When looking for new games to play, I tend to avoid generic first-person shooters such as Call of Duty and similar titles in this genre. However, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger may seem like one of those types of shooters at first, but it actually ends up being far from that. I would go as far as to say that this game, is underrated as a whole and should be praised more for its gameplay and story.
Pros and Cons
Pros
* Gripping story set in the Wild West
* Fun gunplay with three classes to choose from
* Plenty of secrets to find throughout the levels
* Nice cartoonish art style
Cons
* Duels tend to slow down gameplay and have a slight difficulty curve
Story
Silas Greaves was a famous bounty hunter who rose to fame in the 1800s. He enters a bar with Ben the bartender, and three people seem to notice who he is and want to hear his tales. Silas decides to tell them, as the book that was written about him had some false information. Dwight, the youngest of three, is very interested in the stories of Silas, while the other two who are older do not share his excitement. Jack does not believe a single thing he says, and Steve is kind of just bored of hearing them talk.
The events of the story play from a visualization point of view, as such, you will be going through the events that Silas Greaves went through during his hunt on Roscoe Bryant. Silas wants revenge on him for murdering his brothers.
That's really it as a whole as the story is mainly straightforward. I liked how they introduced key characters, all having comic-like introductions. The art during these scenes were all drawn very well showcasing how badass each is in their own ways.
Gameplay
There are three classes that you can play, each having their own play style. The Gunslinger adopts two Quick Shooters and two sets of dynamite to use and can reload his gun the fastest. This class also makes you durable and can adapt to any situation at any given point, it’s also the class I played as well, loved reloading the Quick Shooters.
Ranger is a class that prefers to fight at long distances as they will use a rifle most of the time. You will be equipped with a rifle, revolver, and some dynamite.
There is a trapper class but that one is mostly used in Arcade mode, but you get a Shotgun and the Ranger as a secondary weapon. I myself have not really seen the class to provide much more info.
There is an EXP and upgrade system that you can use to get special abilities for Silas to use and these will have some interesting abilities, like carrying more ammo on your guns.
Concentration Mode will make everything go in slow motion which will help you get a better aim on enemies and there is also a gameplay mechanic called Sense of Death, which will make you dodge lethal bullets. I liked this gameplay feature as it did help me dodge bullets that would have rather killed me.
At the end of some missions, you will fight in a duel where you will be watching your opponent make their move and you need to be prepared to strike. When you are looking at your opponent, your focus percentage will go up and this will help you get a better aim on your target, speed is also important so make sure you have your hand near your gun and shoot when ready. You can either choose to do the duels honorably or cheat your way and strike early, however, history will remember you as a coward. I Tyknighter, however, chooses to do his duels honorably, as that’s what a knight would do.
There is an issue with the duels that does not hinder the game in a major way but is something that should be brought up. Dueling has a slight difficulty curve that may cause them to be challenging. This is especially the case where in one duel you will be fighting two people and then there is the Mexican Stand-Off down the line. This can all be avoided by doing the duels and killing them in unfair manners but if you are someone like me who does not like doing that, then prepare to die a few times.
There are a few collectibles and secrets for you to find, mainly The Nuggets of Truth. When you find one, they will give you the rundown of famous people in history who were active in the old western days. If you are someone who loves history, then you will have a fun time finding and learning about these people.
Graphics and Performance
The graphics are rendered in a cartoon style and looked very nice, very old western-themed. You will come across many locations that are nicely detailed and full of color and in my opinion, the graphics fit perfectly with this kind of game. I tested the game on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Quad-Core Processor 3.50, with16 GB of RAM. I came across no issues while I was playing and had a sold 60 FPS.
Final Verdict
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a very interesting FPS that I think should get more attention than it deserves. I have had a lot of fun with this game, and I think more games should be focused on the Wild West as it’s an interesting time period that I think has a lot of potential for stories. The only thing with the game is that it’s short but FPSs like these tend to be short, overall.
I think picking this game up when it’s on sale may be worth it. While my time was fun, with the amount of content present, just three hours of the story is not enough to pay $18.99.
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