Juarez calls ahead (and a quick note on Battlefield 1943)

I went against my better judgment recently and bought Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Keep in mind, I hated the original. The game just felt clunky, had unnecessary stealth sections, and it all just looked kind of ugly. The story was the best part, but it fell flat near the end, and overall never felt like a true western experience. To me, while flawed, a game like Gun was the best game to capture the look and feel of that time in history. Red Dead Revolver did a decent job of it as well. But with all of the positive reviews, is Bound in Blood a superior game?

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a prequel to the original game. The story, for one, is pretty accessible even if you have no idea what happened in the original, or don’t know the McCall brothers. It revolves around the two brothers, Ray and Thomas McCall, both out to find the treasure of Juarez and rebuild their family’s property that was destroyed during the end of the Civil War. It’s a pretty basic story so far, but it seems to have fixed a lot of the story telling problems that were present in the original. These two brothers are very interesting characters, that is for sure.

The gameplay does away with the stealth and focuses solely on gunplay, and this is where Bound in Blood truly shines. It improves upon the original in just about every way, and gives a pretty satisfying western experience to those who have either enjoyed the original, or are getting into the series for the first time. Hell, I’m even having fun with it, and can see how developer Techland has clearly improved upon the great ideas seen in the first. The shooting mechanics are pretty near perfect, and you can really feel the power behind this older, but still very efficient weapons. Aiming doesn’t feel spotty anymore, as it did in the first, and the game really has no control problems to speak of; the enemies put up a pretty tough fight as well.

Yes, they are as badass as they look

You can also ride horses in the game, but it seems awkward, since you are riding a horse while aiming with a gun. It just all looks weird on screen, but it’s not a big complaint. There are also the duels, which feel just as tense as a real duel should. And of course I can’t forget the quick time, slow mo, bullet time power you get; it can go by many names, but it’s practically the same thing. It works, and is very helpful in tough situations, but don’t expect anything really revolutionary.

You can control either Thomas or Ray. There aren’t many differences between them, and the story generally stays the same despite certain points where the two split up. There’s no real reason to pick one over the other, so I just say flip a coin. However, this game is desperate for some kind of co-op mode. It would have made perfect sense, since both brothers are almost always together or at least in the same mission. Even a co-op mode that is different from the single player campaign would have been nice to see, but instead we get nothing.

So the single player seems pretty solid, it all looks and sounds great, and so far the story has kept me interested. So how about the multiplayer? It’s fun, but it feels like an afterthought, like most multiplayer found in games now. There are some pretty fun modes, but none of them feel as fleshed out as they should be. Plus, maybe it was just when I was playing, but I couldn’t find too many people playing the online, so I didn’t get a good amount of time with it as I would have liked. It’s a nice diversion though, but nothing you’ll keep coming back to.

Overall, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a fine shooter, and it is a huge improvement over the original in every single way. I can’t say the game is for everyone, but for shooter fans looking for a nice western fix should enjoy it.

What else could I possibly have to talk about? Battlefield 1943, of course! I’m gonna be brief, because my time with the game is based entirely on the trial only. Basically? It’s a lot of fun. And if I had the money for it, I would definitely be playing the full version right now. I’ve heard people have problems with it, but my friends have told me they haven’t experienced any kind of hitches so far, so I don’t know what to say on that matter. But it’s pretty much a downgraded version of Battlefield 1942 made specifically for a console. Does that make it bad? Of course it doesn’t! It’s just as fun as much fun as you could ask for when it comes to a $15 version of a classic online shooter.