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🟢 Pros:




      Neat alternate history take on the Wild West and its events




      The game captures the essence of the time period beautifully, showcasing landscapes, towns, and prominent figures of the time.




🔴 Cons:




      Taking too many hits causes the screen to become too blurry. I see what they were trying to do, but it makes aiming hard and interferes with maintaining combos




🔵 Gameplay

      Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a first-person linear level based shooter taking place during the Wild West time period, with weaponry and amplified skills based on abilities a good ‘Slinger would need to have. The choice of firearms is small, but well balanced: Pistol, Rifle, Shotguns (Boomstick and Sawed-off), and Dynamite. There are variations of these weapons that can be unlocked when purchasing skills from each of the three trees, with a minimum of 4 needed to get a new variation or upgrade. Pistols get the most variation, with each having an advantage over another to accompany your other weapon (one Pistol has longer range, making the Boomstick more viable, one has more damage if a CQC option is preferred when using a Rifle, etc.).
      There are 3 skill trees to accompany each weapon type, aside from Dynamite which gets lumped in with Shotguns. These trees are: Gunslinger, Ranger, and Trapper. Gunslinger focuses on Pistols, Ranger on Rifles, and Trapper specializes in Shotguns and Dynamite. The Gunslinger offers 2 Pistol variations, and Ranger offers 1 and a Rifle upgrade, while Trapper offers 2 Shotgun upgrades (one for the Boomstick and one for the Sawed-off). If you purchase the skill(s), you can even dual-wield Pistols and Sawed-offs, for extra reckless, violent fun.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3300761621

      Each level has the player fight against Outlaws or Indians depending on the mission, though both are fundamentally the same. Enemy placement tends to favor frontal and radial ambush positions, usually in large numbers. Confrontations can be highly advantageous, due to how experience is earned. The more kills you get in a close time frame, the higher the EXP multiplier. This mechanic benefits greatly from Concentration Mode, which slows down time and halts the multiplier timer, recharging with kills. Then there’s Sense of Death, which prevents fatal damage and fully heals, but needs time to recharge between uses. I used Sense of Death offensively more than defensively, especially to reset my health and revert the screen blurring from enemy damage.
      The goal of each level is straightforward: The player makes their way through the gunman and obstacles until the boss is reached. The end boss is usually a prominent figure from the time, fought in a Duel. It is by far my least favorite part of the whole package, but it fits the setting and mood of the game far too well for me to rag on it too hard. Essentially, the player needs to have their gun hand positioned as perfectly as possible using left and right while maintaining aim using the mouse.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3301243345


🟠 Presentation

      Call of Juarez: Gunslinger encapsulates the Wild West exceptionally well, taking some liberties here and there. I’m no expert, all I know of the time is what friends have told me and what I looked into while playing, and it looks to me the events are pretty accurately represented. The entirety of the story is narrated by the game’s not-so heroic protagonist, Silas Greaves. He recounts tales of his escapades to a group and as the tales are narrated, the level itself is subject to minor changes, resets, and even a “game over” fakeout. Sometimes it’s actually pretty comical.
      Silas Greaves finds his way around most of the West, even ending up in the Ozark Mountains at one point. While the player never gets a chance to explore the desert plains or ride a horse, the locales are varied and a many, not leaving much to be desired. Some missions take place in towns, some in woodlands, and some during heists. The player even gets to see the Saloon and town the stories are being told in, and kill a whole towns worth of gunmen.
      Enemy designs, and the more iconic figures of the time, seem to have had some changes. All throughout the game, Silas meets many of these figures, sometimes working with them and others conspiring against, with the end result being him fighting through hordes of gunman to face the big cheese in question. He tends to not only be in the right place at the wrong time, but usually gets off scott-free due to misunderstandings and ignorance. For instance, Billy the Kid worked with him in the first mission and during the breakout, helped Silas escape. Silas later ascertained that he was helped simply to serve as a distraction. For the escape. In this iteration, Silas was the one that killed Bob Olinger, and Billy took the blame/credit.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3300761644


🟣 World Building

      From the very beginning, its clear this is a story about a man on a mission, even if it means mounds of bodies be the price. Silas Greave on horse back, makes his way to a Saloon. Almost immediately, he is recognized by a young man named Dwight, elated and excited to meet his acquaintance. Then there’s Jack, a skeptic of Sila’s tales, Ben the bar keep, Molly, a server, and Steve, an old man. Dwight inquires about Silas’ adventures as portrayed in a dime novel, though that stops not too far in, and the stories get more and more outlandish. For the most part they seem believable, as the deaths and events seem match up, but disbelief sets in when the stories portray Silas killing many men at once and getting past Gatling guns, when the most famous of Outlaws don’t have records close to that.
      The lore kind of feels like a self insert fan-fiction, with Silas being the main character. He’s always in the right place at the right time, well mostly anyway, and due to how the history is twisted, it could actually be true. Perhaps. I’m not trying to diminish the story and how events have been shifted though: It is fantastic to play as the legend of legends, just don’t expect a 1:1 telling of the Wild West here. His hatred and lust for vengeance is the driving factor for all his actions, all to reach one man… And when the time comes, the player gets to choose the path he takes.


💭 Final Thoughts

      This game was a wild ride. Utilizing Concentration Mode to rack tons of kills continuously throughout levels and chaining head-shots gives such a rush. Once I unlocked enough skills, combat not only felt better, but the pacing became more controllable, allowing for easier sniping, rushing, and mid-range play. The game isn’t revolutionary or anything, but it feels so satisfying to get off head-shots and to be able to react to gunfire and enemies like I was some kind of super cowboy. A very solid game with over the top Western elements, for the avid Western (and FPS player) enjoyer.



⚡ Technical Issues




      None





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