Post by eek on Jul 29, 2006 21:07:06 GMT -5
Has anyone tried this out yet? I'd have overlooked it normally, but it sounded intriguing from CAD, so I thought I'd check it out, and I loved it (hence the profile ). It's a western FPS, which we don't see much of. Not only that, but it has bullet time, physics, stealth, and quite an interactive environment to set it out from the rest.
You can download the demo from here, here, or here, and there's more info here.
As I said, I took the demo for a spin, and I'll sum it all up below. Those of you who don't want to read spoilers had best not read the rest of this post.
*DEMO/GAME SPOILERS FOLLOW*
Call Of Juarez is set in the old west, sometime in the 19th century. There are two playable characters. Ray, who is a hardass preacher turned bounty hunter, and Billy, the youth on the run from him.
From what I can make out, Billy returned home to find his parents murdered, and Ray (who happens to be the brother of Billy's father) happened to visit as Billy turned up. They both assume that each other was responsible for this, so Billy flees for his life, and the preacher gets out his old guns and goes chasing after him.
The locations and characters are all fictional.
The demo consistes of two levels, the first of which you play as Ray. You start off in the church, and have to get your two rusted old six-shooters from the chest and leave. Simple enough. Outside are a bunch of locals and the Sheriff, who doesn't take to kindly to your vigilanteism. Unfortunately for him, one of the locals is on your "side" and puts a bullet in his back, at which point they all tear away downhill into town.
At this point, for some rason, they become hostile towards you. As you walk into town, four of them come out of hiding (there are numerous barrels, crates and carts in the streets) for a good ol' showdown. It's here that we are first introduced to "Concentration", or bullet time as we would call it. As you'd expect, everything slows down and you whip out your guns, but here's the new bit. Two crosshairs appear at either side of the screen, slowly converging on the center. You shoot with the mouse buttons (each controls the corresponding gun), and naturally it's best to do so when the crosshair goes over an enemy. You can aim as normal, but you can't aim each weapon independently.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but it works great, and isn't overdone. To be honest, it's needed in this game, because unlike most other shooters, you can't really take too many hits. Even on easy, I found I had to use cover and Concentration wherever I could, else I was shot to pieces. Anyway, it's a fantastic system.
After that little tussle, you hear from a window above that one of the bandits wants a little "quality time" with the Sheriff's missus, what with him not being quite so alive now. So, being the good guy, you have to go up there and save her. There are two ways to go. First you could pile up the boxes near a cart and climb up, then do a bit of roof-hopping, or go 'round back to a staircase further down the street and do some more roof-hopping from the other side. Apparently there will be quite a lot of these choices throughout the game, which is a good break from the linearity we're normally given.
Once you get inside, you're faced with two of the buggers (and the cowering lady), so Concentration is your best bet for both speed and accuracy (killing her means game over). Once you save her, she gives you the keys to the jail, so you can stop them getting more guns and freeing the prisoners.
But, as you may have guessed, you're too late, which means a gunfight outside and then another inside. Unfortunately, they manage to lock you in, and decide to set the place on fire, so you have to escape via a ladder on the roof, which allows you to get into the barn next door.
Now, in here is where I tried too hard. I figured I had to drop a heap of crates out the high-up window in order to get back down to the ground safely, when in fact there's no need to even go down (you die when you hit the ground there, no matter how low the fall was, so obviously that ain't the intended route). All I needed to do was shoot at the water tower just opposite to that a pipe creates a bridge, allowing me to get to the rooftop of another building.
And it's here that we meet a mini-boss of sorts, and get to try out the classic western duel. This only uses the mouse and "lean" buttons. What happens is, when the counter reaches zero (this was at 7 seconds), you move the mouse down to reach for your gun, move back up to aim with the crosshair (the screen stays still and only the crosshair moves), and shoot as normal, leaning to avoid his shots. Again, it's in slow motion. And thus concludes that part of the demo.
Ray's missions are the classic FPS with a couple of neat twists, and to be honest I'd buy the game just for those levels. In addition to his guns, he can read from his bible, which may cause the enemy to flee or freeze in place due to fear, and he can kick stuff. The fact that you really can't take many hits is something that we rarely see in anything other than sims like Operation Flashpoint, or the harder difficulties in others. The AI is quite unforgiving even on Easy, so use of Concentration and cover is pretty much vital. Besides, it's more fun to see the enemies riddled with bullets in slow motion! ;D
The second mission follows Billy's escape into the wilderness, apparently towards a ranch to find a girl called Molly. He starts armed with a mere whip, which has many uses. The first being fending off a wolf which attacks you early on. Soon, you come upon a gap across a canyon, which is too wide to jump, so you have to steal a horse from a nearby homestead. Now, naturally the owner ain't gonna let you do that. In fact, he doesn't want you anywhere near the place, so you have to sneak into the house to get a saddle for the horse in the stable. Now, obviously there's some cover in his front yard, but it isn't an easy task (well, not for me anyway, but I ain't used to playing stealthy games), and once you finally mount up, you have to get out there before he puts a bullet through your brain.
After the jump and a bit of galloping, you come across a cliff with a series of ledges, and some thick roots/branches sticking out overhead. What you have to do is use your whip as a grappling hook (Wind Waker fans will be right at home with this), and swing across.
Just around the bend (once you get over the top) are some rogue apaches, who by the looks of things have just ambushed some wandering cart. Since the three of them are armed with rifles (and you only have a measly whip), fighting is not an option. You have to sneak through the bushes and to their horses, scaring one of them off. It stops a good distance from their location, allowing you to mount up and flee. There are a few more apaches scattered about, but you can ride them down and take their weapons, until you get to the end.
Billy's missions are more stealth-based than Ray's, and your shooting skills don't come into play so often. I wasn't a fan of this part, mainly because I don't really like sneaking around so much. But it is well done, and a change of pace from Ray's chapters.
So how does the game look so far? Well, the atmosphere is stunning. It feels like the old west. The lighting is perfect, the sound effects and music really set the mood, and seeing the tumbleweed roll by as I walked into town really made it feel like the classic westerns you see on the telly. I have to admit, I was running on pretty low settings, but even at that I was very impressed by the detail, and I didn't suffer any hits to performance besides when I was sneaking through bushes. From what I've been reading, we'll be able to set people on fire, create smokescreens, scare them away with flames, or even douse fires with water to put them out. Oblivion fans will feel right at home with the physics, and the picking up/moving of objects. The bodies also tend to recoil where the bullets hit them, and crumple up according to their surroundings. There is blood aplenty, which is a nice touch. Another thing, which you rarely see, is that when you look at the floor you can see your body and feet. Again, it's the little touches like that which make the game special.
Call Of Juarez is shaping up to be a solid shooter, bringing some fresh blood into the genre. I highly recommend FPS fans try it out, because I'm adding it to my wish list.
You can download the demo from here, here, or here, and there's more info here.
As I said, I took the demo for a spin, and I'll sum it all up below. Those of you who don't want to read spoilers had best not read the rest of this post.
*DEMO/GAME SPOILERS FOLLOW*
Call Of Juarez is set in the old west, sometime in the 19th century. There are two playable characters. Ray, who is a hardass preacher turned bounty hunter, and Billy, the youth on the run from him.
From what I can make out, Billy returned home to find his parents murdered, and Ray (who happens to be the brother of Billy's father) happened to visit as Billy turned up. They both assume that each other was responsible for this, so Billy flees for his life, and the preacher gets out his old guns and goes chasing after him.
The locations and characters are all fictional.
The demo consistes of two levels, the first of which you play as Ray. You start off in the church, and have to get your two rusted old six-shooters from the chest and leave. Simple enough. Outside are a bunch of locals and the Sheriff, who doesn't take to kindly to your vigilanteism. Unfortunately for him, one of the locals is on your "side" and puts a bullet in his back, at which point they all tear away downhill into town.
At this point, for some rason, they become hostile towards you. As you walk into town, four of them come out of hiding (there are numerous barrels, crates and carts in the streets) for a good ol' showdown. It's here that we are first introduced to "Concentration", or bullet time as we would call it. As you'd expect, everything slows down and you whip out your guns, but here's the new bit. Two crosshairs appear at either side of the screen, slowly converging on the center. You shoot with the mouse buttons (each controls the corresponding gun), and naturally it's best to do so when the crosshair goes over an enemy. You can aim as normal, but you can't aim each weapon independently.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but it works great, and isn't overdone. To be honest, it's needed in this game, because unlike most other shooters, you can't really take too many hits. Even on easy, I found I had to use cover and Concentration wherever I could, else I was shot to pieces. Anyway, it's a fantastic system.
After that little tussle, you hear from a window above that one of the bandits wants a little "quality time" with the Sheriff's missus, what with him not being quite so alive now. So, being the good guy, you have to go up there and save her. There are two ways to go. First you could pile up the boxes near a cart and climb up, then do a bit of roof-hopping, or go 'round back to a staircase further down the street and do some more roof-hopping from the other side. Apparently there will be quite a lot of these choices throughout the game, which is a good break from the linearity we're normally given.
Once you get inside, you're faced with two of the buggers (and the cowering lady), so Concentration is your best bet for both speed and accuracy (killing her means game over). Once you save her, she gives you the keys to the jail, so you can stop them getting more guns and freeing the prisoners.
But, as you may have guessed, you're too late, which means a gunfight outside and then another inside. Unfortunately, they manage to lock you in, and decide to set the place on fire, so you have to escape via a ladder on the roof, which allows you to get into the barn next door.
Now, in here is where I tried too hard. I figured I had to drop a heap of crates out the high-up window in order to get back down to the ground safely, when in fact there's no need to even go down (you die when you hit the ground there, no matter how low the fall was, so obviously that ain't the intended route). All I needed to do was shoot at the water tower just opposite to that a pipe creates a bridge, allowing me to get to the rooftop of another building.
And it's here that we meet a mini-boss of sorts, and get to try out the classic western duel. This only uses the mouse and "lean" buttons. What happens is, when the counter reaches zero (this was at 7 seconds), you move the mouse down to reach for your gun, move back up to aim with the crosshair (the screen stays still and only the crosshair moves), and shoot as normal, leaning to avoid his shots. Again, it's in slow motion. And thus concludes that part of the demo.
Ray's missions are the classic FPS with a couple of neat twists, and to be honest I'd buy the game just for those levels. In addition to his guns, he can read from his bible, which may cause the enemy to flee or freeze in place due to fear, and he can kick stuff. The fact that you really can't take many hits is something that we rarely see in anything other than sims like Operation Flashpoint, or the harder difficulties in others. The AI is quite unforgiving even on Easy, so use of Concentration and cover is pretty much vital. Besides, it's more fun to see the enemies riddled with bullets in slow motion! ;D
The second mission follows Billy's escape into the wilderness, apparently towards a ranch to find a girl called Molly. He starts armed with a mere whip, which has many uses. The first being fending off a wolf which attacks you early on. Soon, you come upon a gap across a canyon, which is too wide to jump, so you have to steal a horse from a nearby homestead. Now, naturally the owner ain't gonna let you do that. In fact, he doesn't want you anywhere near the place, so you have to sneak into the house to get a saddle for the horse in the stable. Now, obviously there's some cover in his front yard, but it isn't an easy task (well, not for me anyway, but I ain't used to playing stealthy games), and once you finally mount up, you have to get out there before he puts a bullet through your brain.
After the jump and a bit of galloping, you come across a cliff with a series of ledges, and some thick roots/branches sticking out overhead. What you have to do is use your whip as a grappling hook (Wind Waker fans will be right at home with this), and swing across.
Just around the bend (once you get over the top) are some rogue apaches, who by the looks of things have just ambushed some wandering cart. Since the three of them are armed with rifles (and you only have a measly whip), fighting is not an option. You have to sneak through the bushes and to their horses, scaring one of them off. It stops a good distance from their location, allowing you to mount up and flee. There are a few more apaches scattered about, but you can ride them down and take their weapons, until you get to the end.
Billy's missions are more stealth-based than Ray's, and your shooting skills don't come into play so often. I wasn't a fan of this part, mainly because I don't really like sneaking around so much. But it is well done, and a change of pace from Ray's chapters.
So how does the game look so far? Well, the atmosphere is stunning. It feels like the old west. The lighting is perfect, the sound effects and music really set the mood, and seeing the tumbleweed roll by as I walked into town really made it feel like the classic westerns you see on the telly. I have to admit, I was running on pretty low settings, but even at that I was very impressed by the detail, and I didn't suffer any hits to performance besides when I was sneaking through bushes. From what I've been reading, we'll be able to set people on fire, create smokescreens, scare them away with flames, or even douse fires with water to put them out. Oblivion fans will feel right at home with the physics, and the picking up/moving of objects. The bodies also tend to recoil where the bullets hit them, and crumple up according to their surroundings. There is blood aplenty, which is a nice touch. Another thing, which you rarely see, is that when you look at the floor you can see your body and feet. Again, it's the little touches like that which make the game special.
Call Of Juarez is shaping up to be a solid shooter, bringing some fresh blood into the genre. I highly recommend FPS fans try it out, because I'm adding it to my wish list.