So here we have yet another shooter trying to grab our attention away from what seems to be a year that will be most remembered for quality RTS releases. Frankly, why should we bother with yet another FPS? Well, as it happens, in the decades of playing countless titles within the genre, Call of Juarez is arguably one of the best shooters I've come across. Apart from its array of awesome features, the great decision to arrange the game's two main characters and entwine their separate stories together with such incredible cohesiveness and subtlety is a marvel to behold.

The words 'Westerns' and 'games' are not (usually) synonymous with quality and/or popularity, especially with the myriad of Sci-Fi and war themed FPS titles to have come out in the past few years. So, in this uninhabited desert of Western-themed titles, who would have thought a European game studio would have the balls to come up with the best cowboy game ever made?

Two tough lookin stooges

Call of Juarez is developed by Techland Studios, a studio known for their previous release Chrome, as well as the more recent GTI Racing. Before I really begin this review, I will confess my passion for all things Western. While I could blame my father for making me sit through endless re-runs of 'Bonanza' and 'Little House on the Prairie' back in my younger years (while trying to sneak in viewings of 'Countdown' and 'Dr Who'), it simply comes down to that old ideal of exploration, tough folk pushing into that un-explored wild frontier and of course, tons of gunslingers waddling into town with thoughts only for moonshine, wenching and cards.

Our lead roles are played by Billy, a hopeless orphan wandering the countryside having given up his search for legendary hordes of gold, now simply longing for a place to call home. With only a whip to help him brave the wilds, Billy finally decides to head home. The other lead role is filled by one Reverend Ray, the meanest, toughest bastard you'll ever come across in a game. Trying to make amends for a bloody past, he's turned preacher, calling upon God to name him as one to carry forth the righteous message to the godless folks surrounding him. I'm trying to draw parallels between the dirtiest, most hard-boiled and wholly vicious character from a Western film but I can't – the only thing I can come up with is by combining the famous duo of Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood with the Devil himself. That might just be a fair approximation of this chap.

Just about the best element within this game is the decision to combine both lead characters together in a fashion that makes for the most enthralling chase game I've yet played. Since leaving the hell of his hometown years back, Billy decides to return home to visit Mum and his bastard of a step-father, knowing full-well he won't be welcomed back into hick-central. His eventual arrival and subsequent discovery of his murdered parents sparks mayhem within the town, forcing Billy to flee.

So far the story is a familiar one; mix in angry mobs with guns chasing after a hapless kid with naught but a whip for protection and you have the makings of a plot with a bit of drama and tension. But place into the fray another plot mixed in so convincingly with the first one along with an episodic mission system and you have something rivalling any popular work of fiction you care to name.

Bible bashing gone extreme...

Enter into the picture Reverend Ray, that Bible-wielding, ball-bashing, homicidal maniac I described earlier. As it happens, Billy's stepfather is Reverend Ray's brother and once the preacher hears word of gunshots being fired from this brother's property, he rushes to investigate. Upon reaching the settlement, Reverend Ray discovers Billy, that no-good, thieving bastard of a kid standing over his dead brother's corpse. Quickly assuming Billy was the culprit, Reverend Ray dashes after him - and thus starts the chase of the century with Billy running for dear life with the gun-toting preacher on his tail. The grand aspect of this approach is how the designers have made the players dive so effortlessly into following each lead characters role. We assume the role of the hunted (Billy) for a stretch of time, feeling genuinely sorry for the poor bugger and in the next mission (episode), we play the of the hunter (Rev Ray) with the obvious compulsion of wanting to pump the thieving, no-good son of a mongrel full of lead.

The way both sides of the equation are convincingly portrayed throughout the entire game, with Billy's hopelessness alongside Revered Rays religious fervour, is the one aspect of this game's design that kicks other FPSs square in the rear-end. Rather than settling with the same sort of characters, it's the differing playing styles (of the same coin) given to the player that paint's such a beautiful picture.

Speaking of beautiful pictures, Call of Juarez is nothing if not visually appealing. Portraying any situation with as much realism as possible draws players into the fashioned world that much more. So, to Teckland's credit, they have paid just as much attention to the game's graphics as they have to the plot and game play. Frankly, I've never seen the American Wild West look this good before. Buildings have that visceral feel of neglect by both people and nature, NPC animations and textures are adequately realistic, terrain textures are simply beautiful with trees and grass swaying as well as awesome reflections off great looking water. Of course, all this graphical mana comes with a performance cost on your PC, so the newer the video card, the better. Of course, players get to travel in all manner of locations within the game; trains, caves, prairies, atop burning houses, crossing rivers on a horse while shooting at a carriage you happen to be chasing – each location was richly presented and looked superb.

Might shoot him in the nads juuuust in case he's fakin it

The best example I can recall about the graphics was within the later stages of the game. What would a cowboy game be without the presence of Native Americans and this was done beautifully by Billy's encounter with an Elder whom he befriends. Given a task to complete (won't spoil the surprise) and given a horse, players get to travel over some of the most amazing countryside I've ever seen in a game. I can't think of the last game where I was able to ride a horse full-speed over rolling prairies and between pockets of forest while holding a bow and arrow. Suffice it to say that players won't be complaining about the game's graphics – that is, unless you have a really dodgy card.

So far, we have a great story and a beautiful looking game but what about those gun shots? Surely, we want guns to sound like... well, real guns rather than kid's toys, right? Thankfully, each historically accurate gun sounded as good as it looked, so no qualms there. The sound effects blended well into each location as did the great orchestral tunes easily complementing the on-screen action with constantly changing beats and rhythms.

There's a generous measure of AI working away behind the scenes with opponents adapting to their environmental conditions by diving behind cover or scrambling forward to get the best possible shooting angle. A huge improvement in combat comes via the game's own version of bullet-time. When players draw their pistols, slow-motion kicks in which brings up a separate aiming reticule for each gun. As each reticule is slowly forced into the centre of the screen, they can be independently controlled by moving the mouse left and right as well as firing by pressing left and right mouse buttons. This ability to use each gun separately during the slow-motion sequence feels both fluid and natural, allowing players to shoot multiple sets of targets all in a small space of time.

The voiceovers were spectacular. While Billy's vocals seemed a tad contrived, each time Reverend Ray uttered a word, it was incredible. Just hearing his voice stepped up his overall appeal another notch – easily the best vocals I've heard in a game. A great addition was upon the start of missions loading with each character providing a monologue preparing the way for the battles ahead – awesome stuff. For you weird Star Trek fans, Reverend Ray's voice is played by none other than Marc Alaimo (Dukat) from Deep Space 9 fame.

A train just begging to be robbed

With the good aspects out of the way, it's time for the bad. Make sure you keep saving with each significant step of this game otherwise the annoyance levels from traversing the same path each time may creep up significantly. Jumping from small heights tends to get you killed, as does leaping off yet missing what should be a very simple jump. Another slight annoyance was the below-par aspect of Billy's stealth attributes. Since the poor bloke's only chance at survival during most of the game is via the stealth approach, more emphasis on using shadows and sound would have been great – but like I said, a small annoyance only as planning moments to dash out of cover and use the crouch key was just as effective. Thankfully, there's nothing particularly bad about this title and hence why the high score. The good easily outweighed the bad and the non-existent ugly (tough crowd).

With a perfect blend of deep, involving characterisations, passionate narration and juicy graphics along with a believable plot (finally) and some of the best gun-toting brawls reminiscent of those delicious Spaghetti Westerns, you need to play this game – now.

As far as I'm aware, this title won't be released within our region as I'm told this style of game does not sell well. Well, bugger that as you can easily purchase and download the game through the game's website: http://www.coj-game.com. Let's hope this makes other developers brave enough to produce more Western-themed games in the short to medium term. As for the long term - a Western-themed MMO anyone? Yes, please.

Update: I've just been advised that Stomp Gaming will be the local distributiors for Call of Juarez and will be on sale in Australia on the 14th of October. Look out for it.