Call Of Juarez
There’s something inherently romantic about the Old West. The idea of wide open skies, big open spaces, and the seemingly endless unknown is a nice one. That there is potential danger in every moment just sweetens the pot. It’s a great setting for a first person shooter, and I’m not at all surprised that Call of Juarez exists. I get even more joy out of knowing that this comes from a Polish studio, who decided to tell the story of Texas without having seen Texas.
Westerns in a nutshell
Call of Juarez is a first-person shooter set in Texas and Mexico in 1882. You play as Reverend Ray McCall, a priest in Hope, Texas, as he hunts down his nephew, Billy, whom he believes killed his brother. It’s a story worthy of any western, and has the mechanics and gameplay elements to back it up. The ordinary shooter elements are accompanied by some unique combat elements and adventuring over gorges and, of course, my favourite element, box stacking.
This rocking chair is the deadliest weapon in the game.
Though the game does show its age at points, it still plays fairly solidly. The mixture of elements keeps the gameplay fresh and enjoyable, while the plot is engaging enough to keep the player bouncing along through the old West. While NPC dialogue gets a bit trite, listening to Ray mutter Bible verses to himself as he guns down bandit after endless bandit was quite silly fun.
Personally, though, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Texas. I live in Texas ( one part of the game is set in the town I live in!), and seeing what Texas looks like to those who have not been there is excellent. Brace yourself for some Texas facts.
Excuse me, but the church in Hope, TX is a Methodist church, not a Catholic one.
Texas occupies a space in American mythos as this infinite place where wealth is there for the taking, and the sky feels a little big bigger than anywhere else. Texas brags that everything is bigger in Texas, and, to a certain extent, it’s not wrong. Texas occupies an outsize place in the lore that is America, and seeing how others engage with that lore is endlessly fascinating. In the case of Call of Juarez, the depiction of Texas doesn’t physically look like Texas - Hope, TX is between San Antonio and Houston and looks like the African savanna, while Round Rock is at the edge of the Hill Country - but it feels like how Texas chooses to depict itself. That idea of freedom, of wealth being a risk away, of anything being possible, all of that fits into the image of Texas that occupies the American imagination. While Call of Juarez doesn’t necessarily get the physical right, being able to wander through the feeling of old Texas is wonderful, and it captures that sense of the west perfectly.
Developer: Techland
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Year: 2006
Country: Poland
Language: English
Play Time: 8 Hours