Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (Xbox 360)

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Ray and Thomas aren't the nicest guys you'll ever meet

As Neon said when he saw FPS Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood back in March, we were quite fond of the original game. It wasn't perfect, with too many awkward stealth sections for our liking, but the gun-play was solid and it was more or less the best cowboy game since Red Dead Revolver. We've been sampling a work in progress build of the sequel (due for release on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3) to see if the lessons learnt from the original have helped create an altogether more cowboy cowboy game.

Bound in Blood casts you as brothers Ray and Thomas McCall, with the game opening as the two are helping to defend an outpost from the invading Northern troops. Serving as a tutorial of sorts, you begin as Ray, learning how to perform his special Concentration Mode shot, and eventually taking down a bridge that's crossing a river. Then you get to play as new character Thomas, getting to grips with his quickdraw Concentration Mode ability and riding horses into battle. It's a solid opening and one that sets up an exciting story centred on the army's colonel, Barnsby, and his plan to destroy the McCalls. He's not happy that the brothers effectively became deserters after disobeying a direct order, and he wants to make them pay.

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As you kill enemies, as either brother, your Concentration meter fills in the corner of the screen. Once full it ticks down for 60 seconds, allowing you to trigger a special move at any point while time remains. Ray's Concentration ability slows down time and allows him to paint the enemies he wants to shoot - exit the mode or run out of time and he'll fire off at the enemies that have been targeted, killing them all in just a few seconds. It's a neat move and one that certainly came in very handy during the handful of levels we've played through.

Thomas' Concentration ability looks quite different, but the end result is very similar. Rather than having to target enemies manually, you perform an action that resembles cocking and firing a gun (in the PS3 version tested this was done by flicking the right analogue stick down then up), with the game switching targets automatically to the next enemy in view. Do this quickly enough and you can take down an entire room of enemies without any skill whatsoever, making it, at least from what we've seen so far, more deadly than Ray's quick-fire aimed shots.

Visually the game can look spectacular

As players of the original will know, Ray isn't a particularly nice guy and he's also something of a brute – he apparently became a completely different person after the war, doing and taking whatever he pleased. In Bound in Blood this means he's the one who is asked to kick down doors and generally do the tasks that need a bit of force. Thomas is more nimble and can use a lasso, something that featured heavily in the first game. This can be attached to certain objects in order to let him reach high platforms, although from what we've played so far it's not nearly as essential to the gameplay as it was in the hands of Billy, the young man accused of killing his parents in the original game.

At other points the game forced the use of a slow-motion ability with two aiming reticules moving across the screen - one for each brother or one for your left hand and one for the right. During these moments you have limited control with the right thumb stick and have to try and shoot the enemies as the reticules pass over them. One moment early on sees the two enter a barn, only for an enraged cow to come charging at them from close range. The game instantly slows down time and you need to time your shots in order to prevent the rampaging animal from causing some serious damage.

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