by From the house of Ubisoft, the makers of the cult classic, Assassin’s Creed, comes yet another cool game. The Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a take about a bounty hunter who hunts down the Wild West’s most terrible of criminals and outlaws. But this is not just bounty hunters that populate the game, we’re talking legends like Jesse James and Billy the Kid, fighting brawls and indulging in serious fire fights. This is the wild, Wild West at its finest and you get to experience it all with the Gunslinger game.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger started off as The Lawman and first debuted in 2005. It made its way to the Xbox two years after that as Call of Juarez. In 2009, we got Bound in Blood and in 2011; we saw the third installment of the game, Call of Juarez: The Cartel. Gunslinger promises to pay homage to the Wild West and players gets to live the lives of the outlaws who defined those times gone by.
This first person game harkens back to a bygone era and is sure to be a hit among its loyal followers. Ubisoft does not move too far away from the original premise of the game but does include some new stories in an old world. We see the game through a rather mysterious narrator and meet all sorts of legends, including Butch Cassidy and Pat Garrett.
Perhaps because the game is set in the past, there is an old world feel to the graphics and images. The design is the comic style and it has a sense of everything being hand-made, in an old fashioned way where the creators have literally gone back to the drawing board. This arcade style game also has a slow motion option for all those multiple kills. Called the Concentration Mode, it puts your enemies in bright red and all that redness shows up as blood when you shoot them.
Let’s talk guns now. Players get to use weapons like rifles and pistols and indulge in all out fights. If you don’t have any gun fighting skills, you can choose what kind you need and perhaps learn something from the game. There is a timer that tells you how many kills you have and you can see the multiplier rapidly rise or fall as you make your way through all the bad guys. The more points you get, the better your arsenal could look because all those points mean you can upgrade your rifles and pistols.
Better arsenal means more kills and that fills up the Sense of Death meter. This lets you dodge the bullet and you live to fight another day. The bullet shows up on the screen, the action slows down and you get to avoid being shot. Pretty cool, huh?
Although Call of Juarez: Gunslinger doesn’t gives you the kind of freedom that a lot of other games have but you can go off the beaten track. In fact in the teaser we’ve seen there are some interesting set pieces. For instance, there’s a barn scene with many gunmen that is bound to satisfy all the fighting instincts that you might have.
There’s a lot to look forward to in 2013 when the game releases. Cool new features, art work that is true to the quality Ubisoft is famous for and a chance to live the outlaw life without getting into trouble- Call of Juarez: Gunslinger promises to be a great ride.
