Boys gone wild
Count on having a thrilling, action-filled Wild West experience in the first-person shooter game Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, published by Ubisoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows-based personal computers. Created by Polish developer Techland, the game is the fast-paced prequel to 2006 shooter Call of Juarez.
Inspired by Sergio Leone's classic Western movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the game follows a quest for hidden treasure that takes players from the ravaged city of Atlanta, in Georgia, during the American civil war, to the Aztec ruins of Mexico. Gamers can play either Thomas or Ray McCall (below), brothers and deadly gunfighters who desert their posts in the Confederate Army to go after the legendary gold of Juarez at the end of the war in 1865. Each brother has his own unique fighting abilities and arsenal of weapons to use against opponents such as a renegade Apache chieftain, a greedy Mexican bandit and a vindictive American colonel.
The game offers a visceral shooting experience in which players rely on their character's gunfighting skills and upgradeable weapons. Every accurate shot helps sharpen the focus of the gun-slinging brothers, allowing players to unleash deadly shooting modes. For example, in 'concentration mode' the action is in slow-motion, which allows a player to get in position, draw, aim and fire with greater precision.
Bound in Blood introduces a 'bounty' system which enables each brother to raise the reward on their capture with more kills. This also pushes them to get rid of other gunfighters to raise the bounty on their heads even more.
The game's online, multiplayer modes include objective-driven, team-based missions that allow players to relive the kind of lawless Wild West scenarios seen in movies, such as a bank holdup and train ambush. The voice acting is also well done, especially the amusing and profane barbs between the brothers.