Gameplay impressions
What do we like?If you played the first Call of Juarez game and enjoyed the storyline you'll appreciate how this prequel ties in extremely well. The story of Bound in Blood is certainly strong enough to warrant you watching all of the cut-scenes. With a solid script and excellent voice-acting helping immeasurably to create the authentic sibling rivalry between the two main characters, it's an intriguing Wild West tale with a few twists thrown in to keep things interesting.
The gameplay is action-packed and boasts some impressive moments, including an exciting on-rails action sequence when you steal a stagecoach and attempt to smash your way out of town while cowboys shoot at you from every angel. During the more intense shoot-outs, particularly when you're up against a wave of opponents, the gameplay can be very exciting and tense. There are a nice variety of weapons, which are based on accurate historic replicas of the real thing, and they handle extremely well with many of them having limited ammunition and re-load times. This encourages you to focus on accuracy and to take up cover positions whenever you re-load. Though it's mainly run-and-gun, there are moments where you'll have to tactically take cover. When the cover system works well, it's smooth and intuitive to use. Instead of pressing a face button to get into a cover position, you snap into it automatically whenever you move up against an object. It's a decent feature that comes in very handy when you're surrounded by foe.
'Concentration mode' freshens the standard shooter gamepaly up nicely, rewarding you for killing by allowing you to trigger a slow-motion sequence so that you can pick off enemies more easily. 'Concentration mode' differs slightly depending on which brothers you're playing as and there’s a neat dual slow-motion sequence that kicks in when you smash through a door together. It's an enjoyable feature to use and one that adds a touch of cinematic flair to the already impressive audio work and visuals.
Developer Techland has done a superb job in creating an authentic and polished Wild West look. Long draw distances give the game an open-world feel with mountains and pathways stretching as far as the eye can see. Riding your horse down the dusty mountain paths with the deep red sunset spread across your panoramic view is an impressive sight. So too are the finer details in the towns that you visit, which could have been plucked straight from a Western movie set with tumbleweed rolling across the streets, stage-coaches trundling by and well-stocked saloons and shady characters adding substance to the Wild West vibe.
Note: Multiplayer mode looks superb, but at the time of writing we haven't tested it out due to the servers being offline.
What don't we like?
You could argue that Bound in Blood brings nothing new to the table and just throws dozens of clone-like cowboys at you. The action can get repetitive and there are some examples of inept A.I. that just stand out in the open waiting to get shot, or fail to move into cover efficiently. The biggest A.I. problem, however, is that of your own brother, who doesn't always find it as easy as you do to kill his opponents. In fact he can be a real burden because you can't often progress to another area unless he's by your side, so you have to back track to find him and then kill the cowboy who he's ineffectively being trying to shoot for some time.
Though there are sequences that rely on teamwork between the two brothers, they add nothing to the gameplay. Having to move into the correct position to give him a leg-up, or smash through a door is extremely dull and pointless. If, however, a human opponent could have jumped into the game to help out co-operatively, Bound in Blood would have been even more enjoyable.
We're also quite disappointed at the duels that you face at the end of each Act. Visually, they look great- and the practice of moving your right analogue stick toward your gun and then flicking anti-clockwise to draw it as soon as a bell chimes is intuitive and fun. The problem is that the incentive for winning, or the punishment for losing, isn't strong enough. If you win, you just progress to the next Act and if you lose you can just press 'Try Again' and repeat your attempt over and over again. We don't expect the game to end if we die, but maybe if money was taken from you, or you were handicapped in some way, it would have added more tension to the showdowns and gave us more incentive to try harder. As is stands, showdowns lack the excitement we expected.
Our final complaint is the amount of checkpoints and save points that kick in at the most inappropriate times and cause the game to stutter. The only positive thing to say about them is that if you do get killed you usually won't have to backtrack too far in order to get past a tricky section. Still, they do occasionally ruin the flow of the gameplay and are often totally unnecessary.
Final Thoughts
Games in the Wild West genre are few and far between, so Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a breath of fresh air. When we were younger we dreamt of being outlaws so suffice to say we've enjoyed shooting cowboys in saloons and galloping on horseback through the wilderness. Developer Techland has done well to capture the sounds and look of a typical Hollywood Western and build on that with a decent storyline. Though the gameplay isn't perfect and shooting swarms of cowboys can get repetitive, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a fun game to play and should certainly appeal to anyone who is fascinated by the Wild West era.
Final Score - 8/10
