• Summary

• Reviews

• News
• Images
• Videos
• Downloads
• Hints & Cheats

Genre: First-Person Action Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Techland (Poland) Players: 1-12

By Keith B (4th Jul 2009)

The planets have aligned for my review of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, although it certainly won’t save it from a brutal thrashing if it doesn’t turn out to be playable. I’ve just watched all three seasons of Deadwood and if that doesn’t whet the appetite for cowboy hats, Indians, and everything else you can think of that belongs in the US circa 1860, then nothing will.

Call of Juarez was a game with potential, and although hamstrung by poor design choices, it painted a picture of what a western title could achieve in what has been a sinfully underutilised setting. Thankfully, Polish developers Techland have revisited the theme – and the story – with this prequel and it succeeds in sidestepping some of the problems of which the original suffered. Not to say it doesn’t have issues, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised.

One of the highlights of its predecessor was the character Reverend Ray, a hardcore preacher who wielded a pistol and bible with equal intensity. In Bound in Blood we get to discover Ray’s origins, what turned him into the fanatical Reverend and some of his back story.

Ray McCall and his brother Thomas desert the Confederate army in 1864 to return to their homestead in Georgia to protect their youngest brother William and their elderly mother. The marauding Yankee army leaves little time for mourning when they discover their mother passed away, and so the three brothers hit the road, fleeing two armies, with William in tow with a plan to return and rebuild their home when the time is right. The tale of a stash of gold in Juarez, a legend that stretches back hundreds of years along with the belief that it’s cursed, drags the three brothers across the US and into Mexico, where their family ties will be tested to the limit.

Right the way through the game it is evident that considerable effort has been put into making the player feel like they are in the Wild West, which is harder to pull off than you might expect. Just about every sort of event you can think of from the era makes an appearance – high-noon quick draws, horseback riding, stage coach protection, saloon shootouts – and the combat is meaty and satisfying. Blanketing all the action is a complex and engaging story that itself covers many bases including sibling rivalry, loss, and love. It’s hard not to be drawn into the tale of the McCall brothers, so well done is their interaction and compelling storyline. Grunting compliments and trading gentle insults to and at each other through the playthrough helps make them feel more than one dimensional. An interesting score that combines typical western themed music with occasional riffing on an electric guitar works surprisingly well.



For most of the missions you can select one of the two brothers to play, with each offering a few unique traits. Ray is strong and so can wield dynamite, kick down doors and wears a breastplate allowing him to get up close and personal while dual wielding pistols. Thomas, on the other hand, is better suited to ranged combat and so is better with a rifle, can use the silent bow and arrow or knives, and uses a lasso to climb up and over objects, allowing him to open a door or lift Ray up. Choosing one or the other doesn’t have too much of an effect on your play, as there are only a handful of places that the brothers part ways.

Bolted onto this rich single player experience is a surprisingly solid multiplayer component. With only seven maps it may sound paltry, but there are multiple game modes on offer for each that all borrow something from the rest of the community. Wild West Legends fuses historical references with elements from Battlefield: Bad Company’s Gold Rush mode, where successive objectives must be met in order to proceed, and is one of the most popular online choices it seems. Other modes include Wanted, where players can only score points for being the VIP, and everyone else can see an icon on screen pointing to the wanted player; and a slew of more usual modes.



With 13 classes available (yes, 13) the finer point of Bound in Blood’s multiplayer comes to the fore. Unlike just about any other online kill-fest I can think of, here you really, sincerely do need to be quick on the draw, if you get my meaning. Should you come face to face with an opponent you need to fire first, because with only a shirt providing protection (no power armour here) a sawn off shotgun blast at short range normally means instant dirt nap, as does a rifle slug from just about any distance.

There’s another massive gold star on the multiplayer side of things, and that’s the provision to allow you to pick your own server to join based on connection. How this fundamental element can be ignored by so many leading developers is beyond me, and massive kudos for having it here.

Considering the heavy focus of the two brothers in single player, and the well polished online side of the game, then it is a screaming, glaring omission that there is no online co-op play available. It could have been brilliant, replacing the slightly repetitive nature of the brother’s banter with my own, and a mate. Opportunity missed, for sure.



Technically, there is room for improvement. Anti aliasing and shadows are poor, a put the two of them together (on the gun in your hands) and it’s awful. Pop up can be irritating when on horseback, and indeed the horse riding itself could have done with refinement. Horses can apparently run forever at about 60mph but can only jump two feet from the ground, and a horse-drawn wagon can run through fences and even buildings with no ill effect on the animals.

By the end of the campaign you’ll probably feel like you’ve had enough of trudging through mines or dusty little towns, but here’s the surprising thing. Despite some repetition, I completed it twice in two days, meaning that the very next day after I ran through the game’s 10 or so hours I was back in the saddle, doing it all again. I’ve been online with it for the past three days and have thoroughly enjoyed my time, and will continue playing. That speaks volumes for the experience I think.

If you’re a fan of the western genre and era but are unsure about investing in Bound in Blood, worry no more. Without a doubt the best game in its genre for now, it’s a worthy investment. Rich single player, functional and enjoyable multiplayer which will be supported with downloadable maps, it ticks all the boxes.

Share On: