That Gaming Itch: Call of Juarez MP Demo

That Gaming Itch

Every once and a while I get an itch for some type of game, in some sort of setting, that I don't always see in the spot light. For a while now, I've been wanting to play a good western-themed shooter. There are a couple Half Life 2 mods floating around that have been working on the idea, but none of them have produced a playable mod yet.

The other night I was surfing for gaming news, and I came across a multiplayer demo for Call of Juarez. It is a soon to be released western-themed shooter from Techland and Ubisoft. Without hesitation, I decided to satisfy my gaming itch.

Pros and Cons

I am going to break this down into a Pros and Cons list, as it will be the easiest way to review this game's multiplayer demo.

Pros

• The setting feels authentic. The two available maps felt like towns right out of a good spaghetti Western.
• The concepts behind the game modes make sense with the western setting. One map is centered around the Outlaws robbing the bank and the Lawmen defending, while the second map is just a straight up timed team death match (TDM).
• Graphics are up to snuff. Nothing to complain about. I didn't have a single issue related to graphics and I ran the game on max settings.
  
• When zooming in with a weapon you lose focus with everything except what you are zoomed in upon. A unique twist I haven't seen before.
  
• Not a single crash to desktop for the entire time I played.
  

Cons

• Due to the unbalanced nature of the weapons in game, the two classes, Six Shooter and Rifleman, didn't really provide enough variety.
• Piggybacking on the first con: the rifle is the most effective weapon in game. It can be fired as fast as the trigger is pulled and does two times the damage of the Six Shooter's pistols.
• The in-game server browser is trash. It makes Battlefield 2's server browser look like a golden nugget. The update and refresh buttons rarely worked and the game froze several times while at the server select screen.
• The game suffers from several connection issues. I can't remember ever actually quitting a server. Every game I was forced off by connection issues, or a flat out server crash.
• The Outlaws are Native Americans (Indians) and the Lawmen are White Men. Hmmmm... anyone crying injustice yet? Racist? Got me, but when I think Outlaw in the old west I'm thinking of Billy the Kid, not Chief Tonka.

Conclusion

In the end, the demo was fun overall when I was able to connect to a server not having connection problems. The action was quick and refreshing. Unfortunately, this game didn't make enough use of it's western theme. Besides the idea of shooting it out in an old mining town as an Outlaw or Lawman, there isn't much else that puts the western in Call of Juarez. Maybe I was looking for horses, trains, or Mexicans. Maybe just something other than White Man vs. Indian. I really don't know, but Call of Juarez just didn't deliver anything that screams "must play".

If you are interested in a western themed FPS, then Call of Juarez can satisfy you for a few minutes. I make no guarantees that the server browser or connection issues will be fixed, but I can't imagine them giving up on the title before some major holes are plugged. Call of Juarez is just another FPS that fails to innovate or impress.

3 Words to Describe BF 2142

1. Buggy as in it crashes a lot and there is several connection issues. Graphically I haven't had many slow ups even when settings are cranked. Of course I always could play BF2 at MAX settings just fine.

2. Confusing as in WTF am I supposed to do? No one on my team communicates. The objectives are poorly laid out for Titan mode. EA needs to take away score keeping and focus on rewarding you for completed objectives. Giving scores for kills just turns the game into a whoever can kill more people wins even if that means fucking my teammates over.

3. Fun so far. I have some good "OH shit did I just knife that dude as he got out of his mech" moments and a few "OMFG that dude isn't on my damn team and I let him cap the silo right next to me!" moments.

More to come when I get some more solid and connected games.

Update: 9 May, 2009 - Edited post.

Beta Crazy! NeverWinterNights 2 MP Beta

Hi everyone,

Congratulations! If you are receiving this email it means you have been selected to participate in our Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test! This is just a pre-emptive email so that I can get started getting you guys and gals access to our private forums in preparation for the commencement of the beta test which should be sometime next week. I will be sending a follow up email soon once the build is ready for download. This beta test is under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which means you CAN NOT discuss the game outside of our private community forums at http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=445.

To gain access to the private Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test Forums, please follow the instructions outlined below:

- If you DO NOT already have an Atari Community Forums account, please go to www.ataricommunity.com and register an account. Once you have created your account, reply to this email and give me your username so that I can add you into the private forums.

- If you already DO have an Atari Community Forums account, simply reply to this email and I will give you access to the private forums.

Please Note: Only send ONE email. It will take some time to get through all of the access requests, and your patience is appreciated.

Gear up that Gnome, dust off that +1 Dagger, and welcome once again to the Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test! I hope to hear from you soon! :)

Betatest Administrator
Atari, Inc.

Note: No gnomes were harmed in the making of this email.

Battlefield 2142 Beta Here I Come!

I received my BF 2142 beta key a little bit ago thanks to Fileplanet's 10,000 beta keys for anyone with an account. This means any Fileplanet account, not just paying subscribers.

TIP: If you get to the application screen and there is no SUBMIT button you need to disable ALL of your firewalls. FilePlanet has always had that problem and I doubt they will ever fix it.

Come back for some thoughts and impressions later tonight when I get the game downloaded and installed. I am weary of any non-Fileplanet downloads at the moment, as there are several beta client versions floating around.

Update: 5 May, 2009 - Edited post and updated labels.

It's getting messy around here!

I've decided to go ahead and start cleaning up some of my posts over the last year or so. I will be deleting a bunch of meaningless posts full of broken links. Also I will try to clean up spelling mistakes and grammar issues in a lot of older posts. I figure the sooner I start the faster I will catch up to my current posts and from then on I can hopefully keep it clean.

This is all in preparation for the Blogspot changes that Google is testing in beta right now. Once those go live I will be redoing the sites layout as well as going back and putting all my posts into categories! I'm open to any other suggestions as well; just leave a comment.