Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Good game but don't feel bad for the confederate main characters. They deserve everything that's coming for them.

3/10

A Tale of Two Guns and a Frustrating Finale

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood delivers a high-octane Wild West experience that mostly hits its mark—right up until it stumbles into the saloon doors during its final act.

Set as a prequel to the original Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood throws you into the boots of the McCall brothers—Ray and Thomas—as they blaze a trail through Civil War-era carnage, gold, lust and brotherly betrayal. For the most part, it’s a solid ride. Gunplay is responsive, the Old West atmosphere is gritty and authentic, and the choice between brothers gives a satisfying layer of replayability. Ray’s brute-force shotgun tactics and Thomas’s precision with a rifle offer a nice contrast that makes each mission feel tailored to your playstyle.

Unfortunately, the experience buckles near the finish line.

The dueling system, a cool concept on paper, becomes an exercise in frustration in execution. What starts as a stylish, tense standoff mechanic devolves into a chore when the game expects unrealistic mouse movement speeds to pull off. In the final couple of showdowns, it felt like I had to crank my DPI to near ludicrous levels just to draw my weapon fast enough—not exactly the authentic gunslinger fantasy I was promised.

But the real outlaw of the game is the Juarez camp mission involving horse wrangling. It’s easily the low point of the entire game. Between infinite enemy spawns and absurd spawn placements—including foes literally appearing on top of you—the mission goes from action-packed to downright aggravating. It disrupts the pacing and makes survival feel more about luck than skill.

Visually, Bound in Blood holds up with strong art direction for its time, and the voice acting does a commendable job selling the strained dynamic between the McCall brothers. However, the polish starts to chip when the game puts pressure on its more gimmicky mechanics instead of sticking to its strong core gunfights and atmospheric storytelling.

Verdict
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood earns its spurs for most of its runtime, but the poorly executed duels and one disastrously designed mission saddle it with some major baggage. It’s a fun ride through the frontier—just be prepared for a bumpy trail toward the end.

7/10 – Good
"A solid Western shooter dragged down by a handful of frustrating design choices."

BEST GAME FROM THE WHOLE FRANCHISE.

No jank and clunkiness of first game from 2006.

No wackiness of Gunslinger.

Everything about this game was perfect, the story, gameplay, gunplay,..

Idk what else to say.

Maybe shame that servers were closed down and you can't play CO-OP anymore. That would be great to experience with someone.

Instead of this bullcrap should have took the first game and just continued the story with all the same staff on the same old engine. This is slop. Unbelievable.

Dated graphics. Good sound and dialogue; voice actors. Gameplay loop is a bit boring. Dueling is still janky, but better. Story is basically noble savages, Whiteman bad, and massivew cuckoldry. Alright game if you want a bit of the story filled in. Oh, if you like trial and error deaths, this is your game.

Great story telling okay mechanics and fun to play

Very good game.

when games were great

Better than first game 6.2/10

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood takes the flaws of the first game and doubles down on them—while dialing back the things that made the original interesting.

Too much of the gameplay feels like quick-time events or on-rails shooting galleries. You're frequently funneled through linear sequences with no real agency, and just when you think you might get a moment of control, you're back on rails with another scripted event thrown at you.

The cover system tries to interpret your mouse movements to determine where you want to take cover, but it's clumsy and unreliable. More often than not, it guesses wrong, turning what should be a helpful mechanic into a frustrating obstacle.

This feels like a streamlined version of the first game, but not in a good way—more like someone removed the experimentation and left only the overly guided, overly scripted parts behind.

If the original was a flawed but interesting maze, this is a theme park ride where you're not allowed to steer.

This game is slightly overrated but still very fun and easy movements

6/10

U R.... wow, this is a great game :3

Game was boppin and the closest I could get to a civil war game that wasn't trash. Maybe not the most invigorating story ever, but fun is fun!

its a needle in a haystack
a good ass game

game expects perfection while being comically broken. i hope youre a good shot, because the enemies NEVER miss.


or dont. you wont get past the duels anyways. its way too specific and the game barely tries to explain them

At first i didn't like it but when i got to the desert it got so much better
No achievements
Pretty bad graphics and you cant higher them because its a bad PC port
8.5/10

generic af

extremely fun one of the only games iv'e completed and that's a lot iv'e never finished fnv even though i have 1200 hours as of writing. Feels like cod 1 but in the old west

Apart from very bland fps gameplay, this is actually pretty solid for 2009. Worth a buy on a deep discount

Geeked Up Reviews: 3.75/5

*DISCLAIMER*

After paying for one of my favorite childhood games and installing it, the game did not want to work with the mouse I had connected with I could not move or use the mouse to shoot or aim and I even tried a different mouse for the hope for it to work and it did not. I do not recommend this game from Steam because of this massive issue that has no fixes even after checking the community "fixes" that does not work as well.
(Feel free to contact me if you have a fix but please be aware of this issue for your sake)

insane improvement over the first game very basic but very fun

Man another great one tho it hit hard knowing Techland wont do call of juarez no more but it was great i dont regret my time i gave to this game. I knew he was gonna kill William since I played Call of Juarez 1, and he talked about killing his brother while he was just reaching for his Bible. Even though I saw it coming, it still hit hard.But anyway, the gameplay is great. Every gunfight feels smooth, and the duels are intense (fucking died a lot it takes some time to get hang of it). It really nails that Wild West vibe. Definitely a must-play for anyone who loves cowboy shooters like Red Dead Redemption.
I’m gonna recommend it to my friends and see if they like it too. The Call of Juarez series deserves way more love.

Takes to long to reload weapon and the very little direction given on how to accomplish tasks.

This game has amazing western original atmosphere. Three brothers known form civil war are dealing with swarms of bandits as two rebels of justice. That towns, revolvers, guns, horses, sheriffs, saloons and so on. One day, they meet Mendoza, who has beautiful girl standing by him in every situation. The brothers fall in love with her, both of them. After war, bandits, Apaches, they have to face a real threat of the brother relationship...it is love. That´s enough for story, I guess.

I have played over 9 hours of real action on hard difficulty and it was really hard and exciting, sometimes frustrating. Excitement and feel of the western shooting is really great done in this game, but sometimes postt process shooting could let you die really easily. That is one of the disadvantages. What is real disaster of this game are duels, which could bring you to madness. Sometimes you have to try it for over 20 times to pass that mini-games. I understand that duels were classic element for that Wild West times, but it is really destroying the whole game. Story is great, you have really feeling, that you are fighting for your own brothers. So, I give that 7/10 POINTS: Main advantages are: story, shooting moments, graphics and maps, atmosphere. As you want to be cowboy, you should try this one, but prepare for a real rodeo!

Fun shooting mechanics and the game has an interesting story line

Simultaneously an absolute GEMERALD of a game, as well as the most obnoxious 1-tap from full health dying simulator ever made. William is a well written and good character contray to the opinion of some tardfish God-hating reddit users. 9.99/10 will never play the final sequence on hard again.

if you want a good old western game that doesnt require graphics better then intel graphics 620 (intergrated)

✅ Everything is Brown
✅ Insane bloom
✅ Terrible FOV

Certified late 2000s game.

+ Yeehaw

- Holy shit, just shut up already, let me play the damn game
- Old game jank that makes the game feel worse
- Lost Causers be like
- Confederates with lever actions
- Insufferable characters ong
- Buggy to no end for me

3/10, would shoot my brother again.

They say sequels can either suck so hard, they make Lana Rhodes jealous, or be the next Romeo and Juliet.
In this case, we don't have Romeo OR Juliet, but do have Ray and William.
10/10, no complains.
And also the duel mechanics are fixed and works all the time.

good games

I would say that this is the game that gave Red Dead Redemption the idea to exist. With the story being great and such it reminds me of the 2nd Red Dead. Compared to the first it was much less buggy and was better sorted out.
9/10 game

This is a 15 episode game just as the first one, and is a prequel.

It improved a lot from the first game and I mean A LOT.

Now isntead of changing between one main character and the other you can choose which one you want to play as, this game follows Ray and his brothers after the civil war, gun game has improved and I think the way to ride a horse has improved as well.

I'm at chapter 5 or 6, since you can play as either one of 2 brothers this has good replayability (Kind of because so far they follow the same story line just different paths)

When I finish the game I'll leave a score, but so far with the improvement it had is an 8/10 easy.

Edit: Yes, its an 8/10, btw, don't get fooled by the posibility of a different ending if you play the last chapter as either of the brothers, there is only 1 ending so play as whoever you want to play the whole game

Amazing spaghetti western, loved the duel minigames

Genuinely fantastic

really liked the game

Great game!

Classic western made into a modrtly challenging FPS. Slight inaccuracies when it comes to damage (colt walker does as much as a volcanic for example) but otherwise a very good game. Recommended to anyone who likes a good western story and setting, along with FPS players who enjoy variety in weapons beyond the Modern Warfare-esque current gameplay. Also as a side note, use ReShade for extra visual fidelity if you like to mod, personally love turning on FakeHDR and MartyMcfly SMAA, runs at 8k VSR'd very well too on a RX 6900 XT, should run fantastic as well on Nvidia counterparts.

Even Though I First Played COJ: Gunslinger, I found Graphics and Visuals not much Out-Dated. Story is also immersive & Longer than Gunslinger. Really Enjoying the Game so far...

Ray

Much better than the first game since it didn't perma crash in the middle of the story

Ray you fucking simp

**The Brothers' Tale of Guns and Glory**
**Score**: 7.5/10

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**Summary**
**Funny Take**:
"Two brothers. Unlimited bullets. And a quest that might just end up in a family feud bigger than your local rodeo."

**Formal Take**:
"Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood takes players on a journey through the gritty landscapes of the American Civil War and beyond, exploring themes of loyalty, greed, and family dynamics while delivering classic Wild West action."

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**Detailed Scores**
- **Story Quality**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- The relationship between the McCall brothers is the heart of the narrative. Their descent into rivalry and betrayal is compelling, even if the supporting cast sometimes feels underdeveloped.

- **Story Depth**: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
- While the story is engaging, it treads familiar territory, and its linear structure limits player agency. A stronger focus on side characters and world-building could have added more depth.

- **Controls**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- Gunplay feels tight and responsive, with satisfying mechanics. The dual-character dynamic is refreshing, although aiming can feel slightly clunky on modern systems.

- **Immersiveness**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- From dusty towns to lush frontier landscapes, the game nails the atmosphere of the Old West. The dynamic between the brothers keeps you invested throughout.

- **Difficulty**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- A well-balanced challenge with occasional spikes. The AI is reasonably smart, though some encounters lean on repetitive enemy behavior.

- **Level Design**: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
- Levels are linear but capture the Wild West's aesthetic. However, the lack of exploration opportunities can make environments feel static.

- **Graphics**: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
- For its time, the visuals were solid, but they haven’t aged well. Textures and character models feel dated by modern standards, though the art direction remains impressive.

- **Sound and Soundtrack**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- The soundtrack perfectly complements the Western vibe, with twangy guitar melodies and intense battle scores. Voice acting is hit-or-miss, but the McCall brothers shine.

- **Gameplay**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- The mix of gunfights, duels, and cooperative gameplay (via the brothers) is engaging. Both character's offers unique abilities, adding replay value.

- **Bugs**: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
- A few glitches, especially in character animations and hitboxes, detract from the experience but don’t ruin it.

- **Replayability**: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
- With a strong focus on linear storytelling, there’s little reason to revisit the campaign unless you’re a die-hard western fan.

- **Price**: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
- Frequently on sale, it’s a solid pick for fans of the genre at a discounted price.

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**The Good Stuff**
- Immersive Western atmosphere with engaging characters.
- Unique mechanics between the McCall brothers.
- Satisfying gun play and duels.

**The Bad Stuff**
- Linear game play limits exploration.
- Visuals feel outdated.
- Occasional AI quirks and bugs.

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**Conclusion**
"Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood" delivers a memorable Western experience, fueled by strong character dynamics and satisfying gun play. While it struggles with linearity and dated visuals, its heart lies in the story of the McCall brothers—a tale of loyalty, greed, and betrayal that’s worth a ride for fans of the Wild West.

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Notes
Playtime: 8–12 hours.
Download the realism mod from Moddb if you don't mind replacing a few files. It increases weapon model fov which is a must for me personally, and removes the winchester rifles in place of sharps in the opening civil war segments.

Best Call of Juarez played on ps3 and discovered it on pc and was exactly how i remembered played the others too very good games but this is my favourite one. Should 100% make another one based off this one with Ray and Thomas

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Awesome story and gameplay. Graphics also look pretty good for 2009 product. Animations and cutscenes sometimes look clunky but it's alright. If you enjoy western theme then you should try this.

Outstanding immersive story.
Good old school game.
The spicy of these southern accents, the religious component of the dialogue, the bitter mood of every character. The characters themselves resemble the karamazov brothers, from Dostoievski, only everybody's greedy and it's a treasure hunt. Also, you can buy your guns and do small side quests. There's almost no grind and the challenge thing is to master the good old red dead redemption dead eye

(yeah, whitsleblower, rockstar got it from this game)

Can't wait to play the 3rd now.