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Call of Juarez

Call of Juarez (formerly The Lawman) is a Western-themed first person shooter taking place in 1884. It was developed by Techland and published by Ubisoft, and released in Europe for PC on September 15th 2006, June 5th 2007 in North America and October 14th 2007 in Australia. It was ported to the Xbox 360 and released in North America on June 7th 2007, June 28th in Australia and June 29th in Europe. It was also released in Japan Febuary 28th, 2008. Its prequel, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood was released in 2009. Call of Juarez features Reverend Ray McCall as the protagonist and Billy Candle as deuteragonist. See the review here.

Gameplay

Call of Juarez uses Techland's Chrome Engine 3. There are four difficulties, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard, the last being unlocked after the game is completed. Gameplay is nearly completely combat oriented, and both main characters have different combat styles. Reverend Ray is tougher, can use dynamite, dual wield revolvers, or fan a revolver which serves as a rapid-fire method. In addition he can also kick to injure opponents or open doors, and either hit or throw chairs at enemies. Billy Candle is more fragile and is associated with stealth, often having to perform tasks where the player cannot be seen by NPCs (such as retrieving a saddle to ride a horse) or else the mission is failed. He can also use the whip to traverse areas that would otherwise be unreachable, and use the bow. There are many instances of exploration and adventure as Billy Candle, which are reminiscent of Indiana Jones, especially because of his use of a whip. More experienced players can be more direct in their approach and fight up-front like Ray as Billy if they choose. In the PC version, both characters have 100 health points, and when lowered enemies will drop vitality which restores 25 points per bottle. This was changed in the Xbox 360 release (which was a port of the PC version) to regenerating health. Available weapon conditions are rusty, normal and prime, though in Very Hard mode prime weapons do not appear. Weapons in rusty condition will degrade when fired and eventually explode destroying the weapon, keeping the player from attacking for a few seconds. The weapon's icon will flash red as a warning this is about to happen.

Both characters have a unique Concentration Mode, an ability that slows down time for a short while, allowing Ray to fire both revolvers in slow motion, and Billy to line up a shot with the bow. During some chapters, the player will engage in a duel with another NPC. A timer counts down, and the player must engage in a simple draw, aim and fire mechanic. A second method of boss fights are fistfights are initiated in the story between the player character and one or more NPCs, this will lock the player to using only their fists until the opponent(s) are dealt with. A third type involves normal gameplay against a character with more health than an average enemy, such as against Tom Manson. Horses are used as transportation in several episodes, and while on horseback the player can fire weapons, unless the horse is sprinting.

When dismounted, walking to the rear of the horse they can be slapped, sending them jolting forward and on some occasions, this will provide a distraction for enemies. Notably corpses, horses and NPCs cannot be harmed, Ray or Billy will turn their weapon away and provide a comment about the situation. There are ways around this, although most result in mission failed. To kill a horse, Billy or Ray have to ride up on the edge of a cliff and ensure they get off the horse (else they will die as well) sometimes the steed will gradually fall, but most of the time the player has to use the "slap horse" option to get the mount to rear up and plummet. Also, you can set a fire and let the horse burn. These two methods are the only ones that do not result in mission failed. To kill NPCs, you can throw dynamite near them as Ray, or back up and aim above them using the bow as Billy, or whip them in the head also as Billy, but all result in game over.

Multiplayer

There are four classes to choose from and seventeen maps. There are four game modes:

Deathmatch - A traditional deathmatch mode, where it is every man for himself. The player with the most kills at the end of the clock wins the match. All players appear as Apache.

Goldrush -

Robbery -

Skirmish - A team-based arena mode between Lawmen (Blue) and Outlaws (Red). All players have one life, and the objective of both teams is to eliminate everyone on the other while of course, staying alive.

Classes

Maps

Episodes

Characters

  • Reverend Ray - A gunslinger turned preacher, who hunts Billy down in the name of God.
  • Billy Candle - A sneaking fugitive, sought by both the law and Ray, who draws ever closer to his target, forcing him to always be on the run.
  • Juarez - A powerful Mexican warlord with a grand Alcazar near Juarez, Mexico, his only ire is the Gold of Juarez and he seeks the medallion in order to find it. He is the biological father of Billy Candle.
  • Tom Manson - Juarez's second in command, he disguises his group of four as Texas Rangers, probably having killed the real officers. Under the warlord's command he and his companions murdered Thomas and Marisa and pursue Billy for the medallion he carries.
  • Calm Water - An aging Native American whose name suits his personality, nothing is known about his past. He attempts to convince Billy to stop running and face his fears, in methods the latter finds strange.
  • Molly Ferguson - Billy's love interest. She is the only one whom Billy feels he can turn to as he is being hunted down.
  • Ty Stewart - A member of Manson's group who remembers hearing tales of Ray McCall, a Confederate deserter and one of the deadliest outlaws one could run into, who wore a breastplate of armor he recognizes later on.
  • The McLyde Brothers - Two middle-aged twin brothers working for Juarez.
  • Clyde Forrester - An arrogant man whom attempts to cause disruption in Ray's church in the first episode, he later sides with outlaws and forces a showdown between the gunslinging-preacher and himself.
  • The Cemetery Boy - A young boy whose father was murdered by Juarez's bandits.
  • Chat - A man working at Ferguson's ranch who fancies Molly and despises Billy Candle, sparking a fist fight between them later on.
  • Mr. Ferguson - A man who runs a successful ranch near the mountains, and father of Molly Ferguson. After discovering Billy was romantically interested in Molly he banished him from the ranch, threatening to kill him if he ever returned.
  • Tim Powell - The sheriff of Hope, a man Billy hopes to avoid when he returns to town.
  • Ned "The Plague" - An outlaw who earned the nickname of "The Plague" because he brought death wherever he went.
  • Suzy - A prostitute working at Forrester's Grand Saloon, and a childhood friend of Billy Candle's.
  • Mrs. Powell - Sheriff Powell's wife.
  • Jones - He runs a small farm outside Hope and strongly dislikes Billy.
  • Crazy Frank - A war veteran who was nicknamed "Crazy Frank" because of his insanity.
  • Unidentified Farmer - A paranoid farmer who works a plot of land a distance away from Ferguson's.
  • Thomas - Ray McCall's brother, murdered under orders of Juarez by Manson, Stewart and the McClydes.
  • Marisa - Thomas's wife and Billy's mother, she was killed in cold blood by Juarez's underlings.
  • Unidentified Deputy - A character in the Extra Missions, a Deputy Sheriff from El Paso, Texas. He was sent by Grizzwald to Round Rock.
  • Grizzwald - The primary antagonist of the Extra Missions, a former Texas Ranger and current County Commissioner of El Paso.
  • Minor Characters - A list of other, more minor characters in the game can be found under "Call of Juarez" heading.

Weapons

Secrets

For a full list of secrets, see the Secrets article.

Achievements (Xbox 360)

For a full list of achievements, see the Achievements/Trophies article.

Comic

A four page comic was released that takes place before Episode I (or the Prologue on the Xbox 360 version), it can be found in the Comics article.

Trivia

  • The North American release of the PC version was one of the first games to utilize Microsoft's DirectX 10.
  • Call of Juarez is the only game in the series where the player is able to use the fanning ability.
  • This game allows the player to pick up more objects than any other game in the series.
  • A rarity for most first person shooters, Call of Juarez is also the only game in the series in which the player can see their character's chest and legs when looking down, though other titles' character models also have a chest, but are not visible unless exploiting a glitch.
  • A mobile phone version was released which was a port of Episode III.
  • The events of the game span two weeks.
  • The only game in the series to have a setting in Texas, however in Call of Juarez: The Cartel during a cutscene, the protagonists briefly visit Eagle Pass, Texas.
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