America is burning in the Civil War, the North is pressing on the heels of the South, Gettysburg is very soon, but the participants in the conflict do not know about it yet. The McCall brothers fight for the Confederacy. Under the command of Colonel Barnsby, they fight back against the Union as best they can, but decide to desert when they learn that their home farm in Georgia has been plundered.
In their desire to return what was lost and restore their home, the brothers take the path of murder and robbery. They are kicked out of the cities, put on the wanted list, and at Fort Smith Thomas a federal marshal (something like a police chief) is killed and they have to flee to Mexico. Where are our treasures buried?? By luck it was there..
In the original Call of Juarez, Reverend Ray casually said that he was led to the church by terrible deeds. He repented, took the righteous path… imagined himself to be a weapon in the hands of the Lord and went to kill Billy. The “holy men” didn’t say anything more about the past. His brother Tom dies at the beginning, and the dead don’t share information.
The developers decided to show us what was so terrible in the life of the McCall brothers. From the point of view of an action movie, their lives are really interesting, but from the plot point of view… It would not be wiser to continue the story rather than come up with a preface to the well-known ending?
It’s no secret that the original game was criticized a lot for the boring part of the gameplay, which took up half the time. Most people didn’t like Billy Candle and his methods. Running and hiding is interesting when the adrenaline level rises when you empathize with the hero. It didn’t work out for the hunted guy to dive into long stealth missions, so the second half of the game – as Ray McCall – was a balm for the soul. A terrifying-looking priest famously knocked hats off the heads of bandits (along with their heads), reading out quotes from the Bible along the way. Playing as Ray was fun, interesting and entertaining.
The developers took into account the mistakes and decided to rid us of hide and seek altogether. Brothers Ray and Thomas shoot opponents without restrictions. Tom prefers to shoot from afar, while Ray specializes in close combat. "Pysh-pysh!", shooting, explosions, corpses gushing blood, robberies – it seems that if there are no boring levels, it should be exciting and exciting, but… they didn’t bring it to Bound in Blood poor stealth missions with Billy Candle to make the action part look so cool.
Ray and Tom, although they differ in their approach to business (we talked about this in the preview: Tom is agile and knows how to climb, and Ray is durable and prefers not to climb anywhere, rushing straight ahead), but for the gameplay this is more of a cosmetic change than a serious change. For example, in one of the missions there is a side task – kill a bandit, get 100 bucks for it. The villain is hiding on a farm surrounded by a picket fence. His gang lives here. We choose Tom – we climb up the tree to the roof. We choose Ray – we blow up the gate to hell. Then the actions are the same – shoot, shoot, shoot. In Watchmen: The End is Nigh, things are the same, but at least the characters’ techniques are different.
There was so much hope for splitting up the gameplay, but it really doesn’t have any impact. No matter who you choose, you still follow the same path, perform the same actions.
Diluted whiskey
Fortunately, in Techland We weren’t fooled by the excitement of just shooting, so we added a simple economic system to the game (more about it below) and other events that diversify the process. So, in the manner of Soldier of Fortune (remember this?), we will have to shoot at our pursuers from the window of a speeding carriage, and the double closed door usually signals another event – the brothers stand at the edges, SUDDENLY knock down the barrier and give the unfortunate inhabitants of the room an enchanting mess.
Between story missions there are side missions where nothing more complicated than “no person, no problem”. Indians, bandits, old farmer – shoot! And then we’ll figure it out. All the same, friendly characters are invulnerable, and money for these tasks is given by the hand of God – they simply fall from the sky.
There is something subtly https://spellwincasino.uk/ wrong with the gameplay diluted with cases and incidents, since all these tricks do not really help. The carriage ride is tiring – even on Easy difficulty it is difficult to pass it the first time, and even on Very Hard you have to squat all the time.
Breaking down doors sometimes occurs 3-5 times per mission, the technique quickly becomes unoriginal and merges with the routine shooting of predictable NPCs. His Majesty the script carefully places them in places convenient for a spectacular meat grinder, which leaves no interest for a player experienced in such matters.
Free horse rides are also somehow not fun. It’s interesting to complete a couple of side quests and look at the most beautiful views (the graphics engine is impressive). To think that Gun came out early, she would have liked such clothes. Notice that the prairie is drawn with soul, the lighting is balanced and adjusted to the last ray, and it seems as if everything is really alive (and not like in Gun). However, apart from boring side quests, there is nothing else waiting for us, so I just want to turn the horse’s muzzle towards the plot and give it a good kick so that it runs faster.
Another entertainment for the player is the economic system. We kill enemies, collect dollars, and then buy weapons and ammunition with them. There are plenty of all kinds of firearms here: these are ladies’ double-shot farts, the terrifyingly powerful Vulcano-Gun, various rifles and shotguns.
All this equipment differs in damage, speed of fire and reload. These parameters are affected by the condition of the weapon. A rusty gun is worse (in all respects) than a new one. Here in the store they sell only high-quality samples at an affordable price. The further into the jungle of the plot we go, the cooler the guns come across.
“Find a new weapon” is a very interesting trick in that it works as an achievement. Save money, get a gun. And then we save up again for a gun… better. Provides some of the fun, but once you buy a barrel, you don’t have to throw it away. It doesn’t spoil.
And in general, you don’t have to buy anything. Murder weapons that fall from the hands of adversaries are often in good condition, and the differences between “not rusty” and “perfect” are not particularly noticeable. Most revolvers kill the enemy in a couple of shots. From a crumbling cannon you will have to make three. There is always an abundance of cartridges, the difference is small..
The economic system turned out to be the same incomprehensible add-on – it seems to exist, it seems to give some kind of interest, but it quickly gets boring, like all other attempts to diversify the endless shooting.
One destiny
For a prequel to be successful, the original must be incredibly exciting. So that previous events seem interesting and mysterious. This is “Clear Sky” in spirit – it took place. Riddle, secret, curiosity led the players into the swamps, red forest and further, to Limansk. Even if this journey was clumsy, buggy and incompetent in terms of plot, but, in essence, we were following “Shadows of Chernobyl”.
U Call of Juarez It’s impossible to guide the player through the destinies of the characters. There was no intrigue, we didn’t like the McCall brothers enough to sympathize with them all the time. In terms of plot Bound in Blood failed: the original is just a good game, not a cult (like STALKER).
Without an interesting and exciting story, traveling through the levels turns into a boring and drawn-out shooting gallery. It’s interrupted by tedious cutscenes and dead side quests. I want this to end quickly… some people have the patience to get to the end, while others will use the Alt+F4 combination once and forget about the McCall brothers forever.
Pros: beautiful, atmospheric, about cowboys, women and treasures – romance.
Cons: boring and drawn out, 15 missions are real torture.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Best comments
I think you’ve already screwed up there. Bomb game. Great graphics, great sound. I also liked the plot and its presentation. Passed in one breath. And if side missions bother you so much, you don’t have to go through them at all.
I can’t resist writing another comment. firstly, I passed the carriage ride in 1 attempt (with a broken arm!), secondly, the game is very atmospheric and conveys that time well, and thirdly, WHAT DOES STALKER HAVE TO DO WITH IT AT ALL?!, For example, I liked it less, but this is my opinion and the review is more based on my opinion, which is not very interesting
[strong]You wanna do it quietly. [/strong] Actually, citing CHN as an example as a brilliant prequel already says a lot. We can trace two projects (Stalker and Juarez) in terms of evolution and the developers’ work on their mistakes. Both games had great, not fully realized potential, but an incredible atmosphere, addictive gameplay, nice graphics, good plot. And now the developers are planning to release both the second part and the prequel. What do players expect from the second parts?? Captain Obvious suggests that everyone is waiting for the polishing of interesting moments of the first part, the eradication of unsuccessful gameplay moments, an improved engine (in terms of physics, graphics, sound, etc.).n.) and, of course, old and new heroes with new adventures. And now specifically about games. GSC in Stalker managed to completely lose the “Chernobyl” spirit by the time of CN – gang war, instead of gloomy, oppressive loneliness. In my opinion, this is not exactly what the players wanted. Improve graphics to incomprehensible heights, so that not the weakest systems choke. Crashes and freezes after SEVEN patches. Stalker in Clear Sky has turned into a fun arcade shooter based on the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and its outskirts. There are even more dissatisfied people than after the release of Shadows of Chernobyl. And few people already harbor bright hopes about the coming Call of Pripyat. That’s all about Stalker. Finally. Now Tech*** Everything is somehow fair here. Realizing that, in principle, the game turned out to be good, but with shortcomings, the developers release a patch weighing about 900 megabytes. BUT it corrects almost everything that did not please the players – unclear stealth missions, crooked and rare animation… And they added support for DirectX 10 as a bonus. Okay, the rehabilitation is counted, it’s much more interesting to play the game the second time. Time goes by. It’s time to release a new part. I can just imagine the developers meeting: “So, so, what did people not like in the first? Yeah, stealth… Let’s remove it. Copy-paste locations? No question, we’ll make self-sufficient locations and each cactus will be painted by hand. Animations in the style of Pinocchio. Delov, let’s animate again. Graphics? Hmm, what’s the matter? May we have the most enchanting sunsets and breathtaking landscapes. Oh yes. Sluggish action… Well, we’ll fix that too. What else is there? The plot… Well, let it not be stressful, but with great plot twists and an elegant ending. Gentlemen, everyone understands everything? And don’t forget about the atmosphere, drive, music and optimization. “If this didn’t happen, then it’s strange. Because Techland REALLY polished the pluses of the original to a shine and eradicated the minuses. How they did it – only God knows. But it’s a fact. Before us is a killer western about treasures, love, brotherly relationships, duels, betrayals, chases, explosions, scorching sun and whiskey. If you loved watching “The Magnificent Seven”, “McKenna’s Gold” and similar films as a child, then not buying and not playing Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a crime. The game immediately captures the scale and thick atmosphere. Instead of immediately throwing us into the scorching prairie, they will tell us about the difficult fate of two brothers and their service in the trenches. During the first chapter, you will have to shoot advancing enemies with a machine gun, blow up a bridge, sink the enemy’s raft flotilla and a motor ship, meet the third brother, send a hundred or two enemies to the next world, crawl through a corn field and… Much more. The concentration of events per minute is simply off the charts. All this time the brothers will bicker and speak dirty, but help each other. At some moments you even forget that this is a game, and brother, sorry – a bot. And you think that this is a MOVIE, where you are assigned ONE OF the main roles. And it’s incredibly difficult to tear yourself away from this film. The change of scenery is also magnificent – trenches, a rainy city, a ghost town, endless canyons, dense forests, steep mountains, Indian settlements… It NEVER occurred to me that the locations were made “for excuses” – everything is so varied and detailed. Lots of nice atmospheric little things. It happens that you are hiding behind a stone, tracking down an enemy through your sights, and then… A spider crawls onto the top of the stone. At such moments you are naturally frightened by surprise. Or a butterfly may also land on the fly. Why these little things?? But there is such a word – ATMOSPHERE. But many developers, for some reason, forget about it and manage to lose it in their games from part to part. When, after constant shootings, explosions, the ringing of spurs and cartridges, curses and swearing, we are suddenly given… freedom. This is a contrast shower. JUST WHAT you had to hide, shoot, run, scream, blow up and suddenly… Silence and the mesmerizing beauty of the prairies. Sunset. Vultures. Calmly talking to each other. And (albeit small) freedom. A respite that makes it clear that there is also nature, there are small everyday clashes between bandits and ordinary people, there are cows grazing peacefully… Knowing that then there will be chases and shootouts again. And duels? Isn’t this a masterpiece?!? And the videos and dialogues, superior to many modern films in terms of direction and acting (bots). )!? And the final!? It may be predictable in places, but WHAT… It’s hard to call it a game. This is an adventure. You sincerely empathize with the characters and want to help. It is simply impossible to tear yourself away from the process of the game and switch – you want more and more, there, in the very dust, where you can hear the clatter of hooves, the clank of spurs, and the cries of a vulture are drowned out by the death cry..
What does Stalker have to do with it, why did you have to touch him?. just to get bitten again because of bugs ? (which I didn’t have. ) and I think Call of Juarez will be an interesting game, I’ll have to try it
And I went through it in one breath, without any boredom. Because I fell in love with the first part. I think it’s not the gameplay that’s important here, even if it’s monotonous, the main thing is the atmosphere of the Wild West. I passed as a future reverend, I’ll take a break – I’ll play “Candles” as a future stepfather.
ha, it’s strange that in a video review they praised the game, but here it’s the other way around, the game is boring even though the rating is 4.2! the cons are written as if this game is finally not worth playing!
The game is not boring at all.And you can easily go through it a couple of times, playing first as Ray or Thomas, and then, on the contrary, the plot is also good.
this review was written by a person who either doesn’t understand anything about games or was bribed, but I don’t even argue that this game is a bomb
Scripting is the key to creating a beautiful interactive film with, of course, competent work by the director.
the game is normal, the only negative I see is the lack of dynamics, I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that there’s not much there besides shooting, if they made it like a GAN, then such a game with such graphics would have no equal))
I played it and I’ll tell you the count is more beautiful than cham in crisis and at the same time it requires little (system) it’s a pity I had one lag and I couldn’t go further ((