Review- Call of Juarez

It is rare that I get an urge a hell lot about any game. As u may have seen, my reviews are short, if not one of the shortest out there.
But this time, it is different. Being completed Call of Juarez, I am dying to write about it. It may happen that ultimately I will end up not writing much, but still, I intend to make my thoughts clear.
In a few words- this game is awesome. Techland has made a game which can stand on par with the best ones out there, in any sense.
The question is- how?
The impression we get from a game is from presentation, and Call of Juarez has top notch production values, no two words about it. On the loading screen of the first level, you get introduction to the one of the character you will be playing- Billy, from himself. As soon as you listen the voice, game puts right into the setting. Whoever did Billy's voice over (it turns out to be David E. Taylor), did a fantastic job (and same goes for all voice overs of the game). Billy is a Mexican boy, who is on the run after leaving home because of his stepfather. When the game begins, you are near your your hometown called 'Hope' (but as Billy's says- 'pretty much the most hopeless town I have ever seen').
As soon as you see your hometown, one thing you just can't remain without thinking is that it looks gorgeous.



Hope is gorgeous

After a while, you will miss a blow job (really) and well known western style action will kick in. And after that, there is no stopping. The game is a non stop action ride after that point for most of the time.

After a few stages, you will be introduced to the second avatar of you. Reverand ray, a father in church of hope, finds his brother dead and somehow, it all comes to you. He thinks you have killed his brother. He will leave the obvious merciful image of a father and will become 'wrath of God'. The transformation of a father in a death angel is sudden, but wonderfully executed. Marc Alaimo has done hell of a voice over. The things he says are awesome. The voice really feels like voices of a death angel. He is fearsome, no doubt about that. Reverend ray, in my opinion, is one of the best game characters ever made. He (and that obviously means you) will hold gun in one hand a bible in other, only to read phrases from bible on dying thugs. This might not sound that interesting this way, but indeed is.
So, you are now after Billy (catching yourself is awesome, believe me). Game will process like this for quite a while now. You on the run, and you then catching yourself. There is something really interesting in the way these sequences are executed. Billy is all the way a fearful, scared guy (even his primary weapon is a whip) and Reverend ray is probably the most bad ass guy out there. So when you complete a level as Billy, you will be hiding from enemies, more in a stealth way. And then when you do it as Reverend ray, you will be a killing machine. There is something really satisfying about killing those bastards we were running scared of a while ago.

OK-OK. I forgot, I should not spoil the game for you. But one question which surely will come in your mind, that what is Juarez then? Well, Juarez is a legend in game (which actually will turn out something else in later stages of the game) who had a great treasure of gold, which Billy's mother described as-

There is one candle and three graves,
the gold of Juarez belongs only to the brave.

You sure want to know about graphics (and I have already given a hint). Graphics are breath taking, to say the least. As game progresses, they only improve. Jungle are rendered flawlessly. HDR creates almost real lightning effects and shadows are as perfect as they can be in any game. Jungles are lush and are full of flowers, butterflies and wolves. Dust is in the air everywhere and water is simply great. Simply put, these are one of the best graphics out there.



And in later stages of the game, you will be treated with even more beautiful vistas, when the game puts you into the desert, where the Gold of Juarez lies. This desert is so beautifully rendered that one can only admire the greatness of Techland's Chrome engine.




And then there is this awesome gameplay, which constitutes of horse-riding, dual gun fighting, slo-mo kind of effects and even killing by a whip. And all of them are executed wonderfully (although the horse riding can be a bit frustrating sometimes). The best part is that changing characters do not affects flow of story at all. The game does have many mini quests, which include crazy quests like watering a fire, bringing a eagle feather from insane heights and even killing rabbits!
Game is long enough. There are 15 episodes and each should take around one hour, with some being shorter or longer.
So all in all, Call of Juarez is an awesome game which succeeds in almost everything it tries hands in. A must have for every gamer out there, but with only one warning- get a good gaming comp first.