Call of Juarez – Bound in Blood Video Game Review – Part II

To the few of us who actually played the first installment of this game, “Call of Juarez” actually manages to do something different with the FPS (First Person Shooter) genre by allowing the player to play the game as two different characters. In the first “Call of Juarez”, you are not given the choice to choose between your characters. As you play through missions, the game switches who you get to be automatically, putting you in the shoes of the wrongfully accused Billy Candle who is on the run from your other playable character, the Reverend Ray McCall, who just so happens to be one of the two characters you get to choose from in the new “Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood”. It was a very interesting element of game-play that no other video games had ever quite done before – being the protagonist and the antagonist at the same time. A tough feat, and yet not quite pulled-off with success until now.

In “Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood”, you get the choice this time of playing between two different characters who are brothers in the game. Reverend Ray McCall makes a return in this game, but being a prequel and keeping with the original story, Ray is not yet a reverend. Without giving away any spoilers, you will find out why he becomes a man of the cloth by the end of this game like he was in the original. Thomas McCall is a new character, the brother of Ray, and throughout the game you will be given the choice whether to use Ray or Thomas before each mission.

You will find that their differing qualities will give you more of an advantage than the other might, depending on the situation at hand: Thomas is a good distance shooter, is quicker and more agile than his brother Ray, he takes more damage than Ray but is more accurate when shooting, wields knives and a bow and arrows with deadly accuracy, a whip for climbing, and can only hold one weapon at a time, whereas Ray is stronger and takes less damage, he can wield two weapons (either a gun in each hand or a gun in one hand and dynamite in the other), is slower and needs help climbing, and close range attacks are where Ray is at his deadliest, taking down enemy after enemy with one shot each.

The “Concentration Mode” definitely deserves some kudos. I prefer using Ray for this. When his “Concentration Mode” meter fills up and you hit Circle, it slows down the time for you to place up to twelve aiming reticules over any visible enemies for you to shoot, and once all targets are placed, you simply sit back and watch how Ray automatically shoots off his gun, laying a crowd of men to rest in a single instance. The only difference when using Thomas is that you flick the R3 joystick (on PS3) and he automatically targets the enemy, all you have to do is pull the trigger, quick-shooter style.

The story has many thrown-in twists: your characters are two awol confederate soldiers being hunted down by their former army general for deserting the war to save their families, you join forces with a gang of Mexican’s with a girl who becomes the completely un-needed love interest of both of your characters, causing dissension and jealousy between the brothers, the next minute you’re fighting alongside Indians, the minute after you’re pansy baby brother is trying to preach to you about the Lord’s love.

It starts getting a little crazy when you’re supposed Mexican friends turn out to be demented crooks who turn against you, all the while this “love interest” plays both your characters hook-line-and-sinker. These are just some of the factors that build up this story. If you’re an avid gamer who plays and beats, at the very least, one game a month you will realize not long after getting into this game that the story is very menial compared to the game-play. In fact, nothing hinders the game-play more than the developers need to shove all these cut-scenes and illustrated sequences in our faces. Yes, I know it gives me the option to press Start, but I’m the type who sits through every single cut-scene for every game. I do this mainly to see how the developers show off their animation skills, except in this game half of the cut-scenes are illustrated in 2-D and the others are standard game-play graphics.

If you’re accustomed to F.P.S.’s, then you’ll find “Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood” fairly easy to pick up and play, and if you’re not extremely picky in the types of games you play, you will find this game to be a nice, mediocre treat to hold you off until “Batman: Arkham Asylum” or “Bioshock 2″ comes out.

By: Sergio DiGirolamo

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