Call of Juarez (Xbox 360, 2007)

Graphics

When the game started I was very impressed with the graphics. Had me thinking of Oblivion, but not quite as good. Then I noticed time of day does not pass. Each episode has its own time of day. If the episode takes place during the day or night, you can stand there forever and it will always remain either day or night.

Very good lighting effects. Hiding at night only to be spotted when lightning strikes was very cool.

Great kill animations, lots of blood and dead body physics.

Quickly though you reach interiors, and I am not talking about inside buildings. I am talking about caves and such. The textures in these underground areas are very plain and practically all the same. Floors blend in with walls and ceilings.

Gameplay

Standard FPS stuff, done it all before so I will only list the problems I encountered.
Jumping is weird. Jumping on a box or a ledge parallel to you is fine. Jumping up to climb a ledge is not very smooth. Sometimes it took me like 3 or 4 tries to do it. And trying to do it during a gun fight, not recommended.

Picking up stuff is also not that smooth. Some stuff you have to get so close to and other stuff you can pick up without standing right on top of it. You can pick up boxes and crates and barrels, even some sort of wicker baskets can be interacted with. The only time this has ever come into practice for me is when your progress is halted and you MUST build some sort of stepping apparatus to continue on. Otherwise, no need to ever pick up these types of items, though they are all over the place.

Using your whip as a swinging device fells very generic. It is almost like a point and click adventure game trying to find the exact spot to whip your whip. Hmmm...

Enemy A.I is ok. They take cover, which fps game these days do they not do that. Sometimes though they will stand right in front of you while they load their weapon. Right out in the open. Not too smart.

The hardest time I had was that in certain areas it is very difficult to find exactly where your enemy is (talking about SP, not MP). They are shooting at you but its hard to pick up the direction of the bullets. And you will spin the camera around everywhere trying to find who it is. Now this does make the game challenging and I am all for that but I would have liked a little more information to help me find them. Such as being able to decipher bullet direction via what you see. And listening intently on my 5.1 audio for the sound direction of fire. Even though someone is shooting behind you, I never just heard it on my rear speakers, instead I heard it on all of them.

It is also kinda strange that you control 2 characters yet they do not share their "special" abilities. Which basically means 1 character can climb up ledges and the other can not. 1 character can use a bow, but the other can not. 1 can hold their breath underwater and the other, you know. I just made that last one up... Seeing if the people who played the game to this point have read this far.

Save points: sStrategically placed and not a problem.

Overall

The game is not bad. Yet it is not great. I do agree with scores anywhere from 7.0 to 8.5 on any review website which is to say some people will shift to the 7.0 side; thinking it is just 1 step up from a mediocre game. And people close to the 8.5 will think it is just 1 step down from a great, wish this becomes a new franchise, awesome game.

Fun game, but just a 7/10 though for me.