"Call Juarez": linear, primitive, banal and... cool?

Not long ago, in September 2006, the company Techland delighted us with a rather dull game about cowboys, fanatical priests with guns, treasures, and unwashed Mexicans.

Why dull? Because Billy Candle's gameplay was burdened with monotony and lengthiness. Throughout the game, he had to run from Reverend Ray McCall, but it didn’t feel like a chase with appropriate attributes. There was no adrenaline, fear, or tremor in the body—it’s clear that the shooting was just for show, but Oddworld managed to convey a feeling of pursuit, so why does poor Billy only offer boring stealth missions instead of a good chase?

The heroes alternated turns. First, it was Billy — we run away. Then McCall — we chase. We hide — we get bored, we shoot — we have fun.

Call of Juarez is quite an average game. No pretensions. Nice — yes, but it's also painfully scripted and not as technologically advanced as its competitors. Considering that Billy Candle's gameplay was an outright failure, we get only half a shooter.

There was something innovative and interesting in the gameplay division, although it is a bit strange to run after yourself. But the developers didn’t manage to “stretch” this innovation. The game was pretty much abandoned; if it weren’t for the rare gaming world of the Wild West, how many projects have we had in this setting? Desperados — not an action movie. Gun — that was long ago, and it’s not that great either. Oh yes. There were also obscure and unpopular strategies like “Conquer America.” That’s probably all.

Techland released a nominal second, but formally — a zero part of the game. Call of Juarez: Bounded in Blood is a prequel to the events of the original (if anyone even remembers them). Since 2006, the niche has remained empty — Call of Juarez essentially has no competitors. Or maybe something's wrong with my memory; I can’t recall cowboy games. Be that as it may, let's see what Techland managed to create in their cozy reservation.

Cast

So, let’s meet the characters.

Ray McCall — the eldest in the family, and probably the strongest and toughest. Clearly, he didn’t give his brothers any leeway in childhood, as they are not even half as strong as he is.

The advantage of his great strength is the ability to carry a “Gatling” machine gun and throw dynamite. Ray has almost no brains, so he’ll turn any explosive situation into a shootout, violence and the kidnapping of monkeys.

In battle, he is particularly good at close range, as he can shoot in an akimbo style (meaning with two hands. Akimbo Mode!). There are tons of ammo in the game, so two revolvers are a good argument. At least, until a full-fledged shotgun and thousands of shells for it appear.

Thomas McCall — the middle brother. Agile, quick, nimble, speaks like a country bumpkin, but has more brains than the elder. In the game, he sort of replaces Billy Candle with his invisibility, as it is assumed that Thomas and his silent throwing knives will be deadly to unsuspecting opponents. However, the developers forgot to mention this to the opponents themselves, as they totally disregard stealth and hiding, always see everything, and prefer to shoot right away and to kill.

Instead of dynamite, Thomas uses a lasso. Unfortunately, the rope doesn’t explode, so it can only be used to climb trees and happily drop things on the heads of careless Parisians Americans.

William McCall — the youngest and most harmless in the family. When the older ones were at war (yes, we have a war going on, North against South), William took care of their mother and served God. He became a priest, and after an incident at his home (more on that later), he set off with his brothers on a long journey for wealth.

You cannot play as this young man, nor do you really want to. Reading the bible without a big gun is somewhat awkward (as proven by Jules Winnfield and Ray McCall).

Marisa — a curvy Mexican lady in tight jeans (the full-length photo was stolen by criminals). Ray and Tom save her from bandits, then the big guy falls in love, but it turns out Marisa is already involved with Juan Mendoza (that’s actually Juarez). Ray decides to take her by force, but at that time Marisa falls in love with Tom, and she is also pregnant by Juan. In general, life is complicated, even in linear action movies.

Colonel Barnsby — a dimwitted soldier who cannot accept that the war is over. He lives with the dream of reviving the army of the Confederate States and giving other Americans a hard time. With what’s left of the army, he robs towns, takes pensions from old ladies, and is rude on public transport. At one fine moment, he decides that treasure is his only chance to show everyone that slavery is cool (the Confederates and southern states differed from the Union in that blacks worked on plantations until the bitter end — that is, until December 18, 1865).

Juan Mendoza, nicknamed Juarez — looks like my alcoholic neighbor Vityanya. Mendoza is the dullest character in the game, as it's obvious without a fortune teller that instead of treasures he will get nothing and then a bullet.

Treasure — sits in the temple and doesn’t bother anyone. It seems to be cursed.

Generally, it's a pretty banal story. Oooooh, scary! Cursed wealth…

Pif-Paf

Most of the game consists of shootouts. Short cutscenes unveil the reasons for what is happening, but the process doesn’t change. We ride on horseback, bandits approach — shootout. We flee in a carriage, bandits chase us — another shootout. We paddle on a canoe, encounter Indians — another shootout.

The game consists entirely of constant skirmishes. On Easy difficulty, you can simply stand and aim the mouse roughly at where the enemy is hiding. The helpful auto-aim will do everything. There’s no need to hide — lobotomized enemies are terrible shots.

On normal difficulty, auto-aim doesn’t work (which is good), and you sometimes need to hide. However, the enemies can still do nothing against a brazen headshot from maximum range — veterans of Counter-Strike knock off hats time and again.

Hard and very hard levels are not a panacea. Enemies are still tightly scripted, but now they have very painful bullets and sharp eyes. You constantly have to stay in cover and occasionally shoot. It turns out to be even duller than on Easy. Wait, peek out, hide. This console trend has really worn thin, but at least the developers don’t force us to stay behind corners and boxes. You can play without them, just like in the good old shooters of the Quake era.

Since the cowboy setting imposes certain limitations on plasma guns, the developers decided to make multiple revolvers, a few shotguns, and the same number of rifles. Now you will find out about the weapons, and I will reveal a terrible, terrible secret. Read on. Thank you.

Weapons in the game vary by damage, reload speed, and rate of fire. For example, a sniper rifle reloads slower than a lady’s pistol. But it’s more powerful and comes with a scope. In general, the system is simple, worn out, and doesn’t imply any excesses like upgrades, for instance.

Weapons of the same type also differ in condition. Rusty junk is bad; gilded is very good. Obvious.

All guns are either bought or taken. Money for shopping drops from enemies and lies around the stages. The connections are excellent.

Now let’s get to specifics.

This is cash.

Vulcano Gun — large and very powerful, by analogy with a volcano (don’t confuse it with a machine gun). It makes a loud “bang,” deals damage to villains, and looks pretty. Moreover, it shoots very quickly, allowing for a lot of damage over time. However, the extremely long reload time may get the shooter killed when the magazine finally runs dry.

Peppergun — some incomprehensible contraption resembling a knife and half a revolver. It shoots the same mysterious incomprehensible stuff. It looks like a mini-shotgun but uses pistol rounds. Shooting range is terrible, reload speed too. You can’t poke with it (or maybe it’s not a knife at all).

Ranger and Classic Gun — two nearly identical revolvers of no use. Both take so long to reload that you lose all desire to use them. So I won’t waste space on them.

Quickshooter — the favorite gun of a true cowboy. It shoots quickly and reloads instantly. Losses in damage are not worth the speed benefits.

Bow — a bow, but not for onions. Arrows are rare, power is low, and silence is unnecessary. Useless.

Sawn-off — a regular sawed-off shotgun. Just like everywhere.

Shotgun — an uncut sawn-off. Shoots further but has less spread. A professional's choice. A double will take down anyone.

Classic Rifle — a small rifle with a pretension for sniping. An overall excellent weapon — faster, more accurate, and more powerful than pistols. It reloads every shot. And quite quickly. It sweeps past shotguns in close combat.

Heavy Scoped — a gun that makes a big and loud “bang.” Power is proportional to loudness — everyone dies at once. AWP veterans rejoice — this is the same “elephant gun.”

Throwing Knives — another potentially silent thing. Since stealth in the game is implemented modestly nonexistent, you can cut sausages with these knives. Of course, by throwing them. We don’t look for easy ways.

Dynamite — explosives that explode. Used only against barricades. That’s all one needs to know about it.

There are also quirky guns like Hybrid Gun or Ladies Gun, which are not sold in stores and are therefore meant only for a collection that nobody will gather. I won’t talk about them.

There’s also the “Gatling.” It’s big, shoots fast. It appears at the end of the game. Nothing interesting.

Now for the secret. All these differences between weapons are nonsense. The better option is always the one that shoots faster.

Components

Take the characters, sprinkle them with weapons, add a fatal beauty and money — and you get a story. The plot of Bounded in Blood is primitive and worn out. Treasures, a love triangle… yes, and we know how it will all end. Here is the first misstep — the first part was not popular enough to ignite interest in the characters. They should have made a sequel with a focus on free gameplay — it would have been more interesting...

The second shortcoming of the game is monotony. In striving to diversify the constant shooting (and here you don’t even need to draw a picture — shoot, kill, pick up ammo, that’s the entire gameplay), the developers overdid it somewhat. Just take the brothers’ favorite move: they stand on either side of a large door, simultaneously burst in, and shoot everyone inside with both hands. In such moments, the game turns into an arcade: the aim assists itself to the center, and we only need to pull the trigger. The first time — it’s unusual and interesting. The twentieth — painfully boring. Double doors pop up 2-3 times per level, and throughout the game, you encounter them at least 30 times.

And it’s the same with everything. Horse rides — it’s all the same, but the horse runs fast. Side quests to diversify always boil down to “kill everyone” — boring. The main plot… well, you got it.

The wrap of the game, honestly, is beautiful and shiny. But the actual candy sparks no interest.

Honestly, I don’t understand why Call of Juarez: Bounded in Blood received an average score of 77 abroad. For what? For a lot of identical shooting from different guns? Or just for the graphics? Maybe for a banal plot? That’s exactly it…

In general, let’s discuss — what’s so special about Call of Juarez: Bounded in Blood?