Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Review

Call of Conclusion

So the graphics and gameplay are good, but capping it all off is a bundle of extra content outside of the singleplayer game, the most obvious and important part of which is the multiplayer side of the game.

There aren’t any real big surprises or twists and most of the different modes are team-based in the old ‘Cowboys and Indians’ style rather than offering anything unique. The multiplayer side is somewhat class-based too and gives a choice (perhaps a bit too much choice in fact) of different weapon load-outs and stats for players to select from, each of which can be upgraded over time. It seems a lot of games are using this approach since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out and Bound in Blood follows the trend.

On top of the multiplayer it looks like Ubisoft might have some long-term plans for Bound in Blood as there’s an option on the menu for ‘Extra Missions’ which at the moment only tells players to go to the official website and stay tuned, but it's obviously hinting at future DLC. That’s either totally fantastic or totally awful news depending on what you think about downloadable content, but at this point we're definitely intrigued by the idea of future expansions.


The unlockable content in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood also merits a quick mention as there are a large number of scrolls hidden throughout the game for you to find, each of which represent a batch of stuff in the secrets menu. Sometime it’s concept art, sometime it’s a character monologue or a snippet of dialogue culled from the finished game and other times it’s a series of photos from the era. It’s a bit of a lucky dip and the scrolls are well worth hunting for because of it.

For all these extras though Bound in Blood isn’t a perfect game – as much because such a thing doesn’t exist as for any other reason. There are a number of problems that run through the game, from the somewhat punishing difficulty level (even on Medium) right through to the fact that the levels are so incredibly linear and fenced in. The difficulty of the game can be a particular problem when you play as Thomas too as, without any real stealth aspect to the game, sniping is only half as useful as it should be.

There’s been a lot of criticism levelled at Bound in Blood over the lack of co-op gameplay too, with Techland being fairly open about how it just wasn’t possible to reconcile a full co-op campaign with the plot, but we still thing that’s a load of rubbish in all honesty. The game makes no secret of the fact that Ray and Thomas eventually turn on each other, basically telling you so in the first cutscene, and while that kind of twist may complicate matter it by no means rules it out completely. There’s supposed to be only one surviving Spartan left in the Halo games, but that never stopped Bungie adding co-op to its games.


Really though, the biggest problem with Bound in Blood is much simpler than the reasons behind the missing co-op mode; it’s the characters themselves and the endless drawling and preaching players have to put up with. While certain elements of the script and the world that Techland has built, such as the threats that enemies shout and the constant torrent of expletives, do a good job of fleshing out the fiction, there are other parts that fall totally flat.

William’s endless preaching in cutscenes and load-screens for example is a major annoyance and listening to him re-tell the events of a cutscene in his nasal cowboy whine quickly become a reason to hit the mute button while the game loads. The banter between Ray and Thomas quickly gets repetitive too as the pair are continuously either congratulating each other on their skills or complaining that the other is a pain in the arse. It’s funny the first few times but, well…there’s a reason that Alyx Vance doesn’t comment on every little thing you do.

In the grand scheme of things though, these are all relatively minor faults and Bound in Blood has an overwhelming number of things to recommend it, from the plot that includes all the major themes of a western film to the fierce gunplay, optional missions and a structure that gives plenty of replay value. Wild West games are few and far between, as we said in the beginning, so finding one that’s such a solid, straight shooter is both welcome and gratifying – especially to fans of the under-serviced genre to whom Bound in Blood is very much recommended.