Introduction
Call of Juarez is a FPS game set in the Wild West, complete with period weapons (like Colt Single Action Army revolvers). You play as two characters, Billy Candle and Reverend Ray. Billy is a kid whose parents are murdered and everyone thinks he killed them, including his step-uncle Reverend Ray, a former gunslinger who gave up fighting and took up preaching. Ray feels that the Lord is compelling him to chase Billy down and bring him to justice. Thus, you play both, as Billy, trying to escape from Ray who would certainly kill you, and as Ray, giving chase to whom you think responsible for killing your brother and his wife.
Gameplay
CoJ is a fairly straightforward FPS game, you shoot bad guys in the face but to give CoJ an edge, Techland endowed both Billy and Ray with special abilities. Billy, as a kid who has lived running and avoiding trouble can hide in bushes from people, and when using a bow & arrow gets a slo-mo ability. Thus, when you get the bow, it's generally your best weapon as headshots are fatal, and you get to see your kill in slow motion, which is very satisfying. Reverend Ray on the other hand, as a former gunslinger, has a quick draw ability. As he draws his guns, he also gets slo-mo, but he gets dual crosshairs that move together, allowing Ray to shoot at multiple targets in a split second. Both Billy and Ray have some rather gratifying action sequences, though Billy's sections are generally more sneak and run oriented. Also, both get to ride horses around, which takes a bit to get used to but is OK enough.
Sights and Sounds
The graphics in Call of Juarez are in general pretty good. It has some pretty good lighting, thanks to the HDR and Depth of Field effects (the DoF is similar to what you see in Call of Duty 4, it adds a nice touch, focusing in on something blurs out everything else). It was one of the first DirectX 10 games, but as I am still on XP, I was stuck with DirectX 9. There are some rather ugly textures in the game, which glare at you in their blurry awfulness. Also, there is some obvious pop-in with foliage, owing to the not-good-enough draw distance.
The audio is really solid. The various handguns sound about like they should while the rifles and shotguns had a satisfying report, sounding powerful and deadly. When entering slo-mo, the game sounds like you're slowing down a record. You get a kind of scratchy slow down and speed up effect, giving you helpful audio hints that you're entering and leaving the slo-mo. The voice acting is generally solid. Billy sometimes sounds like a pussy, but Ray is excellent, spouting scripture as he shoots down bandits left and right.
Stuff that sucks
Stealth. I've usually found stealth games to be rather clunky (I'm looking at you, Thief). With the exceptions of No One Lives Forever and Deus Ex, trying to sneak around just bores me to tears. call of Juarez's stealth segments tend to be frustrating. Having to progress past some old fogey to steal some bullets is just annoying. I really could have done without them. Also the part where Billy has to climb a mountain was fucking dumb, as climbing takes forever. Oh well, at least he can grab on to ledges and pull himself up, unlike pretty much every other video game ever.
My last beef is with the facial animations. Most characters' faces are set in stone, at most moving their eyes when they talk. I know Half-Life 2 has spoiled me, but not getting any body language from anyone in the game is disappointing.
Conclusion
Overall, Call of Juarez is a solid FPS game that adds in something unique, but doesn't try anything radical. The story is pretty good and the action is pretty fun. If you want some cowboy shooter action, this game is for you. Yeah it's got flaws but it also has a lot of good points too, and I think it's worth checking out.
Score : 7.5/10
