Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood Review

OK. Here it is. First review of a game. I have played this game through it's entirety but while I had my 360 account hacked earlier on this year and the 47 achievements do not show up on my Gamerscore. It will soon though as I am just about to attack the game again! Here I go then:


Looking through games that are owned by myself and friends it is great to see a shooter game from the Wild West. Looking at the likes of Halo 3, Bioshock and Gears Of War Ubisoft's second Call Of Juarez ( Bound In Blood ) really is a breath of fresh air.

One of the joys of this first person shooter that is set in the Wild West is that it is a simple game to get your head around. The law was determined with your own gun and your ambition. Greed was good and the greedier you were, the more successful you were! You could always guarantee that the enemies you made never disappeared out of sight once the going got tough for them but stayed till the last breath. Not in this game are you left fighting the same boss on a number of occasions!

Watch a Western film and you are faced with numerous cliches:

1. A cowboy. He who is against the West due to his history as an ex-soldier for the South. His objectives now include nothing more than beating other cowboys and Indians and robbing to try to find his fortune

2. The good looking girlwho has had to turn into a whore to stay alive and is always faced with bad luck

3. The tough talking outlaws who drink too much and deem themselves the "law" of the towns and do anything to make money

4. And then there are the Indians. Not only do they fight with the cowboys but they fight between themselves

All present and accounted for in the game! Call Of Juarex Bound For Blood does not disappoint in that sense.Still, the myth of the Wild West makes for entertaining gameplay when done well, and luckily here it is.

More than a sequel, Bound In Blood can be construed as a prequel and actually tells the backstory of bible-thumping Ray from the first game. Remember him?

Despite the story's twists and turns not being considerably surprising or the most original story it is safe to say the plot is a serious strong point. The game moves in such a sweet, coherent fashion that it can be said that it is flawless

Gameplay

Strangely enough the game starts in the middle of the story!! Three brothers are at each other's throats clearly showing the dissolving of their family relationship. It then returns to the beginning of the story to explain how and why they became "brothers in arms" Being told by the youngest of these "McCall" brothers, William, he tells how his brothers Thomas and Ray fought in the 1864 Civil War. This really does create a fantastic environment which the gamer can really get lost in to. These two brothers pass through fields of power and this changes them.

The family mansion comes under threat from the Northern no gooders who are intent on pillage and destruction, then Thomas and Ray go AWOL to save their mother and younger brother, starting a revenge quest for their officer who later blames them for the fall of Atlanta. Then then decide to head out West to find their fortune and rebuild a past that no longer exists.

What follows is lots of shooting, treasure hunting, gun-running, horse riding, fighting over women ….and good ‘ol Western fun, everything you would expect from a Wild West "adventure"


There may be more technically advanced games on the market and a lot of them would look 100% better on the screen than this one, this one outdoes many of them in the fun stakes. Include in the game speedy stage coach escapes, canoe white water rafting, shooting up a fort and even stage coach escapes this game screams out fun!

Melee and/or close combat seems to let the game down some what however not too much because what it lacks in this it makes up for in aiming and movement. It seems to be better to back off and shoot rather than try to take part in close combat. But if you need to reload you need to find cover quick especially with the game's AI being up to the task by seeking out different ways in which to try to surprise you by shooting round a corner or throwing a stick of dynamite at you.

Upgrade your weapons quickly. Collect cash and visit a gun seller in some of the more open levels provide. With the slow shooting and slow reloading, it does take a while to get used to the "old style weapons" especially if you come off something as fast as Gears Of War or similar

The game sounds good with the appropriate gunfire and sounds when bullets ricochet. Even background noises such as dogs barking bottles shattering and bells from the local church are very "atmospheric" However there is a repetition of the brother's voice and sayings that can get annoying after a while.

Through the majority of the game you get to play as one of the two older brothers Thomas or Ray.
Ray is stronger than Thomas, deadly at close range and can use dynamite among things. Thomas is more agile and with better long range, he can also use a bow!

When you have built up enough kills you are able to use the brother's different "concentration modes" Basically you get to use slow motion on their kills for the time being. There are differences between the two and I will leave it at that and let you work out the differences for yourself

Side quests are available for those of you that like to delve further in to the game and these include catching cattle rustlers or saving ranch owners or their family members for extra cash. This helps provide a bit of variety and a great way to earn a bit of extra cash. And what good Wild West adventure goes without horse riding? Do you realise you can even shoot birds out of trees!!

The game looks good with the environment looking quite realistic for a game. The trees sway in the wind, rocks falling in to a canyon even when you come outside from a dark room you are temporarily blinded by the sun!

The game can be replayed more than once, which is another plus point for any game. You are able to play as the other other brother and the game also has system link and online capability. Just for the record though, the online side of things focuses mainly on Outlaws against Lawmen.

If you played and enjoyed the first Call of Juarez then you really will enjoy this one. I prefered this one to the first one. With 47 achievements with a total of 1000 points and 870 of these being offline and 130 online this could be a very productive 30+ hours spent on a great game.

Score out of ten: An easy EIGHT

nice review matey but may I suggest adding the word 'account' between 360 and hacked in opening line.

Lots of us are aware of your woes of someone nicking your live tag earlier in year, but for anyone not so it reads as if you are one of those scoundrels using a dodgy box

Fair point. LOL. Thanks for pointing that out Everton.

Added it now!

Excellent review J, hopefully we'll be able to get you to do an official GSA review sometime in the near future.

SimonB Demented wrote:Excellent review J, hopefully we'll be able to get you to do an official GSA review sometime in the near future.

Finfers crossed. Would love to be considered for one.