Overview

It all starts with young Billy the Candle, who returns to his native village after trying in vain to become a treasure hunter in Juarez. Then comes the Reverend Ray, who is none other than Billy's stepfather's brother. While Billy hates Ray above all else, the accusation of murdering his mother and stepfather will not help the Reverend's hate for him. Thus, the game will alternate two phases: the escape with Billy and the hunt with Ray. The player will successively embody these two characters, and will have more than once, the opportunity to cross paths with each other and vice versa.

The original scenario allows the player to experience this interesting gameplay. Billy can thus cling to branches with his whip or hide in small bushes. As for Ray, he has a weapon of his own and frankly sympathetic: the Bible. He can read passages and torment his opponents who will then hesitate to shoot a man of God. But that's not all, since good old Ray is actually a gunslinger.

Gameplay

The player can thus use the concentration mode which slows down the action and makes it easy to shoot the enemies on the screen. Yet, be careful not to overuse it, otherwise it will make the game much easier. Last point specific to Ray: the duels. As in a good Clint Eastwood movies, we find ourselves in front of a big bad guy that we must kill as quickly as possible once the green light is given. By manipulating the right analog stick, from bottom to top to simulate drawing his revolver, we find ourselves having to avoid the possible bullets while shooting as fast as possible (having taken care to aim well, it goes without saying).

As much as Ray's concentration mode makes the game much easier, Billy was not spoiled. Slow and painful sequences of infiltration, climbing as inaccurate as it is interminable, and long walks almost hypnotic as they are boring. As if that wasn't enough, the general difficulty of Call of Juarez is extremely bad. In average difficulty (the default one), we generally have to do certain missions a few times over to ensure that Billy survives. If the enemies were tough, we could understand, but it is rather their annoying habit of shooting in the head even though they are only a small dot on the horizon that annoys and who has a reason to be annoyed.

Graphics

The developers managed to create a rich and colorful universe, which gives an impression of total freedom. Because in reality there is always a barrier or a water current to prevent the player from going anywhere.

Conclusion

Call of Juarez offers a pleasant but far from unforgettable FPS experience. There was however enough to do with the interesting gameplay. Too bad that the difficulty is so badly optimized and the unfair AI. So what remains of Call of Juarez is a FPS that goes off the beaten track aby doing something different, but ultimately just being an okay experience.