Quick Stats:

• Developer: Techland
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Release Date: 30 June 2009
• Platform: PC
• Genre: First-person shooter
• Last played: 23 May 2020

Introduction:

So this is a game that I do have experience with before! I used to play this game back on the Xbox 360 and played a little bit of the single player back then, but I mainly LOVED this game for the multiplayer. It had loads of different classes, really fast gameplay and a super cool announcer who made everything seem so much more themed.

However, in all of that I never actually beat this game’s story, nor really got all that far into it. So now I’m back to beat it once and for all. I currently have 50 minutes on this game recorded on Steam, which has been exclusively time that I’ve been trying to get this game to work on multiplayer again with friends (spolier alert: it doesn’t work, even on GameRanger).

I activated a key for this game on Steam on 10 November 2015… so I’m going to be completing it nearly five years after purchasing!

Playthrough:

Session 1: Chapters 1 & 2

Time: 1hr 12m

So this game is super fun and honestly, coming from my previous playthoughs of the Brothers in Arms games, this has been a welcome change (and modernisation) in controls. However, I would highly recommend rebinding the default for the weapon wheel so that it’s not the middle mouse button. Maybe I just need a gaming mouse… maybe if I save some money I’ll buy one!

So I’ve decided that this playthrough will be completed on the ‘Hard’ difficulty setting and boy is it tough at times. I think a lot of my early deaths (in the Civil War parts of Chapter 1) were mainly due to me not being used to the cover system and the level of movement. I managed to get a lot better and die a lot less in Chapter 2. I’m going to keep the difficulty on hard and see where it takes us.

From this session all I will say is that it’s pretty unnerving playing as the confederates considering what they stood for, but in the story sense of the game it makes sense. Also, we have many games where you play as Nazi Germany and so perhaps sometimes you need to have that different perspective on things. Personal highlight of these chapters for me was sinking the ship in Chapter 2. Just was so fun to sink a paddle steamer and then defend against the advancing enemies. Steam’s overlay was not working for some reason, so I couldn’t get any screenshots in this session, which kinda sucks… sorry for the text heavy first post.

Session 2: Chapters 3 & 4

Time: 1hr 11m (2hr 23m)

So another two chapters down in this session! I don’t actually know how many chapters there are in the game, but I feel like completing two at a time is about the right pace for me. I also found gun stores, which I couldn’t remember from playing it years ago. Kinda strange that when the whole town is trying to murder you in both chapters that the owner of the store is not at all bothered and happy to sell you guns.

I struggled a lot with the stagecoach section of Chapter 3, mainly because Thomas’ weapons don’t really allow him to put out the firepower needed to actually mow down the horseman. I restarted the chapter 23m in and managed to complete the entire thing as Ray in 8m. On hard difficulty, dual revolvers is definitely required in order to complete this. I also got lost on Chapter 4 where you’re supposed to flank the snipers and the game got very cross with me… luckily the snipers can’t aim for their lives and didn’t kill Ray in the 5 or so minutes it took me to find out how to get up there.

Chapter 4 featured one of Call of Juarez’s classic duels, this time with “The Rattler”, which I must say is one of the worst names for a supposedly threatening guy. It just made me giggle when I heard it!

Session 3: Chapters 5 & 6

Time: 59m (3hr 22m)

Managed to sneak this in as a nice short session although it was elongated by my struggles completing Chapter 5…

The actual staging for Chapter 5 in a mine shaft was really cool and the devs did a great job on the multi-height combat. It was fun to play through but I’m still struggling a bit with the difficulty (and falling off of things). Managed to beat the dual on the second attempt this time though, which means I must be getting slightly better at these! I tried my best to get a picture of William pulling a real sadboi face, but unfortunately I still cannot get Steam to work properly and it didn’t let me print screen it. I am trying to make a conscious effort to take more in the future though, gotta show off how cool this game looks.

Chapter 6 actually lets you free roam a bit. I basically just used this chapter to do one quick mission and get Ray some nice shiny new revolvers as I’m definitely going to play as him in Chapters 7 and maybe even 8 too!

Session 4: Chapters 7 & 8

Time: 45m (4hr 08m)

A super short session this time, but I’m liking the idea of completing two chapters at a time, especially when things get challenging. I took more time to appreciate how honestly beautiful the more open landscapes are in this game, but it’s a shame that these chapters are basically skippable. There are small events that happen in places around the little “free roam” sections and some really picturesque places to look at.

In fact on a graphical comparison, the cutscenes actually look much worse than the game itself. I can only put that down to perhaps Techland using footage from the console version in the cutscene or better graphics options being released further down the line. I’ve included a little comparison of the graphical fidelity in these chapters below.

These were a very fun two chapters though and I think one of the reasons I’m keeping these sessions so short is because I’m genuinely really enjoying the game and I don’t want it to end! Also in a total shock to absolutely no-one, Barnsby is revealed to be the person in bandages you help throughout Chapter 7 and then kidnaps you. *pretends to be shocked*

Session 5: Chapters 9 & 10

Time: 53m (5hr 2m)

See I went into this session with the genuine goal of beating more than two chapters, but for some reason this game just exhausts me, so I ended it again after two. One of the things that struck me were the massive differences between the environments and mission types between Chapter 9 and Chapter 10. In Chapter 9 there’s a lot of vertical combat, lots of sandy desert-type environments and this is quickly replaced in Chapter 10 by luscious forests.

I think that this variety is actually to the game’s strength. It means that missions aren’t just the same thing slightly changed and the fact that Ray and Thomas will have slightly different experiences does add some element of replay-ability. For instance in Chapter 10 I was playing as Thomas (the first time in about 5 chapters) and I was tasked with saving Marissa. There was a whole sequence dedicated to that whilst Ray saved William. I’m low-key regretful that I didn’t choose Ray as I much prefer William and I reckon that would have been a better sequence.

The story has moved in a weird way now, with our lives being spared by William’s ability to use his Godly powers of being a nice young man to forge somewhat peace with the Apache tribe. I am genuinely interested to see where the game goes, but I just had no more oomph left in me to continue this session. So I guess the journey will go on some other time.

Session 6: Chapters 11 to 15

Time: 2hr 21m (7hr 23m)

So here we are… the final instalment of this blog. I decided that I would finish this game today (23 May 2020) because as much as I was enjoying my two chapters at a time, I could sense that the pace of the end of the game was going to be difficult to disconnect from and come back to. A lot happened and I’ve got a lot to say, so hold on tight folks.

Chapters 11 and 12 see us doing more with Seeing Farther and the Apache tribe. We learn that Ray is massively afraid of water and genuinely the gameplay holds a good pace at this stage. I also tried to capture one of the better action scenes in the game and managed to screenshot at the worst possible time, so please enjoy this terrible screenshot.

This chapter is however where I started to radically change my opinion of Ray and Thomas. They had before been questionable people fighting other questionable people, but seeing the Apache village burning down not only made me frustrated with Barnsby who was doing it, but also to Ray and Thomas for bringing that level of destruction on the village in the first place.

Chapter 13 gets a special mention here, because the ghost town that it took part in was epic and honestly this was probably my most enjoyable mission in some time in this game. It had lots of enemies, lots of vertical combat but also it wasn’t just doing things for the sake of it. There was a cool travelling gun merchant on the edge of the ghost town, which I found quite funny as why on Earth would he be there?

The death of Seeing Farther in this sequence however is where I confirmed my earlier concerns about Thomas and Ray. Running River lost everything and yet Ray and Thomas continue to chase the gold, even though at this stage they’re under the impression that they have lost William and Marissa too. It’s odd not liking the playable characters, especially as there was so much to like about their chemistry and their personalities near the start of the game. It’s almost as if they see their own goals as being much more important than anyone else’s lives, which is difficult to get on board with.

Chapters 14 and 15 however are pretty awful. There’s “added difficulty” applied by just simply spawning a load of enemies again and again, whereas the actual gameplay and objectives are incredibly dull. This is mainly a criticism of the Thomas section of Chapter 14 and the final section of Chapter 15. Ray’s section of Chapter 14, where you lead William through a cellar and eventually duel Juarez, is much better and was generally more enjoyable to play.

Chapter 15 and the way the story advanced is where I take some concern though. William’s death seemed unnecessary (although the scene itself was well executed) and for me it was the final nail in the coffin that I didn’t like either of the main characters. Neither of them would have ever got to this stage if it weren’t for William and so killing him off in order to give Ray’s character a reason to get better just seemed forced and a quick way to finish the game.

Game completed in 7 hours and 23 minutes, find my entry on HowLongToBeat HERE!

Review:

Score 8/10

Well before I say anything else it’s important to remember that the online for this game really doesn’t work anymore so please don’t buy it for that. Yeah some people have had luck with GameRanger and other things but it’ll never be the same as it was.

Looking at this game’s single player, I can recommend it as a buy. The game lets you choose between the two brothers in almost every mission, so there’s something in there for those that like to get all up close and personal with Ray or who like to take a slower and more long range approach with Thomas. Generally the graphics have held up reasonably well too and the game has a surprisingly diverse range of environments that you will find yourself in across its 15 chapters. It also has a very unique art style in how the game draws the various cutscenes… there’s a roughness to the whole graphical presentation really so I highly recommend this for fans of the western style.

The characters can seem pretty one dimensional at times, with some fairly cheesy story elements, but honestly I think it’s a good campaign and a game that you’re going to want to continue playing. The shooting mechanics are quite slick and the concentration mode can save you from some really dastardly moments. This game took me about 7.5 hours to complete on ‘Hard’ difficulty and I died a fair few times on some chapters, so take that as a yardstick for how long this game is.

The duels are also something that is quite nice and mastering them requires a different skill to mastering the very fast paced gunplay of the main game. Additionally there are some chapters which provide a bit more of a free roam experience, allowing you to complete extra missions for money which you can use to buy upgraded guns. This game is usually cheap, so why not go out and buy it? However, buy it for the single player because you’re not getting a multiplayer experience from this one anymore. I would say it was worth buying for the single player alone as I really did enjoy it.