... Gold Fever! :P
Not really.
The real answer is Call of Juarez. Which is sensible term as the legend said that the treasure is buried near the border town of Juarez. Today, i'm looking at Techland's Call of Juarez (2007) because my site is low on review about First Person Shooter game and it feels so wrong because i'm big fans of the genre. I saw someone playing the demo and beyond that i'm blind about this game although i believe it's famous for its time. Warning: There's lots of discrimination toward Mexican in this game. You have been warned.
Everyone says hello to Billy here. He's the man on title screen and one of the protagonist of the game. Unlike other Billy in wild west game that i played, he's less interesting. He's no one. Having beaten by his step father and/or medallion from his mother, is not exactly exciting characteristic. He fails to find the aforementioned treasure also relationship with pretty girl. This guy's luck is really busted. Nonetheless, he's the protagonist.
Note that beating your kids over and over again only teaches them to be lack of self confidence. That's what happen to poor Billy.
Obviously, we're not going straight to shooty bang bang action yet. This level is tutorial and the first thing it teaches me is how to jump by pressing "space bar" (default). I'm not impressed with how low Billy's jump is. Arthur from Ghost 'n Goblin/Makaimura game can jump higher than this bloke and he's covered with full set of armor (or just a boxer). At least Billy can jump from land to land here with no problem. Check out that water! It's so gorgeous. Medic_positivevocalization01.wav
I don't like this slope section. It's something new to me in FPS game but not in interesting way. I don't think i can just surf the longest slope while braking with "S" button (default). I still need to find the safest short slope and it's kind of tedious.
Billy said that this Jones' cabin is good place to practice shooting. I though Jones is nice guy but apparently not. I bet he's one of racist gook that treat Billy in not nice way. So why he think this is good place for tutorial? I have no clue.
To avoid being detected by old Jones again, i have to crouch in bushes. Stealth section in Wild West FPS? Spy_negativevocalization03.wav
You can change the setting from pressing and holding the "Ctrl" key to sneak, to single pressing the key to toggle the sneak. It makes capturing screenshot while sneaking easier.
There's ledge climbing mechanism in this game but it feels stiff and slow. Dishonored and Battlefield 1 have better implementation. But i give this game a break because it came out much early than those games.
Now that i have the gun in the roof, Jones can no longer makes me scared. I'm more than happy to plant some of the bullet to his balls but the game doesn't allow me to shoot. If i pull the trigger at Jones, Billy raises the gun and says line such as "That's not enemy", "No!", "What for?". Maybe the developer really want to convince me that i play as righteous protagonist by not allowing me to kill civilian, horse, or corpse. But it's tedious throughout my playthrough.
There's no aiming down the sight in this game. But you got this focused sight instead. When focusing my sight, some objects become blur which is realistic but feels funny to me.
After climbing wrecked wagon and jumping out a fence, a wild wolf attacks me so i shoot his head. When i try to shoot its corpse, Billy refuses and said "That's not enemy". Well, it was enemy. But you can't be sure that it won't revive as zombie wolf or whatever.
After few steps forward, the game abruptly cut into transition. While i wait the game finishes loading, i can see more of the plot exposition. I don't think i ever saw saloon owner to be kind person. But then i remember Doc from Cowboy and Aliens movie who is pretty nice person. So pardon me, badly discriminating saloon owner.
On the bridge to Billy's hometown, he meets the first schmuck on the list: the sheriff. He forces me to hand over his one and only pistol. Heavy_jeers01.wav
Not far from the entrance i spot those guys who look nothing but trouble. I hope for the sake of this town, sheriff also confiscated their guns before entering this goddamn town.
This town called "Hope" filled with outlaws and hypocrites. Not good place for Billy. But there's Suzy who's apparently in good relation with him and she invite him to her place. It's just pure coincidence that the balcony's railing obstructs her breast cleavage and not because i have great skill of screen capturing to provide the reader with less tantalizing picture.
Her place is the grand saloon where the second jerk on the list dwells. I reluctant to go there but there's no other way because some dolt park their wagon in wrong way. By that i mean it block entire road. I reckon i can get pass those gaps between the bastards but the game doesn't allow me to do that by employing invisible walls. To the saloon we go. *sigh*
I think this saloon has big problem: the mirror here is so blurry that i can't see my reflection at all. There's no owner of the grand saloon yet. So far so good.
Welp! I spoke too soon. Clyde here prevents me to meet Suzy. I have to pay to meet Suzy? She's prostitute, isn't she? I don't want adultery content in my shooty bang bang game! By the way, that mirror on the bar is scrappy. Alright! Alright! I leave soon.
I try to get on my way to Billy's mother's house but suddenly Suzy suggests me to meet her from side window. There's wooden beam on the window that i can catch with whip that happen lies nearby. With the whip i can hoist myself to the window there.
While Suzy checking on Clyde, i must find Suzy's Derringer within 60 seconds. Oh, yes! I forget to tell you that my objective is to steal her gun. I ensure you that i don't want to meet her for the sake of dirty stuff. Not at all. I manage to find the gun within 2 seconds because it's in the same drawer when i test run this game. Good. I hate randomizer element in section with limited time. I find the gun but it's not loaded. Where could Suzy hides the ammo? Don't tell me it's inside her socks! Gross!
When Suzy unzip my trouser, Clyde barges in. Foreplay denied. Thanks God! But not for long as, Clyde and his lackey start shooting me. Thus i escape via window where i come from.
I manage to escape Clyde but he announces contest: whoever can kill Billy can have 30 minutes with Suzy. I think he is not sure how Billy's prize in dollar so he make up with certain time with Suzy for free, instead. And they are sold with his idea.
After some running from those scoundrels' gunshots, I meet a chasm. The way to get across it is by using whip that grabbed to nearby branch. You can identify if an object can be grabbed by the whip by that indicator of a wood tied with a rope there. But in order to get across this specific chasm, you have to whip the branch in this precise part. Other part can be whipped but, the whip's swing is too short for you to get across. It goes without saying that i die a lot in this "tutorial" section because i grab the wrong part of the branch a lot. The rope swing and jump are too weak for the platforming task. Turok: The Dinosaurs Hunter has much better jump that appropriate for platforming and it was released in 1997 which is 10 years before this game released. Bad score for you, game.
I find Crazy Frank's house. Billy says that he has ammunition probably because he's war veteran. He may be crazy due to war but he still doesn't like the idea of Billy barges into his house and steal some bullets. So it's another stealth section. Once i succeed on stealing one box of ammo, Frank magically teleport behind me and point his shotgun Lucy at me. Again the solution is jump out of the window.
Eventually, i arrive at near the Marissa & Thomas farmhouse. Billy expecting his ma's stew and biscuit but alas! There's some stranger shout instead. And the episode is abruptly end.
Next i play as this priest. I hope this episode is more interesting than previous one.
As the priest begins the mass, this bastard Clyde persuades everyone in church with liquor. I can see why Billy hates this jerk.
Suddenly, a lady inform the priest a grim news! There's gunshot at Thomas' farm. So, yeah. I play as bastard #3 on Billy's list: Reverend Ray. I don't see something wrong with him so far. He's kind and religious man. Except he raise his voice when telling Clyde to get out, which is sensible.
Oh no! It's another timed section. I have no time to put down the bible, i have to hurry to Thomas' farm. Some citizen immediately accuse Billy is the culprit because they saw him in town. Let's see about that. By the way, you can see the main objective direction on the compass, indicated by big red dot.
I arrive at the farm and i find dead Thomas and Marissa. There's also Billy looking confused and when Ray calls him, he's running into the house.
I can't open the main door with "E" button (Default button to operate anything in front of me) but i can kick it open! Heavy_meleeing03.wav
I chase Billy at the stable. Whether intentionally by Billy or not, a lantern fall and create fire that prevents me to go further unless i put it out first with bucket o' water that happens to be nearby. Thanks God.
I can't catch up with Billy as he cut the bridge here. I just want to put this bucket into your head, boyo! No hanging or shooting execution. I promise!
Some coyotes (metaphorical means) scavenge Thomas' and Marissa's dead body. Despicable! Thus i fight them with my fist! The combo there is kind of like Alien's combo in Alien Vs. Predator but there's nothing benefit when successfully pulling it except for bigger damage.
There's 3 looters. I fought the first one with no problem. But then i agro both of his friends at the same time. I can't beat both of them in fisticuffs. This ain't Final Fight. On next try, i pick them one by one and i come out as the victor.
That event take a real hit on Ray's mind that he decides to take gun as God's executioner and hunts Billy. This gonna be good.
Sheriff once again try to confiscate my gun but this time he's more sensible as Ray become bit of screwball. He claims that God appoints him to represent a greater law than sheriff, God's law. Everyone that gathers in front of the church urges sheriff to put Ray into the brig and some of them even suggest to hang him. Sheriff calm the crowd with warning shot to the air but later get shot by that bastard over there. I don't see why they decide to riot now. If they remains calm, i'll be detained in legal way but it seems their impatience get the best of them.
So it's up to me to restore order in this God forsaken town. Here's important lesson: don't turn your back on your enemy. That way, your enemy get free shot on you, like this. I don't know why they run away after killing sheriff. They should immediately deal with me while still together thus minimize threat to their life.
You probably know this episode/level from the demo. If so, you know this map better than me.
I kill the sheriff's murderer! Engineer_specialcompleted11.wav
While they are running, you can freely shoot them. No need to worry about innocent victim as Ray will automatically refuse to shoot non-rioter.
Then there's 4 coyotes stands in my way and the game wants me to deal with them with -so called- Special Concentration mode. In that mode, enemies move in slow motion while i can fire them in normal speed. It sure provides you with advantage to shoot enemies accurately and swiftly but there's a catch. Your gun's aim is no longer the same with camera control. The aim of your two pistols will slowly move toward the center of camera in constant path but you can alternate the crosshairs by moving your camera. Once the crosshairs reach the center, the game moves in normal speed again.
Oh no! Those coyotes dare to touch Sheriff's wife. To the rescue! Soldier_go02.wav
To replenish my health, i have to take this health potion that will heal by 50 points. No it's whiskey. Priest mustn't drink any liquor, y'know.
I save Mrs. sheriff with awesome Special Concentration mode, planting bullets to those 2 jerks (You can see their blood paint the wall). One question: how do you know they kill sheriff and not me? You're nowhere near the church. But thanks for trusting me, anyway. She even gives me key to jail. She suspect that those bandits will free their friend and get more gun. I shall go there, ma'am!
I use the Special Concentration mode fairly often because it's cool and useful. Besides it's the main feature of the game. To activate it, you have to holster the gun first by pressing the shortcut key for the pistol ("1" and "2" by default) then you press the shoot button (left mouse button by default) afterward. But you have to watch for it's cooldown. When the holstered pistol icon on right bottom is lit that means the Special Concentration mode is available to use.
As i get inside of the jail, they lock the door and burn the building. The only way out now is this ladder but i need to stack some box t so i can reach it. There's other case of the "putting box to make impromptu platform so you can reach higher place " Jurassic Park Trespasser style on previous occasion but this one is harder because 1) I need more than 1 box to reach the ladder. 2) The building is slowly burning so there's big urgency here.
So i get out of burning jail and arrive at this house. I can't shoot corpses but i can kick them and the game still continues. Demoman_laughevil03.wav
Look. One thing that i learn from playing Dead Space 3 is: don't respect dead bodies!
Suddenly, a man barges from toilet and run to me with axe in his hand. But i deal with him with swift headshot. I have done it with single-revolver quick shooting mode, toggled by pressing "Z" button. During this mode, i shoot revolver at twice rate which begs question what's difference with shooting with dual revolver? For starter, you don't need to press between left and right mouse button alternately. Reloading while dual-wielding can be hectic. I think in single quick shooting, your reloading time is faster and your gun has less recoil than in normal mode.
Then i run across grand saloon
and Clyde mocking me from the balcony. I hate you and i'm more than willing to
make you my victim enemy, baldy bastard!
Someone try to kill me with slow-moving wagon with full of explosive barrel from behind. But i can use it to burn Clyde and his co along with the Grand Saloon. Pyro_laughlong01.wav
I smoke all bandit out of the grand saloon. Once they go through main door, i welcome them with shotgun blast. The game prevents me to kill Clyde right away. Instead it wants us to have a proper duel! You can only draw your gun when either timer reaches zero or enemy shoots first. It's kind of weird that i have to move the mouse down then up to draw my gun but it mimic motion of grabbing and aiming gun in duel. I have no tips for duel. Maybe you should lean left/right and not standing still.
I shoot his head just in time and he hit the ground in rather funny pose. Engineer_dominationsoldier04.wav
As this is the part where the demo end, i would like to end the review here. But unintentionally i finished the game. I reckon i can give you some quick rundowns.
Next episode is Billy's again and he has to sneak through bandits who are about to rob a train. If they aware about you, you don't get kicked to checkpoint. They will just murder you. But you're clearly outnumbered. I wish i can have some stealth kill move like in Alien Vs. Predator. But i get bow and some arrows from Apache renegade's corpse. Reverend Ray has Special Concentration mode with his pistols while Billy has slow motion time when drawing bow for some seconds. Naturally, i can pull of silent headshot easily with the bow.
Billy manage to take hitch ride on the train while Reverend Ray is hot on his trail after he kills bandit inside the mine which happens in next episode. On the next after that, Ray liberates the train while being robbed by presumably the same group. Billy's weapon slot # 5 is whip that he can use to navigate platforming section or use as long melee weapon while Ray has bible that barely do anything. When i activate it, Ray quote some of the bible. I don't know whether the quote is real or not. But i can use it to "roast" dead enemy if it's related.
I usually not kind of person who like to work around the rule but i manage to kill civilian with kick to the head! I was about to question why they die with single kick to their head but that Ray's feet goes through their skull so it's reasonable. The game abruptly ends whenever i kick civilian's or ranger's head to dead but i can reload my safe right before this fun moment many times. :P
The bandit hijack ranger's Gatling Gun so i kill him with the awesome Special Concentration mode and use it to kill his peers. The Gatling Gun is kind of inaccurate probably thanks to bad bullet spread. You can toggle zoom aim by pressing right mouse button. There's no usual gun's heat on the Gatling Gun but there's invisible bullet "round" and every now and then the gun needs to reload automatically. I'm surprised by how many of these bank robbers. There's a dozen or two on stealth section of Billy's episodes. Then there's lots of them getting slaughtered by Reverend Ray in mines. And later there's pack of them that actual robbing the train. With that so many of them sure they can successfully rob the train (If Reverend Ray hadn't interrupted) but how they are going to split the loot? With that many men, i predict that they only get $1 or $2 each if they all survive, that is. As far as i can see, there's no carriage that carry bank deposit. Plus some of the passenger claim that they have no more money. This is probably the most unlucky train robbery in history.
Much later...
Billy goes on another pacifist stealth section and steal horse. I realize that i can dual wield pistol with sawed-off shotgun. Doing so while riding a horse, i suddenly feel become demi-god of Wild West. Heavy_sf13_influx_big04.wav
Much much later...
If you wonder what Juarez refers to, it refers to the name of town where the treasure lies or that big bandit who kill Reverend Ray and also Billy's true father. He was defeated by Billy with duel but he survives thanks to steel plate that he put inside his cloth. If only that stupid honor code of "don't shoot corpse!" doesn't exist, this disaster can be prevented. I believe Ray is fine if he's under my control but in this event on Billy's episode he get killed by Juarez with single shot. Juarez has "plot bane" for some reason.
But suddenly, Juarez is out of ammo so he has to settle with Billy with fist fight. Eventually, Juarez down but not lose yet. He tries to backstab Billy as he still hugging his crush, Molly that has been kidnapped by Juarez's men. But Ray shoots Juarez just in time while he's dying. This section is quite unintuitive because there's no instruction before it happens. So the control is akin to gun duel: you have to move the mouse down then up before you can aim your gun.
Reverend Ray perishes gracefully but at least Billy and Molly keep living. Then the end title screen suddenly appears. No explanation to what happens to the treasure. It's bit odd and rushed.
Here's some plot summary: after the murder (that actually committed by those desperadoes that Billy saw, who are Juarez's men) Billy runs away to meet Molly and seek her help. After meeting her in her father's ranch, Ray along with Juarez's men (who are disguised as rangers that try to apprehend Molly's father with charge of rustling) come and murder pretty much everyone except Molly. Yes, including Billy. But in my defense, he shoot me first. It's panic shooting but still. I have done him with Special Concentration mode then he fells to river but later rescued by a friendly Amerindian named Calm Water. Ray saw the wrong of Juarez's men after they kill Molly's Father and kidnap her. Billy run some kind of holy trial by climbing a big mountain and get eagle's father. As he returns to Calm Water, he's killed by Juarez's men and they take Billy to his father in not nice way. Juarez forces Billy to find the legendary treasure while keeping Molly as hostage. Eventually, Billy finds it and get betrayed by his father and co. But Ray comes in and kill them but not Juarez himself, sadly. Ray manages to rescue Molly but fall into a trap but Billy rescue them and i already told you about the rest of the story after that.
Techland's Call of Juarez (2007) is fairly unique FPS. Why unique? For the starter, your gun is considered outdated but not too old like musket rifle that you need to fill it with gunpowder and bullets, put wick and then burn it before firing the gun. You can't just charge into a room and blast enemies inside with assault rifle or submachine gun in this game because they're not invented yet. The common pistol you get is six-shooter revolver. The bullet capacity is 6 at most and Ray/Billy has to reload the gun by putting the bullet one by one manually. Thankfully they reload the gun pretty fast. There's gun named "Quickshooter" that reload significantly faster because they put the bullets at once but lack of power. The shotgun you can only get is the double barreled type, either long (two handed) or short (one-handed or commonly called sawed off shotgun) variant. It goes without saying that it can only hold up 2 shotgun shells. Playing a number of modern FPS makes me think shotgun only effective at close range but not shotgun in here or at least the long variant ones. Maybe because there's no damage penalty over long distance. The long shotgun has narrower bullet spread than sawed off shotgun thus it's fairly good for long range shooting. The most reliable gun is rifle because it has 12 bullets capacity and it reloads fast. There's loading time between shooting but it's quite fast. There's dynamite weapon but i can only find it at mine level. This is kind of weird that there's durability weapon in this game. That means you are encouraged to take enemy's gun once in awhile. The rusty variant of the gun has substantially less durability than normal variant. There's unique weapon such as Juarez's gun called "Magma gun" that can hold up to 8 bullets or short barreled pistol that use rifle ammo. Besides Gatling Gun, you can also operate cannon. There's distinction between Ray and Billy:
Ray has body armor that can block some damage to his torso and he has the Special Concentration mode with dual gun. Weapon slot #1 and #2 must be pistol. While weapon slot #3 can be either shotgun or rifle which is unfortunate to me because i like to have both shotgun (for devastating damage at random range) and rifle (for accurate shooting). Ray is the only one who can kick that can be used for emergency melee attack.
Billy is more fragile due to not having body armor. He has whip that is useful for combat and platforming. He has Special Concentration mode with bow. Weapon slot #2 can be either pistol or shotgun while Weapon slot #3 is rifle. That way i can keep both shotgun and rifle which means good for me.
The music is fairly good but too weak to be memorable. The voice over is considerably well. The graphic is pretty nice. The horse control is basically tank control which is kind of appropriate. The duel section can be considered as "Boss fight". It's not bad but there's one duel that involve 2 enemies at once and it feels pretty unfair. The fist fight system is pretty rough and not fun. Sometime enemies responds to my punch but sometime not or they can block/evade . Speaking of respond, enemies responds being shot but your vision get blurred everytime you get hit so the game encourages you to fight more tactical or strategic. The game auto-save at checkpoints but there's considerably long gap between them so you are still encouraged to do manual or quick saving. Luckily, there's always auto-save before duel or fist fight. The story is pretty well made. You get Billy who's poor vagabond that turn into a man that able to achieve big feats and Reverend Ray who's righteous Terminator.
Call of Juarez (2007) is quite remarkable although it starts with intricate non-combat tutorial such as janky platforming (i.e. whip jump), pick up an object and then place/throw it, stealth moving, and chasing within limited time. That's not what i would expect from FPS game that supposed to be full of shooty action. Moreover i really hate the pacifist stealth section on Billy's episodes. It will be better if i can kill the "enemy" thus deleting threat to my presence/progress but no. Billy can't kill non-criminals but he steals horse nonetheless. There's still lacking on advanced feature but it's natural because the game is the first on the series. Sadly there's not much of replayability in the game. Except if you want collect all wanted poster of developer staffs which is amusing. Like this one:
