Quick Stats:

• Developer: Techland
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Release Date: 22 May 2013
• Platform: PC
• Genre: First-person shooter
• Date completed: 26 July 2020

Introduction:

Off the heels of completing Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood I decided it would be time to finally beat one of the longest serving members of my backlog… Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.

Now this game actually was a nice breath of fresh air at the time and I remember it. The release of Call of Juarez: The Cartel, which was well known to be one of the worst games ever made and a recipient of really bad reviews and mockery alike, was a low point for the series and Gunslinger was supposed to take it back to its routes. Unlike Bound in Blood however, I don’t have any history with this game and that’s mainly as I always said I should complete Bound in Blood first.

I have 37 minutes on Steam from the time that I first ever tried to get through my backlog and judging by my achievements I clearly didn’t get very far with the game at the time. I purchased this game on 21 December 2013 and therefore of everything I’ve played so far in this backlog, this is the thing I went the longest without completing (nearly 7 years!)

Playthrough:

Session 1: Recollections 1 to 6

Time: 1hr 24m

Hot off the tail of the Bound in Blood playthrough I’m here! Honestly this game just has a really epic feel to it right from the start, totally different artstyle, pace of gameplay and just different approach entirely to the previous game. As much as I loved Bound in Blood I honestly think this style really does suit the series a lot better. The story mode itself takes place through a series of recollections, where the main character is telling the story of his encounters with bandits and outlaws of the time.

The game has a lot of cool features that add to the character development a lot more than previous games including a perk tree. As you will have maybe seen in the Bound in Blood playthrough, I was much more drawn to the long range character of Thomas, so it’s probably no surprise that I’m going down a similar route here.

There’s also a mechanic for dodging bullets when you’re low on health, which comes in very handy when you’re getting slightly overwhelmed by the enemy. Overall it just feels way slicker than previous games and I guess that just comes with the new engine and experience of creating the previous entries in the series. The environments are also super varied and that’s noticeable straight away. It makes the missions a lot more enjoyable when it’s not always the same environment in a slightly different configuration each time. Missions in the rain, at night and in woodland as well as mineshafts are all present within the first half of the story mode.

Another element that has continued from previous entries, but also seen significant change, is the dueling system. This time instead of moving left to right you have to ensure you keep focused on the enemy with the mouse and keep your hand close to your gun with the A and D keys. It’s a much slicker way of doing things than in Bound in Blood and makes for some very cool moments.

Session 2: Recollections 7 to 14

Time: 2hr 21m (3hr 45m)

After an incredibly long break, mainly due to work and other commitments I am back! It has been so long since I played this that I kind of had to re-read the previous blog entry to understand where I was at.

The game didn’t disappoint, chocked full of really quite fast paced and awesome missions including the killing of the Dalton brothers. Again the game has managed to mix up the environments sufficiently that it actually feels very fun to play through and varied whilst allowing the gun play to basically stay the same.

The mixture between boss battles and duels allowed for things to remain interesting, although in all honesty there is kind of a similar vein. The boss battles near the end basically involve finding some cover and chucking dynamite until the enemy gives up. This happened for Kid Curry and his gatling gun, but also later against a sniper.

There’s a secondary undercurrent to the story too. A Native American chief is providing the main character with a sort of foreshadowing tale that he will eventually return to the place where one of the game’s largest battles took place. Low and behold you do return and it is exactly as foretold. One of the quirky things the game does is change the environment based on the way that the main character is telling the story. For instance in a mission where you are trying to prevent a bridge from exploding, the character will say things like “and then a ladder that had escaped my vision appeared” and then in the game word a ladder will come from the sky and forge its way into the map. Kind of a cool feature from a story telling perspective, but also something that helps with pacing.

The game’s conclusion is… strange. I mean it seems to draw from the similarly cool way in which Bound in Blood brought its storyline to a conclusion… A ghost town! In this instance though, the ghost town isn’t just a nice graphical overtone but you are actually fighting ghosts. Yeah, actual ghosts.

The game goes about this by recalling all of the people you’ve fought throughout the game and you fight multiple ghostly embodiments of each main character. Honestly on hard mode this was actually quite a challenge, mainly as it was quite hard to tell where enemies were going to come from. The aesthetic and the actual combat was incredibly cool though and a much more enjoyable way to being the game to its conclusion than in previous entries to the series.

The game finishes with a choice. You confront the bartender “Ben” who is actually “Bob” who you have been hunting this whole time and over all these years. You can either seek redemption or revenge for him trying to kill you. Of course I went for redemption seeing as we had been sitting drinking with this gentleman recalling tales for the best part of three hours of my life and he clearly appears to have led a better path. The game ends through the cartoony

But yes, that’s all folks. It was a very short campaign and honestly I had expected that after the last session where we got almost half way through the story within just clear of an hour. But honestly this has been a great experience and something that was so much more refined than Bound in Blood. The game knew what it was trying to be and did that well.

Game completed in 3hrs and 45m. Please find my entry on HowLongToBeat HERE

Review:

Score 9/10

Call of Juarez Gunslinger takes the series on a different route from the previous entries. It’s much more fast paced and the art style is much more like an old western dime novel. The gunplay is incredibly fun and the pace of the game is very enjoyable with you gaining more XP for netting headshots, running shots, long shots and combos.

The story is told by Silus, the main character, and everything kind of unfolds around you making it seem much less linear. As part of this you unlock new skills through a skill tree and choose whether you want to focus on being a dual wielder, long range rifleman or a super close range shotgunner.

The main story however is super short, with it honestly taking most people between 2 and 4 hours. There are however other modes, an arcade mode and a dueling mode. So there should be lots of things to keep you occupied. This game is usually cheap, so well worth picking up in my eyes.