Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is the prequel to Call of Juarez and will take you from Civil War era Georgia to the Aztec temples of Mexico. Call of Juarez is a western themed first person shooter, and follows the story of two brothers and former Confederate Army soldiers, Ray and Thomas McCall. The story begins as the McCall Brothers are on the battlefield fighting Union soldiers. They see their old town in complete ruins from war, so they decide to go in search of Cortez’s treasure. Juarez is also looking for the lost treasure of Cortez, and he hires the brothers to do favors for him for a cut of the treasure.
Bound in Blood lets you play as both brothers Ray and Thomas and they both have their own set of unique skills. Ray is more of the in-your-face, shoot first, ask questions later type of guy. He can carry heavy weapons such as rifles, dynamite, and a Gatling gun. Thomas on the other hand is more stealthy he carries a lasso, a knife, a six shooter, and a hunting bow. Thomas can even sneak up behind enemies for a stealth kill which is almost reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid. There is a new feature where both brothers have their own special abilities called concentration, every accurate shot increase the concentration which allows them to unleash a deadly shooting mode. The enemies they encounter in the game are typical western themed stereotypes, usual bandits, Indians, and vigilante lawbreakers. The boss fights in this game are unique; they are in the form of pistol duels. The controls for the pistol duels take some time to use to, however after a while you will not have any trouble getting a beautiful head shot.
The graphics and visuals are simply amazing; they take you from ghost towns, the desert, to dense forests, and even an underground temple. The scenery and even the animals in the game come to life during the shootouts, they even react to what’s happening on screen; if you are in the middle of an intense shoot out and a spider crawls on a rock in front of you it will try to avoid any crossfire. Everything looks so realistic from the worn down buildings to the Conestoga wagons and the player models. Visually this game has everything going for it.
One thing the game is definitely lacking is intelligent and challenging enemies: during shootouts the enemies will just stand out in the open and not take any cover, or try to flank you. You can of course take cover with the games cover system. Leaning up against walls, rocks, or crates and peeking out by pressing up, down, left, or right on the right analog stick you can hide behind cover and aim for a more accurate shot. Thankfully the A.I. of your brother fares much better and makes this game a breeze to play through.
The game is very engaging, mainly due to you being able to play as both brothers. It is however very short and ends too quickly. It will likely take you around 10 hours to complete, which is a shortcoming because the game is so much fun. Once you finish it you can always hop online and play competitively. The games offers the usual deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag modes: the most fun mode is wild west legends, where you play as a team to complete a set of objectives. Multiplayer supports up to 12 players and has a variety of different classes to unlock. One thing it is definitely lacking online is cooperative play. It should be included because in the single player campaign you can play as both brothers, so it makes sense to make that option available online so you can play with a friend.
Fans of first-person shooters will definitely want to jump into this game on the hardest difficulty, but even on harder difficulties the enemies are much more accurate and cause much more damage.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a first rate Western shooter, which will make you feel like Clint Eastwood in a Sergio Leone movie. The games stunning visuals, engaging story and the ability to play as both brothers makes Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood a welcome entry into the first person shooter genre. If you are tired of playing World War II games or sci-fi shooters then you will definitely be interested in playing Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.