Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

This is a good game, but it could be better. The first Call of Juarez while not perfect is a better game gameplay wise. There is one thing that they imprved here over the first game: The duel mechanic, it is finally working! I wish that was the only thing they changed. Graphics are better, but this is tainted by effects that make it impossible to see anything on screen. Right at the first level whenever a cannon shoots the screen shakes and gets so blurry that you can't see anything anymore. Bodies are disapearing after a few seconds which kills the mood and which makes it harder to find dropped money and ammunition. The cover system is bad, if you are playing with mouse and keyboard, but luckily you can disable it. Bullettime was better in the first game, sure in this game bullettime is better for controllers, but with mouse it is worse. In this game we have less physics than in the first game. I liked to play around with the physics in the first one. I don't know why, but in this game you can still only use one of the thump buttons on your mouse. This was the same in the first one, would have thought, they'd fixed that for this one. At least you can get around it by creating a macro via the mouse driver. Mouse sens is stupidly high, I have set it to the lowest I am able to set it in the settings and it is still too high. I haven't taken a look at the config file yet, but as this game got consolified, I doubt that there is much that can be done here. I know I could lower my dpi but they are already just at 800. Other than that the game is quite simmilar to the first one and if you liked the first, you are going to like this, too, but probably not as much.

Ahh the glory days of single player shooters. Such an amazing series of games, with great characters and story and superbly voice acted as well. If you love cowboys, this is a must have. It's a brutal game with a sad story that you'll remember for ages. I'll tell you what I always tell people to whom I recommend this game: In the first game, you can dual weild revolvers...or....you can have a revolver in one hand and the Bible in the other, and while your shooting people your character recites vengfull quotes from it. Absolutley glorious. As far as faults go...the game clearly has some PC quality issues, since it was made for consoles, just like most games of that era. But that's about it. It's a great time. I recommend all of them except maybe the one that's set in modern times...that one was a bit of a miss, just because the setting was so important for the series.

The second instalment of the saga, bound in blood, is arguably the best of the three ( Cartel is not worthy of mention) with an even more enticing story than the first one and a solid gameplay. Yup, the game looks even better than the first (not just for the better graphic engine, which would be normal, being a prequel - sequel, but for the design choices... Sometime, I stopped playing just to look at the rendition of the open desert of the ol'west by techland) and way more intriguing stories, well thought out, full of western cliché but never boring, and very mature (and not just for shock value but with actual meaning) To be perfectly frank, I'm not giving the full score of 5 stars just because of some minor technical defect and for the ''stealth'' section with Thomas (one of the two character you can choose) which are almost non existent. So...Yup, hear the call and go play this game. Even after all these years, it still holds up to the test of time!

Serving as the prequel to 2006’s Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood is a clear improvement over its charming but flawed predecessor. The gunplay feels better, the level design is superior, the A.I. is more responsive, and even the storytelling is more engaging. It does a good job of expanding on CoJ’s qualities, doubling down on the explosive action and wide open spaces while omitting or enhancing some of its egregious design elements. For instance, while it still has two playable protagonists with different gameplay styles, you can now select your character at the beginning of each level, letting you skip Thomas’ stealth/platforming gameplay if you prefer to incarnate Ray the gunslinger. Still, Bound in Blood makes a few missteps along the way, notably because of its “Call-of-Dutesque” gameplay style. The gunplay is now more about knowing when to cower behind cover to regenerate health than it is about being quick or accurate… Although since you’re wielding manual-action guns, you can’t spray and pray your way out of combat and need to make every shot count – no full auto in the Wild West! It’s also full of small imperfections, like how easily the enemies blend in the environments, how awkward the automated leaning system feels, or how much of a pain the fast draw duels are. But hey, you can’t deny the gameplay is wrapped in a nice package. Much like the first game, CoJ:BiB’s advanced visual tech and great art direction allow it to remain very pretty-looking in spite of its age (as long as you tweak the FOV and Vsync); and while the plot isn’t incredible, it’s told with a lot of conviction and sincerity and has all of the grit and anti-heroism you could possibly want from a Western story. In the end, CoJ:BiB is a fine experience. It's everything we loved and hated about late 2000s/early 2010s FPSes, clad in a badass outlaw duster. There’s a lot of good here, alongside some bad and a bit of ugly, making for an overall fun Wild West shooter with a few clever twists.

After beating the first entry in the series, I had modest expectations. The previous part was very clunky, especially towards the ending and the disparity between the developer's ambitions and actual capabilities in terms of execution was visible. For that reason I approached "Bound in Blood" managing my expectations. And it surprised me. This game has story. It plays like a good movie and is truly captivating. The way particular storylines tie into the events of the original "Call of Juarez" is really satisfying. Overall it's a solid piece of work and delivers a lot of entertainment. Shooting mechanics are a bit clunky in precise setups when trying to "snipe" with a scopeless rifle which is quite frustrating. I also think duels are not quite "there" - the mechanics are a little too random. It feels like they're not far from a great mechanic, but as I've written - not quite "there". Overall I can really recommed the game. It can be beaten within about 8 hours, so it's a good purchase for a light and quick, yet story-rich play.