"Bury me not on the Lone Prairie.
Where coyotes howl and the wind blows free,
In a narrow grave, six by three;
Oh, Bury me not on the Lone Prairie."

It’s hard to say what exactly is stirred within you when you’re watching a Western. Because you either like the genre, or you don’t. The best example would be a recent movie, “Appaloosa”, that I consider to be a high-quality western. Unfortunately, the critics weren’t as impressed because it didn’t have enough action and… deaths. It’s true that gun fights on horseback, gap-toothed Mexican thugs and epic duels are specific and necessary, but I don’t believe that only these elements define this movie genre. There has to be something more than that.

Which brings me to Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood: a high-quality interactive Western movie. I’m pretty sure that the producers intended to create a game more than a movie, but they got the ratios wrong. Which makes me very happy. If it had been a game, there would have been a series of compromises regarding the freedom of movement, some story aspects or the character interactions. A somber outcome, as the final product would have been… twisted.

What we have here instead is an interactive product that can almost be described as a “video game”, but as it is viewed today, not 8 or 10 years ago. The difference is that the gameplay is modeled entirely after the story, not like it’s done today, with the graphics engine and functionality dictating everything else. But for clarity, I’ll refer to it as a “game”, so I don’t get stuck in my own ideas.

One thing that crossed my mind when putting these words on paper was that there’s a debate going on in the “gaming press” regarding the necessity of actually finishing a game before you can properly evaluate it. I for one am the adept of compromise, which says that some games do have to be finished, others not so much. For instance, both Call of Juarez titles are storyline based, so you have to see them through, otherwise it would be like writing

As such, I finished Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood in a bit under 15 hours (the game says 6,42 for some odd reason, but I don’t believe it) and I was quite satisfied by the finale, enough to warrant me wanting more. But upon further reflection I realized that the single-player is short… too short. One of the reasons for this is that the gameplay portions are embarrassingly trimmed down. We’re talking here about a few areas (some 3 or 4 overall), which you can go through in under 6 hours if you don’t watch the cut scenes. Of course, skipping the cut scenes would be a monumental mistake, because the game loses its meaning. If you’re only searching for secret areas, then you’re excused.

Bound in Blood does offer a series of interesting gameplay aspects, such as the fact that in certain missions you can buy weapons with the money and gold you “borrow” from dead enemies. On two occasions you can even choose what side missions to complete in order to get some extra cash. The funny part is that the enemy “drops” are so well hidden in the grass that you probably won’t have the patience to collect everything of value (a nod to Far Cry 2 it seems).

The Wild West is officially and unofficially recognized as being the part of North America that stretches west of the Mississippi, an area with a history drenched in blood and one of the most exploited by Hollywood.

In this context we should remember Karl May’s books and their colorful characters, like Old Shutterhand, Winnetou or James Fenimore Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a sad story about three brothers, one of them a priest, the other two outlaws, united by blood and the need to survive in an unforgiving world, in which “luck lasts pretty much as your life”.

And so you’ll get the chance to play as Thomas and Ray McCall, as William (the preacher), although an integral part of the story, isn’t that interesting gameplay-wise, because all he can do is run, tell stories and quote the Holy Book. The other two McCalls however… let’s just say that they’re a different breed.

If Thomas is a devil of a man, agile and with a natural talent for seducing women, Ray is the most dangerous species of predator that the West can offer. He’s by far the most colorful, but also the most cruel, character of the game, a killing machine with no remorse and not very charming with the ladies. And in the Wild West, men killed each for 3 things – land, gold and women.