I am amazed how game designers constantly pass over the western setting when it comes to video games. I can count on one hand the number of western video games that have come out in the past five years, but I would need a calculator to estimate the number of World War II shooters that have been crammed down our throats. Video games set in the old west are so rare, they are like the Great White Whale; You know they exist, but darned if anyone has seen or played one. Thankfully, where American studios have slacked off on their own heritage, Polish developer Techland has released The Call of Juarez on the Xbox 360. Will it be as good as the much respected Red Dead Revolver? Or will it become a joke like the campy Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman? We put Call of Juarez to the test.

Not the only cowboy in town
The single-player game is broken down into two parts. The first of which follows Billy Candle. Billy comes home to visit his mother after failing in his search for the legendary Gold of Juarez. Unfortunately, when he arrives home (after some misadventures in town), he finds it burning and his parents murdered. The second follows Reverend Ray, an old fashioned fire and brimstone preacher who just happens to be a reformed gunfighter. After hearing of shots at his brother's place, Ray runs there to find Billy Candle standing over the dead bodies of his mother and adopted father. Ray, believing that god has chosen him to deliver justice unto Billy himself, sets out to seek divine retribution unto him with a twin pair of six shooters.

This simple setup starts up a unique game of cat and mouse between Ray and Billy, who are two very different characters. Billy is a young rancher who is also adept at sneaking around places no one wishes him to be. He isn't so good with a gun, in fact, you'll find very few guns in his stages. Give him a bow and arrow, however, and he will kill anything that moves. Using this, he can enter a kind of slow motion focus mode and whip out three shots before anyone can react. He also carries a whip which he can use, Indiana Jones-like, to cross areas Ray can't. This means Billy's levels are, by and large, sneaking and platforming affairs. You'll learn to crouch walk, make desperate jumps, swing across branches, and mantle unto high platforms that shouldn't be there. Sound fun?

No, it's not. At least most of the time it's a tedious chore to go through his missions. The stealth sequences are forced upon Billy as you progress, and you can't do anything to shortcut it. The areas of the game are little with underbrush that Billy can slip into, whereupon the indicator on the lower part of the screen turns dark. This works fairly well, but while enemies can't see into the safe zone, they can see through them, which is illogical. The bow and arrow Billy carries is a nice and silent weapon. I am sure with the right shot you can kill an enemy without making a sound. Yet despite sneaking into a stage filled with people itching to kill Billy, the game won't let Billy fire a shot at anyone. Code of the West is all good, but the hero should be able to plant an arrow in the face of people who are trying to kill him. Also, the stealth sequences are rudimentary at best, meaning if you slip up once EVERYONE knows where you are.... And Billy doesn't have the health to stand up in to anyone in a gunfight. To be fair, some of the stages you play through as Billy can be great fun. Hunting for rabbits and climbing a mountain are great, as is doing his best Indiana Jones impression finding the Gold of Juarez. These occur late in the game, however, and don't make up for the earlier forced stealth stages.



Gospel of the six shooter
In contrast, Ray is a no nonsense two-fisted gunslinger with little patience for the unwashed heathens. Sometimes with a Bible in one hand and a six shooter in the other, Ray brings the wrath of God unto anyone who stands against him. His levels play out more like a standard first person shooter with a quickdraw mechanic. With both guns holstered, Ray can pull the game into slow motion mode and snap off shots with serious accuracy. He can't move while he fires this way, but anything that falls into the range of his crosshairs is dead before they can move an inch. To compensate for his old age, Ray also wears a breastplate (decorated with a cross) to stop the bullets for killing him. This makes him much hardier than Billy, allowing him to survive gunfights Billy can't. Ray also gets to have the boss fights in the game... One on one duels in old west style. These are insanely short, but very satisfying as Ray enters concentration mode and snaps off a perfectly aimed headshot. He can also lean and duck while doing this, allowing him the chance to dodge that instant kill shot fired by his enemy.

Still, Ray and Billy share one common problem. Guns break down in the game with rather alarming frequency. Firearms in the old west were noted for their reliability, but if this game is to be believed, most guns breakdown after only a few dozen shots. I can only surmise this was done due to the fact that you really are only carrying three types of guns through the whole game: Pistol, Rifle, or Shotgun. By constantly forcing you to switch guns, the game tries to give the illusion of a lot of gun variety. The problem is there already IS a huge amount of variety of guns in the game. I counted over ten types of pistols in the game, each of which could come in two varieties, rusty or normal. A rusty weapon will breakdown faster and be less accurate but is usable in a pinch. If you use it too much though, it will start to smoke and then explode, doing damage to Ray or Billy as they throw it down. A normal weapon is pretty much what you'd expect. There are also unique weapons based on concepts and limited production models of real guns. These special types are insanely useful, but show up only on the last stage and nowhere else. They still breakdown, but much slower than normal guns.