Call of Juarez

Call of Juarez is an underrated gem. Having never played this game, I really had no idea what to expect, but I wasn't expecting to have as much fun as I did. You play as two different characters in this game, Billy Candle and Ray McCall, Billy is on the run for most of the game, and a lot of his missions are focused on stealth based bow and arrow combat, while Ray's missions are focused on full throttle run and gun combat. While you visit a few levels as both of these characters, visiting those levels again doesn't feel too repetitive since their playstyles are so different. The game really leans in to Ray being an absolutely psychotic priest, and it makes him an incredibly cool character. Billy, hilariously, has some really bad voice acting, but somehow it adds to the charm of this game. Call of Juarez is an incredible experience that I cannot recommend enough.

This was a good game even if its from 2007 and the controls and such are finniky. Besides the crashing which is fixed by opening it in what version its in diffrently. Banger game though, scratched my western itch. It doen't take 25.4 hours to beat.
9/10

Editing the review since I have finished it.

The game is old so you can expect some Janky gameplay, the story is kind of meh tbh.

You play as 2 characters, Padre and Billy, Billy side is really REAAAALLY boring, but I guess is what drives the narrative of the game forward.

Padre gameplay is more fun and interesting and action packed.

No spoilers, so the game is set around a legend of a large sum of gold buried in the border with Juarez, people who try to get that gold say will go mad, hence calling it "The call of Juarez".

As Billy, you return after searching for the gold to your old town, however you get framed for the killing of your parents (Not spoiler since it happens in the first minutes of the game), Padre is Billy's uncle and when he arrives at the farm he sees Billy escape hence thinking he did that so he goes in a hunt.

When you have to use the whip as Billy you might get frustrated, just know that you don't have to jump when you use it on a tree, also the Horse chases are really REAAAAALLY Janky, it was really annoying, specially with the checkpoints in this game, so I recommend that if you get stuck just make some save points when you make enough progress.

Also, play this with Safe mode DirectX 10, the game crashed on me a lot in other modes except this one (Which I only had one crash)

Other than that: 7/10, is not a bad game, but I don't think I would replay it, if you are interested, buy it with discount.

I started playing Call of Juarez with Gunslinger, the third game in the series and I was hesitant about going back to such an old game and comparing it with a much more modern version, but surprisingly the story, graphics and gameplay holds up surprisingly well in 2025, and I had no issues running it out of the box on Windows 11 without needing any tweaks.

Tip: To get the best experience I recommend launching the game through your Steam library instead of the desktop shortcut and select to run it in DirectX 10 to gain enhanced graphics and better textures in game.

The voice acting's good and the storytelling is pretty unique in that you play as 2 characters who spend half the game trying to outrun and kill each other, with a surprise later on but I don't want to give away any spoilers.

The gunplay and weapon handling is pretty good, not perfect by modern standards but I enjoyed the old school ragdolls that have that awesome late 2000's heaviness to them that seems to have been lost over the years.

The story has you running through a mix of stealth and action missions, but I found the stealth parts (when playing as Billy Candle) are optional, and it is possible to just shoot your way through all missions if you prefer, with exception to a couple of "absolutely do not harm anyone" type scenarios, but I only remember 2 or 3 of those.

It took me about 7 hours to complete, and to my surprise, the multiplayer server list still seemed somewhat active!

I've NEVER played a game with so much charm, and I've played a TON of games! And yes, it works right out of the box at 1440p (probably 4k too) with no tweaking/modding required. Although I have to mention I kept crashing in one particular checkpoint in the 5th mission and switching to DX9 fixed the problem for me. Once I reached the next checkpoint, I switched back to DX10 and it's been smooth since.

The animations in this game feels stiff, the shooting is OK, but the game is so damn memorable, and puts a smile on my face, especially since I LOVE the setting. You play as 2 characters - Billy Candle and Reverend Ray where Billy's missions are slower paced with a bit of shooting but has a focus on mission variety, while Reverend Ray is all about mowing down bad cowboys. The game is paced so well because of this.

You do some cowboy shootin', some horse chasin', fight on a train, sneak into your ex-girlfriend's house because her dad wants to kill you, meet a Native American named Calmwater who talks like he's Miyagi, you climb a tall mountain etc. etc., man I just love it!

The game gives off Project I.G.I vibes with some very open levels where you traverse long distances on foot, but it makes you feel more like a badass than feel bored because of the layout and the background music which again is sooo good. The game has a couple of badass cowboy tracks and a few missions in the middle where there is some tribal music with drums n flutes - they're all so well done!

The game is all old-school charm, and if you've played the game in the past and liked it back then, chances are you'll love it even more now. The only people I see not enjoying this game are new gamers who install the game, press jump, see the animations being stiff, and uninstalling right after. Because if you can look past the initial 'old-game' shortcomings, the game is just so much fun!

BUY IT!

Gameplay 7/10
For a 2007 game, it’s pretty solid. Cool concepts, two different protagonists with two completely different playstyles (one sneaky, the other one more Rambo), I think Call of Juarez offers a solid gameplay. No doubt, the chapters with Billy are the weakest of the two, but even the climbing and sneaking around offered some fun with a very different pace compared to its other character, Ray. The duels are nice, the slow motions too, the chases on horse, everything is either ok, fun or a blast. All and all, I had some fun, while it last (more on that later…)

Graphics 6/10
Again, for a 2007 game, I can’t complain, but against other big titles of the same year (like Half-Life 2 or BioShock), it dosen’t really stands out. It’s above average, but not by a mile.

Audio 7/10
The voice acting is well done here, especially the Ray part. Billy sounded more like someone reading a text, less emotions poured into it, but the material was basic so… The music was good too, I liked it. Even the more peaceful ones, like when you have to catch 3 rabbits and an eagle feather (you’ll see), the ambiance is nice. Evrything is well done, no complains here whatsoever.

Story x/10
I’ll leave it at ‘x’, simply because I couldn’t finish the game. Yeah, you read that right. Chapter XI was the end for me, impossible to load the next part, no matter which load I tried. The game just load the progression bar and that’s it, the game close as if nothing happened, EVERY TIME. So I just can’t judge the game on that part but from what I experienced, I liked it… Oh well, too bad.

Replayability 0/10
Yeah, 0 to the none. I can’t recommend or judge replayabilty if I can’t even finish the game in the first place. There was some bugs during my gaming sessions, but nothing this major and inexcusable, even by 2007 standards and even more in 2024.

Innovation 6/10
There was some cool innovations in the game (already described in the game store page) but nothing to much out of the ordinary. The whip was nice and so was the chases, but nothing over the top…

Overall 5/10
I would give it a zero because of the major bug which prevented me from even being able to finish the game, but that would be unjust for the other aspects as well as other people who might not experienced it. Suffice to say, without this huge set back, the score would have been a lot higher but it is what it is… Not recommended.

Game is good, has really creative mechanics such as using a whip to swing yourself from one place to another, concentration time which is an ability that slows time and spawns two crosshairs one for each weapon and allows you to take enemies out easier, guns with durability that break after using them too much and the duel mechanic where you have to simulate drawing a gun by dragging your mouse down and then aiming and shooting the enemy.

However, there is a LOT of jank in this game. I have had issues such as being able to walk during cinematics and then find myself dead because I have no clipped through the map somehow, getting hard locked out of a level because I blew up a barrel of TNT that is necessary to blow up a barricade.
Last complaint would be regarding episode XIV. Spoilers ahead. They give you a gatling gun which is honest to god unusable. The moment you start using it you start getting shot from 3-4 directions and you immediately die. After a while, you have to start moving and slowly make your way to a canon to blow up a DOOR, despite having TNT everywhere around the map. On the way to the canon surprise surprise, remember that gatling gun that was worthelss to you? The AI starts USING IT AND OBLITERATING YOU. The whole episode feels like you are at the mercy of the AI 1 tapping you and you don't have as much as control as I would have liked to have during it.

Pretty fun spaghetti western, with a pretty crude story with sensitive topics (misogyny, racism, etc), keep that in mind. And some mechanics can be frustrating due to the game being pretty old but its a fun game nevertheless

Very old Max payne in the wild west

this game is a buggy mess but i love it. I love the story, the gameplay and the characters still this is the second game you should play the first one should be COJBBB

I initially purchased Call of Juarez after watching a friend play one of the cool slow-mo quick draw fights and thought "that looks cool as fuck". Unbeknownst to me, Call of Juarez would soon become one of my favorite linear story shooters of the 2000's. From beginning to end, this game is a thrilling adventure that keeps you eager to continue through each subsequent episode. The alternating gameplay perspectives between pursuer Reverend Ray and his prey Billy Candle was unlike anything I've experienced in gaming before.
Each episode kept me on the edge of my seat as the gap between the two grew ever closer until the game reached its climax. The character development, especially for Reverend Ray, supplement the admittedly simple story perfectly. While the game shows its age in just about every capacity, it is still worth the dirt cheap price (on sale) and worth playing through once.

game good but crashes between missions very often and you have to do gymnastics with all the settings and files to play the game properly

A pretty authentic cowboy experience complete with the horses, duels, gunfights, lassos and quickdraws. Though short, each level was diverse and introduced something interesting to do. The plot was typical but it stood out due to the unique perspectives of both characters. I also enjoyed the physics puzzles, gunfights and small gameplay systems that made it stand out from a generic shooter

Definitely recommend playing this one

In which other game can you read outlaws morals from The Bible as you gun them down, huh?

awful game design

yeah this game is terrible. the ui is ugly. its slow and boring and has a very basic story that is very boring and uninspired. gunplay is just passable. in all the game is a 4 out of ten. I could not recommend it less. the other call of juarez games are amazing though.

The same masterpiece I remember from the glory days of the 360. 10 out of 10. Honestly wish they would make more games along the half life vein of linear stories with fun stupid physics and gritty compelling stories.

Still one of the best western games

It's cool to play with both perspectives of the main characters, but buggy mess. Couldn't load chapter 11, crashed during the loading screen. Didn't even finish the game.
Some boring missions, climb a mountain or chasing for 5 minutes straight.

always crashes never lets me play the actual game its a good nostalgic game but horrible crashes.

This game is old and it shows, but oh boy was it fun.

There are so many innovative things for the time it was released (recoverable arrows, instakill headshots, interactive environment, hats flying away when shot...), but it is often achieved poorly.
The sneaking or parkour parts of the game with Billy were mostly annoying, but running around with Ray while dual-wielding 2 revolvers was straight fun. If only we could shoot corpses just to be sure we got them...

Game is short so definitely play it !

Truly the most Call of Juarez of all time

It looks good, but it's unplayable for me. The aiming is wobbly and unresponsive. Saw the world from below. Because I clipped through the ground, piking up a gun. Guns can break, Mr Info box cannot tell me that, but must show up for everything you know from any other game in existence. It goes to show that the games of the time needed guidebooks. You know, I expected some jank.
But not an unplayable stand-off mini-game. You can't win a battle without being able to shoot. I hope Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a step-up in quality.

This game is old, yes, but it really shines through as an amazing experience.
Like all old games at some point or another shit isnt explained well enough and you're gonna need a walkthrough, but for the most part its a straightforward fun game that is massively ahead of its time. I would take excellent gameplay over "gRaPhiCS" any day and these arent even that bad, infact for coming out in 2006 it looks better than some games from 2015. Overall i would wholeheartadely reccomend this game, however its sequels are so much better.

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That game was WAY ahead of it's time, and still holds up. Honestly this is closer to Half Life 2 than most people care to admit.

+ very good voice acting and writing
+ great, edgy story
+ 2 completely voiced protagonists
+ DX10 graphics still hold up with decent glass, water, dynamic shadows, ok textures and models
+ destructible covers
+ ability to shoot through some walls like thin wood
+ ability to pick up and stack objects
+ physics based puzzles
+ weapons wear out and break
+ a few variants for each weapon type
+ slow motion shootout mode
+ you can kick open weak doors
+ great bow and arrow combat (maybe a bit OP)
+ ability to pick up arrows you shot, take them out of enemy bodies etc.
+ 1 shot kills when hitting head or heart!
+ dual wielding pistols
+ weapon fire modes
+ whip that can be used for traversal and swinging over ledges
+ you can equip bible in one hand and the gun in another and read verses out loud while shooting fools in the head!

There is certainly more, but how many games nowadays have even half of those systems in place? Not to mention in 2006 ...

Cons :
- Can freeze on occasion
- There is a bit of jank here and there, but pros way outshine the faults

This game really should be a cult classic!

Pretty bland gameplay wise, but I like the characters. Has a pretty nice dual wield mechanic and mod support that seems decent but I haven't delved into at all yet.

P.S. please add cloud saving like you did with Bound in Blood and Gunslinger

so where do i start, the game has a few bugs that can stop your progress, one i just came in contact with is where you in the gold chamber trying to work your way up to Juarez to dispatch him to his maker, the game keeps crashing to the desktop, if it crashes for you just run it in direct X 10 Safe mode to get past that crashing area, then relaunch the game normally.... over all its not a bad game... just the bugs man the bugs are bad some times.... still worth playing...

A positive review is not available in your region.

very good!

Great game

was looking for a cowboy game and juarez gunslinger didnt have an easy mode and bound in blood crashed in first cutscene so i thought Id try the first one and glad I did cause it was great minus the crashes you get in direct x 10 mode.if it crashes once just play in original mode for rest of game is my advice.

The story and gameplay mechanics are unique and holds up even if its dated some of it is pretty funny actually. but still doesnt take away from overall experience would recommend to anyone who wants some quick western action and good story.

game is not a typical shoot em up though so expect some slower paced missions with stealth and climbing etc dont want to spoil too much but anyway.

would recommend

Call of Juarez is a reasonably competent narrative-shooter, but is brought down significantly by cryptic level design and questionable game mechanics. The campaign alternates between two characters: a gunslinger (Ray) with armor, and a sneaky guy with a bow. Ray’s missions are almost always non-stop gunfights, and thankfully, the gunplay is excellent. All bullets and other projectiles are simulated rather than hitscan, and enemies react to being shot meaningfully, unable to shoot back while they clutch their wounds or ragdoll into death. Exclusively available to Ray is the ability to slow down time while drawing two revolvers, as well as body armor which completely deflects damage taken to the chest. If the campaign was just 100% Ray, I would 100% recommend Call of Juarez.

Unfortunately, the other half of the campaign is played as the sneaky guy (Billy), and it's in his missions where the game’s cracks start to show. He dies quickly in fights due to having no armor, though you can mow enemies down with your bow and arrow in slo-mo. Fighting as Billy is not as fun as Ray, but his sections do force you to change your tactics and they make the campaign feel less monotonous. What makes many of Billy’s missions a chore are the addition of forced stealth and platforming sections. There isn’t any indication to the player of how visible they are to an enemy besides when they are invisible from hiding in a bush. As a result, stealth sections often serve as veritable road bumps in your campaign progress as you try again and again to sneak past characters. The parkour sections have similar issues- they take too long, and make use of mechanics which are too obtuse to intuitively grasp, completely annihilating any sense of pacing being built as you restart again and again.

Call of Juarez is an absolute blast when it chooses to be. It can also be incredibly frustrating and unforgiving, but both the good and bad sides of the game manage to balance eachother out enough to deliver an excellent first-person shooter experience even in 2024. My recommendation for this game is a soft one- if you’re looking for a shooter that tries to mix up the action-shooter formula in its own unique way, I can’t recommend Call of Juarez enough. But for those who are looking for a more polished experience, it’s a bit of a hard sell.

really old game sadly

"You have killed a Innocent Animal"

This one aged a bit (I mean the gameplay) but definitely worth playing if you play Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood after.

I literally couldnt finish my playthru due to a bug in the last duel with juarez where my character falls thru the world and you are dead texture appears on the screen , nice one devs :))

My childhood game, I cried...

When you can't afford Red Dead Redemption 2

Hot garbage, so buggy its a miracle this even passed when the game came out.

I'd only recommend this game if you want to experience what its like playing an "old" FPS game that isn't made by a AAA Studio... with some great ideas on paper but poorly executed.

If this game had a better studio behind it, I would think we would've seen a lot more games set in the old west.

Techland being funny and a little bit serious.
Nice.

its aight

You can go ride a mine cart while holding a bible in one hand and burning dynamite in the other. All of this while preaching damnation and eternal suffering.

A charming little Spaghetti Western game that has showed it's age but still holds up surprisingly well on top of having a really underrated MP mode with a pretty active community hosting online games to this day almost daily.

A coherent and well-done narrative, Fun Shooting Mechanics, A very unique and, in my opinion, well done take on Dueling which I prefer over the later games in the Franchise (You move your mouse down to draw and then up to aim, live the motion you'd make to actually draw a pistol, very neat). Collectibles in the shape of Wanted Posters for the Dev that are a more fun way to show credits than other games for sure.

Ability to read bible verses in combat, great voice acting, graphics that held up relatively well, several other mechanics that spice up the game like certain guns deteriorating, gun quality and the bow's "arrow-time" effect, serve as the cherry on top.

Have to say some chapters can be rather tedious like the one where you climb a Mountain "just because" but even that one had a certain charm to it for me.

I wish there was a bit more character development across the chapters, the way it's set up only has 1/2 Protagonists have a proper character arc all throught but the one that does just carries the entire game with how great he is.

I personally didn't have issues relating to performance, crashes or saving issues, though quicksaving can be a must on certain chapters due to large levels and spaced out checkpoints.

Given the lack of actual issues and the fact it was rather fun to playthrough, alongside it's decent prices and frequent sales, I'd say it's worth playing. 8/10

keep falling out the map

What in the hellacious flapdoodle. I was born in 1990 - I play old games, I love old games. I missed out on this particular series, and after seeing it be included in just about every Steam sale ever, I thought I'd finally tip my toe in.

I cannot play this game.

The opening episode, at least to me, was eye-wateringly difficult. Unarmed, you're trying to escape pursuing bad guys, sort of like the intro to Far Cry 3, but you just get BLASTED in COJ. I tried and died repeatedly. Eventually I started to save-scum, finding the most expedient paths, finding tiny little areas where you couldn't be shot at, and finding tiny pixels where you can slide down slopes without instantly dying. Eventually I got through but only after what honestly might've been 40 quick loads.

I thought I'd push on, maybe this game has a slow start you've just got to crack the back of before the rootin' tootin' cowboy fun begins, but I found myself in chapter 2 falling through the floor, warping to the roof of a building, and then, once the glitches were over, just miserably dying over and over. Guns overheat and break, enemies can seemingly snipe you from down the street through a window, and boy can they take bullets like champs.

Maybe there's an element of git-gud, but I don't like some of the stuff - the COJ stuff. I find concentration mode really unhelpful and unfun. Ah. Why am I still typing. You know what I think - it's a dusty old dog-biscuit.

To be honest, I would love to immediately give a positive review to a game that allows me to read Bible verses while killing people regardless of their race like this game. Plus, after finishing Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, I would love to give positive reviews to all in the series. However, this game is "too old to play". As can be seen in my Steam account, I have many old games in the library because I love playing them. But when it comes to technical issues that prevent players from playing or from having good experiences, although it pains me, I still need to give a negative review as I believe that as long as developers or publishers can still make money from it, modifications or improvements (at least just for the games to be played) should be executed.

Very much good

i enjoyed the theme but its really clunky and feels really hard to play (but i suppose thats to be expected, but i can prevent it from crashing in the mine section in episode 5