Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Review (SaturdayMonk)
While it has it's flaws, this one's a great, fast-paced, bite-sized, stylish wild west adventure from the makers of Dying Light.
Like I said it is not perfect, even within it's stature. Most of the time it is too fast for it's own good, for some reason some of the narration takes place in the middle of the combat, and the combat requires all of your attention since you can die very easily 'cause enemies are aimbot-like and you don't have that much of a life bar at your disposal. So all that exposition, extra information, world-building and honestly the solid voice acting which helps a lot with the atmosphere especially being combined with the cute, Borderlands-esque presentation just goes to waste for a decent chunk of the game. Even that I like the graphical style of the game, it also makes it a ton harder to spot enemies and considering the hasty nature of the game, spotting enemies shouldn't take long but it does and it becomes annoying, especially at the beginning, I say you kinda get used to it through the middle of the game but it shouldn't take that much, and honestly shouldn't have been a thing at all in the first place (which sometimes strains to the navigation too, it isn't exactly that easy to figure out qhere to go sometimes, and the climbing mechanic needed a lot more polishing, like a lot). Another issue I can point out is the fact that some levels are designed to be played -not forced but let's say heavily advised- with certain weaponry and I don't think that doesn't exactly work if you give me a skill tree that divides to three different (weapon) types which I can freely explore, the level designs should follow the freedom that's been given with the tree itself and I can say the same with the boss battles as well, and on top of that that they are just either incredibly challenging or extremely easy and anticlimactic, no inbetween.
However and a BIG one at that, almost everything else is just enjoyable and solid. I do have my problems with the engine and the cellshade style but those become almost insignificant when the game just throws in some great imagery in that style and some great scenery alongside that. Admittedly, the style of the cutscenes sign to the amount of budget they were given yet I like them, found them well done for their style and think they add further character to the game, which is nice. Talking about the cutscenes and the presentation, the very well pulled of voice acting and the more than good soundtrack help you to get into the mood and the story, which while perhaps not being the most groundbreaking one, is more than enough and has flavors of self awareness and a decent kind of humor (which can be subjective, but it worked for me). Lastly the arcade-y nature of the game didn't bother me -I don't like them that much normally- and the stupidly fast action was enjoyable for the most time but the game overall just feels like it was a half-decent console port at worst and it shows, chiefly during the duel minigame in my opinion, I imagine it playing at least a tad bit better with a controller but I don't like playing most types of games with a controller, so I used a mouse-keyboard for this one as well. I think on top of that it also needed a bit more refinement too and I can honestly say the same thing for the game itself.
So, I think the game should be seen as a double-A title which makes most of the issues to be overlooked easier. And if you can overcome them, the rest of the game is just great, stylish, mind-numbing action shooter. It also is a bang for your buck since it has a couple enjoyable modes -not for me honestly but it can be for other people who are more capable than me- that can expand your playtime, but I say this without knowing about the regional pricing Ubisoft chooses to do -they can be d*cks about that, they certainly are concerning my region- yet the game was given free and I believe most people got it during that period anyways. If you find this sitting in your backlog, and if you're tired of half-baked and repetitive modern open-world games, give this one a try. It's not that long, but manages to be satisfying and will worth your while.