Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

I picked up Call of Juarez: Gunslinger the other day on a whim. It was recently released on Steam and has been out for Xbox Live long enough that I was able to find a few reviews. I've played the game for a few hours and I'm happy to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by the experience.

Gunslinger should not be confused with a AAA first person shooter. At full MSRP, Gunslinger cost a cool $15 (er...plus tax) making it a budget game. However the graphics and presentation are both ultra-slick displaying a surprising amount of polish. The aesthetics are cohesive and the over all look and art direction are both top notch.

However as I said earlier, Gunslinger is not a AAA first person action title. It's short, for one and the gameplay never really tries to compete with the Call of Duty games. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is at it's heart an arcade game. In fact it reminds me more of Virtua Cop or Time Crisis than it does any modern shooter. Rather than emphasize tactical action, the game put's a premium on lining up shots and accurately picking off enemies one at a time.

The game is set up to feel like an old timey shooting gallery, with bad guys in bandannas popping up from behind cover to take a few shots and then retreating back to reload. Enemies will never try to flank you and rarely move around, once they've found cover. There will, however be a ton of them, making the game far from a walk in the park.

All this effort would be wasted if the game didn't have solid mechanics. Luckily Gunslinger features some of the best shooting around. Guns feel like actual guns, weighty, mechanical and appropriate for the late 1800's. There's lots of kick and one bullet is often enough to finish off a bad guy. Head shots pretty much always equal a one-hit-kill and the rifle can one hit enemies from much further than most games. The trade off is that there are virtually no automatic, or even semi automatic weapons. The pistols are all revolvers, the rifle is lever action and the shotgun is double barreled.

This means that accuracy is the name of the game. Line a shot up before taking it, because missing costs precious time. Gunslinger further encourages accuracy with a combo system that builds bullet time and experience points. Kill enemies within 5 seconds of each other to start a combo, the bigger the combo the better the price.

XP isn't meaningless either. There is a fairly simple skill tree with three different classes encouraging different types of combat. The level up system isn't quite as deep as something like Farcry 3, but it's enough to allow for some interesting options (akimbo sawed off shotguns anyone?)

If you're looking for the next Metro, Bioshock or Call of Duty, stay away from Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. It will disappoint with its simplicity and lack of multiplayer. However if you're looking for a nostalgic arcade shooter romp that requires plenty of skill, Gunslinger might just scratch your itch.