"As my late father pointed out to me more than once--God made men, but Samuel Colt made 'em equal."
--Silas Greaves, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Like the Assassin's Creed series before it, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger brings multiple historical figures to its plot--all while intentionally remaining ambiguous about the events in a way that ties the game narrator's personal anecdotes to historical information while intentionally or unintentionally broaching the issue of historical epistemology. As he recounts stories, he confuses names and makes very bold claims about interactions with people like Jessy James and Billy the Kid, stirring up mixed reactions from his audience. The way the chapters are told alone makes Gunslinger a cleverly constructed game, and the shooting mechanics blend elements of the Western and first-person shooter genres together very organically.
Production Values
The great character models and generally clear environments of Gunslinger are marred only by occasional issues like the extreme blurriness of specific shadows as they fall on structures. More specifically, these shadows come from plants, and the plants can be the least detailed, most pixelated part of the in-game world. The landscapes are quite varied, meaning not every level features lots of vegetation. One level has you pass through a cave system, another has you walk across derailed train cars bridging a canyon, and yet another has you fight through a sawmill. Between and during levels, narrator Silas Greaves tells his supposed personal story of involvement in the events, and parts of the world literally are added or removed as he suddenly remembers--or at least claims to remember--how things unfolded. Silas has the most voice lines, but the listeners and questioners have their own clear personalities and the same realistic level of voice acting that Silas gets.
Gameplay
Because of the Western setting, some first-person shooter norms are changed, such as how you can eventually throw dynamite rather than conventional grenades. Most FPS conventions are preserved in some way or another, including the bursts of slow-motion that accompany some actions in many games from the genre. This mechanic can also be triggered manually as a bar fills up from killing enemies either before or after the meter is completely full. Unlockable passive abilities can make this "bullet time" more productive for the player. In turn, this can lead to more experience points. The most XP is gained from chaining kills together one after the other, with special abilities increasing the multiplier faster or otherwise aiding the process. Even aside from boosting the rate of acquiring XP, the abilities that can be unlocked with points earned from leveling up make general combat and finding secrets easier.
One of the most thoroughly unique aspects of the game is its duels scattered throughout the story and a mode devoted solely to this kind of showdown. Duels can be challenging and require precise, swift aiming and careful positioning of the Silas's hand before the guns are drawn if the player is to have the advantage. Pulling out the gun too early results in a "dishonorable" kill unless one starts the duel over. The duel mode that is separate from the story strictly consists of these encounters. An additional arcade mode features smaller sections in locations pulled from the main game but has a greater emphasis on score multipliers. In story mode, the "score" is just XP. In arcade mode, XP is used as a score, and, upon completing a level, the points are combined with previous totals to unlock more passive abilities for different classes for use in arcade mode specifically.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
A man who calls himself Silas Greaves tells the story of his life to a group in a tavern as they drink, starting out by describing how he fought alongside Billy the Kid just to be captured with him. His story repeatedly brings up several men who he says committed a grievous wrong that he will clarify later. However, Silas gives internally contradictory details for his own tale and also says things that conflict with or supposedly complete standard historical accounts. Jesse and Frank James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and other renowned outlaws make appearances as Silas proceeds with his story. Ultimately, he reveals that he was in search of people who killed his family members, only to become more and more consumed by the quest.
Intellectual Content
The listeners sometimes ask questions about contrary historical claims that they assume weaken the plausibility of Silas's recollections, with Silas often changing his story to accommodate details or dismissing them as irrelevant to his main points. Exaggerations that do not match what the player sees onscreen, and the onscreen events sometimes literally change or are reset as Silas and other characters attempt to clarify what, according to them, really happened in major shootouts and other events. Still, the dialogue does touch upon the one way to prove that certain historical claims are inherently false: contradictions. If a personal story or historical document ever contradicted itself or any purely logical truths (such as axioms), it would automatically be false, while no amount of consistent hearsay and sensory evidence actually proves that an event happened. Silas sometimes says he only changed certain details of his account to see if listeners were paying attention, but a much more premeditated reason comes to light by the end.
Conclusion
Merging the kind of pseudo-historical backdrop found in games like Assassin's Creed with the stylized action of a creative first-persona shooter, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger succeeds in presenting a clever tale with plenty of unique mechanics and philosophical elements alike. The very strong voice acting, duel system, historical information, and environment which changing as the story does come together to provide one of the best Western shooters in recent years other than Red Dead Redemption. Silas Greaves makes a very fitting narrator for this shifting story of a man seeking vengeance as he encounters one legendary outlaw after another.
Content:
1. Violence: Blood often sprays out when enemies are killed, especially from headshots.
2. Profanity: "Damn," "bitch," "bastard," and "shit" are heard in the dialogue.
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