The Call of Juarez franchise has seemed to be in over it’s head for some time now. After a mediocre reception for Call of Juarez The Cartel, Ubisoft and Techland decided to take a different route for the newest entry and it might have just paid off.
Call of Juarez Gunslinger is the latest in the franchise and also released as a downloadable title on XBLA and PSN. Developed by Techland the game really goes back to it’s roots as a quick moving in your face old west FPS. You play as Silas Greaves an infamous bounty hunter in the old west hell bent on revenge. The story unfolds as you sit in a saloon getting faced while retelling the stories of your prime. This is also what gives the game a unique quality. As you’re telling people your story, like any good story there are different versions of the story. Rather it be someone hearing about in in an over the top fashion or it might just be Silas exaggerating a bit, but the game play changes as the narrative does. So as you’re playing the game, you may rewind and do a whole sequence over or enemies just appear as the story changes. All this while you interact with some of the famous faces and events of the classic Wild West.
The game play as well as the controls are as solid as any FPS should be. With special features in game like the ability to dodge a fatal shot or even go into the game’s own mode of bullet time. All these abilities mixed with a tight control scheme and you get some really fun, entertaining and challenging FPS action that’s available. The game does have it’s down falls such as no multiplayer, but other than that it gives you ways to earn your money back. As you’re playing the story, you have extras such as collectibles that you can look for as you play or go back and find in your spare time. It also has Arcade mode and Duels mode. Which respectively are just what they say they are.
The graphics are very animated, but have a real tone to them. It almost reminds me of a FPS Red Dead Redemption as I played through certain ares. The voice acting is classic and over the top just as you would expect from this type of game. Each gun sounds different and with the great background sounds sometimes you get the feeling that you might just be in a wild west firefight. Everything from The Wild Bunch to random Apache Indians seems like there right their with you and really puts you in the moment.
In a whole I really enjoyed Call of Juarez Gunslinger and think that it really has found a home as a digital purchase. Which in a franchise that has seen recent trouble a digital home may be a lot better than a market full of $60 FPS titles. Let’s be honest to find and FPS these days that are not multiplayer it a needle in a hay stack scenario. Most single player FPS games are 4 to 5 hour in length and while Call of Juarez may only be 3 or so hours in the story mode, with a $14.99 or 1200 MS point price you really just can’t go wrong.
