Bound in Blood takes the form of a western style first person shooter and throughout the game you are able to take control of either Ray or Thomas as you fight your way through each of the games chapters. Both of the brothers are slightly different to play, Ray being the older brother isn’t quite as agile as Thomas, however he makes up for that in being slightly tougher, while Ray is quick on his feet, is good with long range weapons and is also a dab hand at using rope to reach hard to get to places.

 

 

At the beginning of the game you find yourself in the middle of a Civil War, as the Americans and Confederates duke it out over land, at this point in the game you are introduced to Ray, with Thomas being nowhere to be seen. This first level acts like a tutorial introducing you to the game and easing you into the controls, however even this early in the game you get a feel for the action and intensity that you will get throughout your adventure. Once you have played through the first level you will eventually meet up with (rescue) Thomas and from here things take a twist as you both decide that you would rather defend your home from the invaders than obey the command of your superiors, therefore it is from this point in the game that the story starts to take shape.

 

Having vowed to one day return and restore their home to its former glory, the brothers go off in search of their fortune, which eventually leads to them searching for Aztec gold, however the tale takes more than one twist and before you know it they are at each other’s throats, and yes you’ve guessed it there is a woman involved. The only reason the brothers do not kill each other early in the game is because their other brother William, who is a priest is tagging along for the ride, it is his reasoning and conscience that seems to bring most of the twists that you will encounter.

 

No matter what character you choose at the beginning of each level, the other brother is usually there by your side, either covering your back, helping you as you both kick open a door and then gun down all the enemies behind it or giving you a lift up to an otherwise unreachable ledge (or vice versa). As I mentioned both brothers bring their own skills to each level, therefore depending what character you chose you will need to utilize these skills in order to progress, such as using Ray’s skill with Dynamite to unblock the path ahead or the ability of Thomas to climb to high places using his rope. The variety of each character is what sets the game apart from other likeminded shooters.

 

The combat is another area where this game is quite varied, each character has a concentrate ability which will appear when you have killed a set amount of enemies, this is done in a slightly different way for both characters, however it has the same effect in that allows you to select the enemies while in slow motion, then once you have done this, you gun fires and if all is well takes them all down. This is certainly a handy ability to have, especially when you are surrounded by six or seven enemies and you are running low on ammo. The cover system during combat works quite well too, anytime you find that you are taking damage you can simply duck behind something to recover. You can also take advantage of cover to fire at enemies, simply stand close to something and then your character will be able to look up and down or peer left and right, with the ability to fire his weapon at the same time. Another twist in the combat comes when you meet one of the games more important NCP’s, here you will usually end up in a showdown, where the one that draws his weapon that fastest is the one that survives, this is a great part of the game and it works really well.

 

The weapons can vary quite a bit in the game, with the characters utilizing dual pistols, shotguns and knives between them, though be warned ammo can be at a premium so it’s best not to go around wasting it just in case. During the game you will find ammo in boxes and also be able to pick it up from fallen enemies, you can also find new weapons in this way, including a ladies pistol, though why you would want that over a nice shotgun I don’t know. Not only will you get to use your standard weapons but throughout you will also get to handle canons and gatling guns, so don’t worry if you thought you would miss out on the real firepower.

 

Each of the levels you will play through in the game offers great variety and plenty of hard challenges, for example early on there is a point where you have to sneak through a cornfield in order to take down the enemies with your knife, whereas in later levels you will find yourself in a stage coach shooting down enemies who are on horseback or floating along the water in a canoe, while trying to escape your pursuers. One of my favorite levels involved rescuing a mysterious prisoner from a remote town in order to get some shotguns, the wave of enemies just seemed to keep coming here and the battles got really intense, but best of all was the twist in the tale when you realize who it was you rescued. There is no doubt that anyone playing this through game will enjoy the single player campaign, as its well thought out and very well executed.

 

 

There are some minor issues with the game that grated on me a bit, such as when your character is killed and you need to go all the way back to the previous checkpoint, this can be frustrating, especially if you are struggling with a certainly part of the game. The most annoying flaw for me though is the way the game freezes when you reach a checkpoint, it isn’t really for very long but it is enough to spoil the experience ever so slightly. It’s nice to be immersed in a game sometimes, so unwanted pauses are disappointing.

 

Graphically the game is very well detailed and there is also plenty of variety in the environments you will find yourself in, so don’t be surprised when you find yourself in remote towns, stagecoaches, mineshafts and more, all of which look fantastic and have a real authentic feel. Apart from the issue I have with the checkpoint loading (which seems to occur on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions), the game is pretty strong performance wise.

 

The sound is another of the games strong points, there is plenty of bickering between the brothers and the actors who voice them have done a great job. The effects of the weaponry are also fairly realistic and when you add the music to this it really helps to engross you in the many shootouts you will have.

 

Unfortunately we were unable to test out the multiplayer mode as the servers where not available yet, however what we do know is that the multiplayer was developed in unison with the single player mode and therefore not only offers loads of maps but also modes such as Wild West Legends, Manhunt, Wanted, Shootout and Posse. The multiplayer also includes a bounty system which sounds interesting, basically when a player gets kills their bounty increases therefore if you kill the most skilful player then your bank balance benefits. As is usually the case players will also be able to take part in both ranked and unranked matches. There is no doubt that the developers had a strong multiplayer mode in mind when creating this game, so expect great things from it.

 

We have no doubt that Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is set to be the hit of the summer, it offers a great single player experience and this will also be backed up by a fantastic multiplayer mode. If you love your shooters then you better get ready for one hell of a showdown.