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Erkki

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

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I haven't played any of the other Call of Juarez games, but saw this in the RPS advent calendar and it seemed cool. Tried the demo and was instantly sold! This is probably the best Wild West FPS since Outlaws!

 

The humorous story is told by a bounty hunter at a saloon who supposedly met all the famous outlaws and marshals and some of the real history is hidden as "nuggets of truth" that you can discover and then read a bit about. The combat mechanics are fun and the game looks great.

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I was tempted to try this out after seeing the GB quick look. At the very least, it looks miles better than

.

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bought this because a friend recommend, and was talked up on the recent idle thumbs. spoiler for jake(? I think), you shoot a whole bunch of indians.

 

The framing device started to feel like a crutch around the second time they used it to gate an arena battle. It was funny the first time you say "and then a path magically appeared", but when you do it 5 or 6 times in quick succession, it makes me wonder if you really ran out of ideas. I suppose this is just me arguing for shorter stuff, or being old man video games.

 

And also in old man video games, I really enjoyed all the wild west stuff, but maybe there is a wild west doom mod I could play instead. I know I should just expect cover shooting with occasional screamers running at me.

 

urrgh, so a cynic, sorry.

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Haven't had time to listen to the podcast lately so I didn't even know it was talked about. I'm enjoying it so far -- and a linear shooter is something I can't easily get into these days. It's probably the Western aspect that sold it to me, and I like the "nuggets of truth" they've put in there.

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Just finished the story mode. Took about 8 hours. It's pretty good and never got boring. Occasionally it really nails that western shooter vibe like Outlaws did back in the day. Plus all the arcadey elements (dodging bullets etc.) work really well.

 

I now also tried the arcade mode and now wish that I had done that earlier -- it teaches you about the combos from the start, which the story mode never does, and this made me play in a totally different way. In arcade mode I was running through the level as fast as I could, while in the story mode I took it slowly, tried to make sure I left nobody at my back, occasionally looked fro the "nuggets of truth" etc. So I would recommend giving the arcade mode a try after playing through a couple of story levels.

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i loved that bit when you're in the abandoned Steam boat and the non-digetic narrative of people in the bar talking of the story your acting out mention the Titanic and that it is being build; "Unsinkable they say".

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It's on sale on the Flash Sale for $5.09 starting right now, going to buy it after all the recommendations it's got. 

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I would agree, this game is worth the play time and the arcade mode is pure The Club (which is good to me).

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Thanks to Erkki's recommendation I took hold of this and the first mission at least is surprisingly good fun (so thanks Erkki!)

 

Kinda reminds me of the Quantum Leap episode "The Last Gunfighter", which was about a pair of old gunslingers and the veracity of the adventure stories they'd been telling.

 

That's not on YouTube but this odd homage is...

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I beat this campaign yesterday, it was a blast to play over a few days in a handful of sessions. It barely avoids overstaying its welcome, which is quite nice. Playing on PC, it's easy to forget that this was released as a XBLA/PSN-type game on consoles which really speaks to its ambition for such a small game.

 

I definitely got a "The Club" vibe from this game, only with much better gunplay and a story that helped keep up a reasonable pace while avoiding any major feelings of repetition. It helps that most of the weapons feel sufficiently different and you can really reach a feeling of mastery over the short runtime of this game, which helps round out an otherwise by-the-books arcade shooter.

 

The best part of the story is that as Silas continues to tell his ridiculously long story featuring any number of notable western figures, the characters in the game get more incredulous and Silas gets more and more tired (reflecting his age). The only thing I didn't like was the very end, which once again:

 

Gives you a choice that's essentially meaningless, because you had no choice in the game until that very moment. Considering Silas spent 30-something years hunting Bob down, why would he be interested in anything but vengeance? Because Ben is endearing? Not so much from my perspective, not to mention Silas is so intent on framing himself as becoming the very man he sought to kill so all momentum points to vengeance.

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Finished this up tonight, pretty great pulpy Western game.  Everything I had heard recommended about it clicked really well with me.

 

It's actually pretty neat to play a game that is partially set in Kansas, and references multiple parts of our history accurately enough (at least accurately enough in the lore cards, the game itself it clearly drawing on the legends of the West).  Flyover country tends to get the short shift in fiction, so there's an odd pride and happiness seeing it show up in some piece of media. 

 

Some of the civil war era history referenced in the game still matters around here as well .  The burning of Lawrence, Kan., is mentioned several times, as several iconic Western legends were associated with it.  It was, in part, retaliation for the burning of Osceola, Mo.  Which is something that some people in Osceola are still pissed off about to this day. 

 

And that era still fuels the KU-MU rivalry (sadly defunct since Missouri left the Big 12).  That rivalry produced my favorite t-shirt ever made, which I'm sharing just because it's awesome.

 

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I picked this up last week with some kind of discount on Steam and have only played the beginning but it is a lot more polished than I expected. Thanks for the above post btw Bjorn, I also appreciate that stuff (my wife's family are from Ellis, KS).

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Thanks for the above post btw Bjorn, I also appreciate that stuff (my wife's family are from Ellis, KS).

 

I drive through Ellis a couple of times a year going back to my hometown. 

 

A couple of spoilery thoughts about the game:

 

I had actually become convinced that it might be a classic ghost revenge story about two-thirds of the way through, with Silas having actually died years before. There's a loading screen tip that pops up, "Do you believe in ghosts?" that sent me down that line of thought. Of course, it was actually pointing at something else, but still, him being a ghost would have fit with another type of classic tale.

The final choice between revenge and redemption also felt a bit forced. I didn't really see anything in what Silas had presented that would have indicated he would have considered redemption as an option. So I chose revenge. But after watching the Redemption ending, it's probably the better ending.

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I feel the end choice suffers more for how it's delivered than anything else. Suddenly having a menu option in a game about shooting and dueling didn't sit right with me, but Silas's narrative had been setting it up for a while up to that point. Maybe if they had fully rendered the saloon and the patrons listening on on his story, the end reveal would have worked better. Still liked it more than the end of Bioshock Infinite.

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I've been playing this off and on for a week or so. Just finished chapter 5. I love how the story seems to be going more and more off the rails the more Silas drinks. I'd be playing it right now, but have work in the morning. Can't wait to jump back in.

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One of the best things this game did was after I had finished the tutorial level, it popped up a message suggesting I turn up the difficulty. I've often had games suggest I turn the difficulty down. That feels bad, what this game did made me feel awesome.

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I have now completed this game. The choice at the end is indeed kinda dumb, as others have said, but overall I really loved this experience. So fun. Not much else I can say aside from good mechanics, pulpy story, and interesting narrative tricks. The way that each level changes in the telling is awesome. I have never before played a game that went into slow motion because the narrator needed a piss break. Very endearing.

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