Call of Juarez

[Rocky 1,224]

I installed Call of Juarez this evening, what a cool game. It's a western shooter (FPS), released this month worldwide. I've only had about on hour on it, and half an hour on the official forums, but this is pretty cool.

The gameplay is mission based, and very linear, there is not much free roaming going on. But it does have auto save AND menu save, so you can save anytime you like and if you forget, chances are the game autosaved for you anyway.

The graphics are knockout. The facial graphics that HL2 is famous for are in this game, exactly the same, maybe better. The landscapes, draw distance and colours are awesome. If you put Shader3 on you get a totally amazing depth of field that has to be seen to be believed, I will post a fraps movie later on. This gives absolutely stunning screenshots, I'll post some of them too.

But, the amazing thing is, and the GRAW crowd up at the top of the forum are gonna be spitting feathers about this; the default options have anti aliasing off, infact greyed out, so right away I thought uhho - another game with HDR, so no Anti Aliasing ARGH!! But, with the graphics options, you can switch off shader3, which deactivates the HDR, and ACTIVATES the anti aliasing. So the user can choose which he prefers, HDR with shader 3 technology, or Anti Aliasing - how cool is that!

So far I am tempted to stick with the HDR and shader3, as you get depth of field with that, and slightly better visuals in some situations. Unlike GRAW, the jaggies with AA off really are not noticable in this game, not sure why, they just are not annoying.

The game also shipped with a fully featured GUI modding tool called Chromed, which looks very powerful. So another box ticked there.

What it doesn't ship with is any anti-cheat (oh yes, it does have multiplayer too!), and already the (rather poorly organised) official forums are starting to fill up with "cheat" gripes.

I can see me really getting into this game, I mean, in the first 15 minutes of gameplay I (or rather my character) had his first sexual encounter! Well, almost.

Anyone into westerns will love this game, that's a given. FPS fans will find the linear gameplay restrictive, gamers who like a story and don't mind going with the flow will like it though.

Wait until you see the depth of field view though - amazing!

[Rocky 1,224]

Oh, and it has passable voice acting, and it also has stealth creep, which is well implemented.

[Janie42 0]

Rocky, great review! D/l'ing demo now -- it includes 2 missions.

[Whisper_44 0]

Here is the website

http://www.callofjuarez.com/

[Rocky 1,224]

You two, check the Supporters forum for a little video of a funny interlude I mentioned above

This is a smallish movie, but you can see the depth of field effect working... 8mb download.

[Rocky 1,224]

Here's a larger resolution one, showing the effect a little better. Watch how things go in and out of focus as you pan around.

[Lightspeed 273]

If this were modded do you think the environment would be excellent for GR style play?

Edited September 21, 2006 by PoW_LigHtsPeEd

[Janie42 0]

If this were modded do you think the environment would be excellent for GR style play?

Definitely you've caught the TCGR modding / scripting bug bad - yahoo!

[Rocky 1,224]

If this were modded do you think the environment would be excellent for GR style play?

All the elements are there, but really, it's too far removed from modern day warfare to be a realistic option for a GR total conversion.

[KRP 56 92]

Rocky, great review! D/l'ing demo now -- it includes 2 missions.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[Rocky 1,224]

Got into my first gunfight today, that was fun, what a killing spree.

You can fire two revolvers at the same time, aiming each one to a different taregt using slow-mo "concentration" mode, which is cool.

After that I had to set the soloon on fire to smoke out the last of 'em, then ended up in my first fast draw situation

Great fun lol!

It's got a good story too, makes me want to look out all those old cowboy DVDs one more time....

[pz3 338]

ya...

i really didnt care for the multiplayer demo. The shoot outs were funny at times. and what amazed me more was you could actually hide in it!

had two guys run by me and i just popped them in the back

[Rocky 1,224]

I only tried MP for a few minutes, seemed okay, but I am enjoying the SP too much to play online yet.

[Rocky 1,224]

Hmm, this seems a bit wierd, the game isn't even out in the US yet, not due until 2007?!

Looks like Ubisoft is publishing it in the US, and Focus Int. in the UK, there maybe another publisher for elsewhere! I have discovered there is even more than one official forum because of this - how confusing for the customer base, and perhaps a reason why this game has all the hallmarks of an underground hit.

@Prozac, yeh you can hide - you can hide in the shadows, your icon indicates your cover level, but lightening strikes will reveal you, and you can even use the crack of thunder to mask the sound of using your whip.

Lots of nice details like that. Great game engine.

[Sup 0]

I've never really heard anything good about the mp demo, but I played the sp demo I guess a month or two ago and loved it.

[Rocky 1,224]

I am not a fequesnt visitor to tweakguides, but whenever I do visit and read their articles, I am impressed - they produce good stuff over there.

Here's the CoJ guide.

[Rocky 1,224]

The missions are really quite short - this is going to be quite a short game compared to the likes of HL2.

Some really good visuals in each mission though.

[Rocky 1,224]

Here's a movie I made to show the foliage of the game off, it's very realistic!

[deleyt 0]

That movie looked great!

Downloading the demo to see it with my own eyes and get a feel for the gameplay.

The trailermovie made me kinda feel like this shooter is arcadish though. People strafn' n' shootn' back and forth never is a good sign for me.

[Rocky 1,224]

Is it arcadish? I guess it could be lablelled as such in fairness, but it does have some very well implemented stealth sections. For example to be stealthy not only do you have to use cover like bushes and, trees and rocks (and yes hiding in bushes does conceal you). But the following have to be considered or you will be spotted.

• Bushes are not so good for hiding in if it is Indians you are hiding from, they can spot what a cowpoke won't
  
• If it's thunder, you'll need to pay attention to lightening strikes, or else lose the cover of darkness and be exposed.
  
• If sneaking around a busy ranch, you need to maintain visual contact with the enemy or risk them seeing you.
  
• It has a sneak key ala [GR].
  

So while the shooting sections perhaps do have an arcade look/feel, there are elements to the game that make it more than just a run and gun shooter, maybe ride and gun once you get a horse.

[deleyt 0]

Just tried the demo and it's actually pretty good.

I'm missing another pair of hands to press all the buttons at the same time to do a firefight

The graphics are awesome, so is the sound and the overall scenery and atmospehere.

You really get the feeling you're in the middle of a western, which is great.

The story behind it also is very emersive and makes sense (in contrast to many games released nowadays). Rather then going for a standard "you are the handsom, much beloved hero" like most games use (BOOOORING!!!), they chose a rather old, grumpy man, going with a vengeance.

So far so good!

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like the "concentrate"-effects! I don't recall seeing anything like it before and it is just amazing.

The lush environments are a treat aswell BTW.

Oh...and gotta dore the little kitten-sounds in the barn, after escaping the fire.

Another cool effect when you're getting engulfed by flames. I actually got killed twice just staying inside the infurness and gazing at the visual effect

I haven't completed the first mission yet but I'm enjoying it so far...although these kind of engines always make me nocious (is that spelled right?) after a while.

Will try some more in an hour or so....after I cleaned the toilet

[Rocky 1,224]

Yeh the concentrate effect is great fun, as soon as I've dispatched any visible cowboys, before moving my routine is to quickly reload and holster both pistols, so when the next guy pops out I'm quickly into concentration mode with a tap on LMB. It's too cool when during that slow-mo phase a bullet whips by your head if they manage to get a round off first.

You are right about the feel and atmosphere too - the personality they have managed to get into each of the main characters is very good and like you say, it really does make you feel like a western movie. I don't know if the demo explains it, but in the full game you actually play the part of two characters, the hunted and the hunter, which leads to some really clever story telling. For example at the end of one level after a fierce gunfight, I saw a shadowy figure slowly emerge from a dark tunnel ahead as the level drew to a close, at the start of the next level, you are that shadowy figure, now watching "yourself" from the previous level jump onto a passing train to escape!

[Rocky 1,224]

Ha! This was too cool, last night I had to go rabbit hunting, with a bow and arrow. I can't explain how realistic it was, I swear it was photorealistic rabbit hunting, I almost felt sorrow for little thumper as he buckled when the arrow struck home! You have to see it, very very well done.

[Giampi 39]

What are the HW specifications of this game? I can't find them.

I'm already downloading the demo but since the max speed is around 6 KBps you can guess I need few hours (right now 18 hours estimated left ) so I would really like to know if it's better to abort.

Thanks

[KRP 56 92]

Finally got to play the demo last night. Very cool looking and sounding but the gameplay is very very arcade. Still pretty fun for what it's worth. Nothing like kicking open a few doors,wild gunplay,women screaming for help,sheriffs gunned down,preachers taking the law into their own hands etc. Heck I even whiplashed a wolf to death. Or was that someone's dog.