest here, I never thought that I would have gotten this game. Just the night before, I was saying to a mate that it didn’t sound like a brilliant game, however, when it came to Sunday afternoon, I fancied something new and a little different. So after heading down to Blockbusters, I returned with Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, and I’m glad I did.

The game is a western based FPS where you can follow the lives of 3 brothers, Ray, Thomas and William. Being a reverend, you are not able to play as William because all you would be able to do is stand around and complain at what your other brothers are doing. So for each mission you get to choose whether you want to play as Thomas or Ray, both come with different advantages and weapons.

Always after the next women…

There are a number of different things happening in the storyline. The main one is that after leaving the army, the brothers head to Mexico in the search for some hidden treasure. Whilst on the search they join up with a Mexican called Juarez who is making a deal with an Apache tribe to help find the treasure. During your journey you encounter your old army captain who is, I’ll put it this way, not best pleased with you for leaving the army.

At certain points during the game you get time to stop and roam around the area. You are able to stock up on ammo and weapons, as well as complete some of the side missions. The side missions are a series of wanted posters offering rewards for jobs ranging from killing gangs to herding cattle. These are particularly useful for building up some extra cash for a weapon upgrade.

One thing in the game that always sparks a battle is the women. Thomas and Ray are always fighting over the latest women. The most important woman in the game is Juarez’s girl who kicks up quite a storm between the brothers later on in the game.

What’s your weapon of choice?…

The gameplay is pretty good for the game, with the ability to choose which brother your play as at the beginning of each chapter, you can play how you prefer, whether it’s guns blazing with Ray, or a more sneaky softly approve from farther away with Thomas.

With both of the brothers you get different talents and weapons, Ray can knock down doors, whereas Thomas can zoom in further. As for weapons, Ray can dual wield pistols, whereas Thomas can use knifes and bows.

Staying with the weapons, as you progress further into the game you get to improve your weapons by buying new ones using money you have picked up along the way. Each gun has stats listed to show you if you are buying a better or worse gun, unfortunately, you are limited to an amount of weapons, for example, Ray can only hold 2 pistols, dynamite or grenades and finally a rifle or a shotgun, shame it can’t be both.

Almost high noon…

In certain points in the game, particularly in the first half, you encounter what you might call ‘boss fights’. This is where you have to duel another ‘boss’ like character, you simply have to use the analog sticks to keep your hand close to your gun, while using the other stick to rotate to keep your enemy in sight, when the bell rings, you move for your gun and shoot before they do. It’s a little tough at the start but once you know how to do it, it gets easier every time.

The graphics of the game are not wonderful, they seem to have put alot of effort into the scenery and the weather effects which are all very nice, however, they haven’t put as much effort into the characters. In certain places during the game you notice poorly created parts on the characters, also, their mouths don’t match with when they talk. Really, if they hadn’t spent to much money on marketing competition where you can win gold bars and such, they might have had some extra budget for improving the graphics.

The weapons was another place where they have payed a lot of attention to. Many of the more improved guns are very shiny and the quality of the graphics and the mirror effects that have been used are amazing.

The sound of the game is quite good, they have put quite a bit of detail into the sounds that come from different materials, for example when you walk on water, or even when you shoot a wooden barrel that has some metal on it, when you shoot the metal you get a different sound. Just little things really that help to improve the game.

It’s a shame that the graphics are not wonderful, but that’s not the most important thing in the game.

Summary

Overall the game is a lot better than I had expected. The old weapons and large variety of them makes it stand out from other FPS games. Although the graphics could be improved, with the quite long storyline, plus the side missions and then finally the multiplayer, there is a large amount to do within the game.

Don’t be put off if you haven’t played the the first, I didn’t and  haven’t seen any sort of reference to the first game.

Good Points = Great range of weapons, wonderful scenary graphics.

Bad Points = Character graphics, poor voices.

I give this game a 7/10.

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