Call of Juarez

I don't like quitting games...But this is one I will quit...For now. The atmosphere is right, the story is right and the whole feeling of the game is right...But... Started the game using DX10 as advised by PCGW. But had to start using DX9 as the game kept crashing as it was a very frustrating experience. No crashes so far. Loading screens, auto saving and quicksaves are so long they completely ruin the immersion. *Sits staring at screen. I really should have made a drink, made a sandwich and taken the dog for a walk. The shooting doesn't feel right, The whip takes some getting used to and the platforming is dreadful. But the mechanic that takes the biscuit right now is the duelling system. I say system, it's more of a sometime, maybe, never mechanic and you don't know which one you're gonna get at any particular time. Currently stuck at Ned 'The Plague'. My gun will just not draw. I'm doing exactky what I am supposed to do, but it will just not work. So for now, I will take a break from it.

Call of Juarez is worse than I remember, good and bad, not for the most part, it's really fun. Unfortunately it only gets worse and worse towards the end, chapters 11 to 15 are a horror and the ending is absolutely disappointing. In addition, there is this wicked villain Juarez who has to be shot 3 times and keeps popping up like a roly-poly as if he were a magician. Which makes the whole thing quite illogical. Positive: + Still pretty graphics today + good pieces of music + nice but sometimes too heavy shooting + good mix of sneaking and shooting + good protagonists Negative: - bad antagonist - partly bad level design - partly bad pathfinding - in the German version, some sentences end in the middle - the German version is cut - Disappointing ending Rating 6 out of 10 points Auf Deutsch: Call of Juarez ist schlechter als ich es in erinnerung habe, gut so schlecht auch wieder nicht größenteils macht es wirklich Laune. Nur leider wird es gegen Ende immer schlechter, Kapitel 11 bis 15 sind ein grauß und das Ende absolut enttäuschend. Hinzu kommt dieser verissene Bösewicht Juarez der ganze 3 mal erschossen werden muss und wie ein Stehaufmännchen immer wieder auftaucht als wäre er ein Magier. Was das ganze recht unlogisch macht. Positiv: + Heute noch hübsche Grafik + gute Musikstücke + nette aber Teils zu schwere Ballereien + guter mix aus schleichen und schießen + gute Protagonisten Negativ: - schlechter Antagonist - teils schlechtes Leveldesign - teils schlechte Wegfindung - in der Deutschen Version hören Sätze teilweise in der Mitte auf - die Deutsche Version ist geschnitten - Enttäuschendes Ende Wertung 6 von 10 Punkten

Call of Juarez is not for everyone. Its so-so gameplay will probably rebuke many players… but depending on your personal tastes, it may or may not have enough qualities to keep you hooked. The plot and overall atmosphere is a high point. Western games are still fairly uncommon, and this one nails its portrayal of a ruthless world full of gun-slinging bandits. The writing is definitely more on the tongue-in-cheek, “spaghetti” side of things, and the story is notable for being told through the separate viewpoint of two wildly different protagonist, both of whom are cool and really unique. It also has surprisingly high production values: it still looks pretty awesome after all these years, has really impressive landscapes, and the music and sound design are quite good. Alas, the gameplay is, uh… well, a mixed bag. First off, there are a lot of non-combat sections such as stealth and platforming areas, which are sometimes a breath of fresh air but will typically get on your nerves; and while the rest of the time CoJ is a pretty basic and heavily scripted shooter, its gunplay often feels kind of weak and clunky, notably when you’re forced to use weak pistols at long range. There are some innovative mechanics (standoffs, quick draws...), but their controls tend to be clumsy. Yet, despite these issues, there are quite a few moments in the game that are a blast to play through: once you get used to how the weapons handle, you will regularly get thrown in solid gunfights set in interesting places – I particularly dig the train attack scene. Because of that, and since the atmosphere is so good, the game started to grow on me after a while, even though I disliked it at first. In short, CoJ is either pretty damn fun or straight-up annoying, and thus not something I’d really recommend. But if you long for a badass cowboy story, wide open spaces and can handle a bunch of crappy mechanics, there might be something for you here. Consider it a 6.5 out of 10, buy with caution.

I got this game because I got it on Steam (for quite some time) and I liked this game a lot, and had a lot of fun playing it. Obviously, I can't play it now without comparing it against everything else, so of course it will be worse now. But the game is fun and rewarding, despite the issues you'd run across now. I do hope this is a sign of the other Juarez titles finding their way here to Gog. Especially Gunslinger, which is a game I love to this day. And a title that desperetaly cries for a sequel. The world is starving for good western titles.

Considering the game was released 17 years ago, the visuals still hold up. Compared to most of the gray and brown shooters released around this time, this game stands out with colorful visuals. They successfully portrayed Mexico in a way that avoids the visual style of a Breaking Bad episode. The story follows two characters, Billy Candle and Rev. Ray McCall, one seeking treasure and the other redemption. Techland was exploring the idea of finding redemption in the wild west long before Rockstar. Shooting is clunky and the weapon degradation does not help at all. McCall is more fun to play because you get to use guns, but the down side is that between episodes, you don't get to preserve weapons. But by far the most annoying mechanics are the melee combat and duels. I can forgive the awkward melee combat, but I absolutely detest the duels. I remember playing the demo way back in the day and totally hating it. That hasn't changed 17 years later. There is very little player agency during duels. The mouse has a mind of its own. I restricted the frame rate to 60 using RTSS, and I think it made the experience marginally better. In my opinion, it's incredibly bad game design to lock a player into a specific situation and impose very narrow criteria for success. Billy leans more towards stealth, and using a bow is fun. However the worst part about playing as Billy are the platform sections. First person games around this time were not smooth enough to attempt first person platforming. To say these sections are awkward and boring would be an understatement. The game's default control scheme is a little weird. Horse sprint is mapped to Caps Lock on default. Why not use Shift? Who thought this was a good idea? The disappointing part is that this could have been a timeless classic, but needlessly poor design choices prevent this game from reaching its potential.