Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood

Call of Juarez was a western-style first-person shooter released in 2007 that put players in the roles of both Reverend Ray and his step-nephew Billy Candle. The fact that you switch off between them was ironic, because as Ray your goal is to track down and kill Billy, and as Billy your goal is to find the lost treasure of Juarez without getting killed by the Reverend.

Now, the Call of Juarez series is back for another go, and this time around it’s a prequel about Ray’s younger days and the adventures he had with his brother, Thomas. In Bound In Blood, you often have a choice between playing as either Ray or Thomas, though sometimes you do not have a choice, depending on the level. Why would you want to choose? Because each character controls and reacts differently. Ray is slow but has amazing defense, and in contrast Thomas moves quickly and is skilled in knife-throwing. No matter your choice, it’s good to establish a strategy ahead of time, because the firefights in Bound In Blood are both continuous and intense.

Once things get started, they do not let up. There will be destruction. Everywhere. Early on, the McCall Brothers desert the army and are on the run to Mexico, leaving a gargantuan path of death and havoc in their wake. They literally fight their way dashing across a fullblown Civil War battlefield, make their way through a plantation house and killing all who oppose them, and escape from a town intent on hanging them both.

Luckily, the brothers have a trick or two in their favor. With every enemy killed a little is added to the character’s concentration meter, that when activated allows the player to slow time and take out enemies faster and with more accuracy. Action is very fast paced, and insists you make use the environment to survive, so it’s neat that you can move around crates and boxes to use for cover.

The idea is that Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood will be released this June 30th on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Bound In Blood takes everything the first did well and expands on it, while discarding everything that did not work or detracted from the experience. Seeing as that is the very thing that every sequel should achieve, it’s very likely Bound In Blood will turn out quite well, overall.