Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood

I admit that I was mildly disappointed when I first started this game. The graphics are fantastic (as good as Far Cry 2 or the latest Call of Duty games) but the first chapter, based on the American Civil war has an oddly retro feel about the gameplay. It feels like you are back in Call of Duty 2 with different weapons and uniforms.

However, once you are transported into the (brilliantly rendered) Wild West, the fun really begins! You really become a Clint Eastwood anti-hero.

In most FPS games, I barely use side arms. They are usually pathetic, almost useless pieces of kit. However, in this game, the pistol is king. There are several from which to choose. All of them deadly. They vary between the very powerful but slow loading, to the less powerful but quicker loading. They are so good, I forgot I had a rifle at times.

There are plenty of weapons available from dead victims. However, better, shinier ones are available for a price from the gun stores, so you need to pick up cash whenever you find it.

There are a few innovations. There is "concentration" mode which slows down the action to take on multiple targets. I didn't use it much. There is also "cover" mode, which crouches your character behind cover if you approach a corner or crate etc. The mouse then creates a rolling sort of movement which allows you to expose a minimum amount of yourself to enemy fire. It works well but may not be everybody's cup of tea.

You also have gunfights. This is done with the keyboard moving your character left and right to keep your (moving) opponent focussed in the centre of the screen. At the same time, you have to keep your gun hand close to the pistol. Irritatingly, it tends to drift away. You then draw when a bell rings and hope you hit your target before you take a bullet between the eyes. It takes quite a bit of practice to win a fight and become a "fast gun".

There are some excellent cut scenes. However, unlike the dreadful epics in Brothers in Arms, you can skip them.

With the exception of a few side missions you can take on at the gun stores, the game is very linear. It doesn't matter. There is plenty of action and alternate routes from which to choose. You can play as two different characters and it's very replayable, anyway. As a bonus, you don't need to load a disk. You can just click the icon and off you go!

In conclusion:

BAD (ish):
Poor start

MATTER OF TASTE:
Linear (could have been like Far Cry 2)
Concentration Mode
Cover mode
Gun Fights

GOOD:
Excellent Graphics
Horse riding
Absorbing story
Superb weapons, especially pistols
Good cut scenes (you can skip them)
FUN FUN FUN!

I loved it! When is the sequel coming out.....?

I enjoyed it. It was fun (for a while) but it didn't make me want to continue playing it. I could put it down and go back in a week and I wouldn't be excited to get back into it again.

The storyline was, frankly, boring. I found myself skipping cutscenes because they just weren't that fun to sit through.

Secondly, I ended up going the same guy for most of the campaign (Thomas I believe, whichever one was the rifle/bow expert) for some supposedly more stealthy combat, which basically included 'silent' weapons like the knives and bow which just weren't silent since the game is all about scripted events. Fire an arrow into a guys head and he dies, sure, but the 5 enemies that spawned with him all know where you are regardless and they are still just as pissed off.

Another thing was how linear it was. I hate invisible walls, and this game has more than its fair share in various forms.

The games cover system made me want to hurt myself physically. It was pretty awful. Clearly this was taken from some Xbox or PS3 game and ported over to PC. Here's a hint for you dev's, IT DOESN'T WORK.

Even the big open areas where you had wanted poster missions to complete had the same things over and over, 'oh no, yet another person's wagon held up by 3 bandits hidden behind the same rocks as the last time I came across this exact same encounter'. Not that there's any benefit for you saving these guys, as all they do is say thank you. There's no Karma, nothing game changing.

With that said though, the graphics and setting were a nice refreshment. There is some beautiful scenery despite the boring gameplay. One bit in particular is where you blow up a dam and the water drains from a lake, which was fantastic.

Ive been playing this game all day and its just brilliant.
Graphics 5/5
Sound 5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Optimization 5/5
Fun 10/5
I love every part of this game graphics are superb high resolution textures with smooth frame rates. I get 95-102 fps on average with a ati 4870 1gb. You may be thinking but that's a really good graphics card but its just the animation is so well designed you would not be thinking your playing over 100fps. So yeah well optimized to play well.

As for Sound no complaints guns sound like guns speech acting is great battle and explosions around you sound realistic as hell.

Gameplay its self is gripping and you never wanna get off it.
Story mode follows 3 brothers a priest and two i guess just plain cowboys who want women booze and treasure which you will find makes a compelling story line.

Theirs so much i could tell you about what you can do in this game like slow motion killing and using your mouse as a rope to get up tress and shoot targets. But i can't be arsed because it would be easier to tell you what you can't do. ubi have made a classic western game here Just buy it you wont be disappointed.

I guess i should mention since ppl on amazon seem to really hate DRM. Theirs no DRM on this game infact you don't need the disk in the drive to play and it don't ask you for your CD-key on installation just in multiplayer.