Worth Playing: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

I don't have any connection to previous games in the Call of Juarez franchise. That's not to say I haven't played them, it just means they left absolutely zero impression on me. 2011's Call of Juarez: The Cartel was actively bad and the other two entries in the series were maybe a little better. But Gunslinger, a download only title available for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, is memorable. It's a massive improvement on previous entries in the series and, along with this year's Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, feels like it's ushering in the age of downloadable titles that sit somewhere in between low budget indie darlings and the big £40 AAA titles. That's to say that it feels like a big budget game. But at £12 and around 5 hours of content, this doesn't aim to compete with the Call of Duty's and the Halos. It's carved out it's own niche and I'm totally ok with that niche existing.

As with the other Call of Juarez titles, Gunslinger is a western themed first person shooter. So far, so safe. This time around, developers Techland Games grafted an XP system on with three seperate skill trees to work through. Great, but still pretty safe.