The showdown. The deadliest sport in the Wild West. Nothing oozes masculinity like facing your fellow man one-on-one in a life or death situation. A moment of madness that is decided by the fastest trigger finger.  Reputations are built and destroyed on the success of such accurate brutality, none more so than the infamous McCall brothers who face a ceaseless barrage of incoming bullets throughout Bound in Blood. Rebelling against the army is one thing, but getting lured towards the inescapable grip of the Gold of Juarez is another, and will certainly wind up with many shoot outs that crave for sharp reflexes. Fortunately, we know the McCall’s are about to bust their opponent’s balls. The reason? It’s the only body part we managed to obliterate during this sequel’s numerous showdown events.

That opening may surprise you, but hilariously, it’s not so wide of the mark. During Bound in Blood’s tense standstill moments, we only ever managed to take out a stumbling opponent once without hitting him square in the swinging treasures, a somewhat comic end to what was often a bloody relationship fuelled with anger and face-clenching hate. With such a simple premise; moving the right trigger (and therefore the right hand) of you character towards your body, and then down to your gun when the bell sounds, you’d have thought we would receive many different results. Surprisingly, by keeping your opponent in focus (as urged), the quickest way of despatching their threat is via the method previously stated. Still, after numerous attempts throughout the game, we’d take any sort of victory, as our technique generally never improved, resulting in many restarts and quick dashes back in time to pick our leaking brains up off the floor.

Luckily, this unintentional silliness doesn’t infiltrate the rest of the title, as Bound in Blood proves itself to be an unashamedly basic sequel, but extremely entertaining nevertheless. With the arrival of the McCalls we’re brought into a world of grit and respect, all aided by seamless male banter that keeps them from going insane. Once the opening civil war level is completed, and you move from the army into the swallowing depths of all things Western, there is a huge improvement over what initially seems to be a dull FPS. It’s once you learn the skills of both Ray and his younger brother Thomas that the fun begins to seep through, as Bound in Blood’s solid gunplay and occasional stunning looks make for an intriguing tale.

Providing the opportunity to utilise either of the two devilish brothers in most levels (apart from important, narrative-developing sections), we found the older, more intimidating presence of Ray to be more fun to play with. Aided with dual pistols, a shotgun and some explosive dynamite abilities, he’s the man for getting up close and personal with the enemy. Compared to his brother’s revolver, rifle and lasso throwing skills (which enables him to climb), we found Ray’s direct approach to be most suited for the ruthlessly intense fire fights that litter every corner. With this said, at times you may have to call on Thomas, as entering the openness of the desert forces you to use long-range tactics. There’s a simple balance between the run and gun badass and patient head-popper that most gamers should be familiar with in an age that often allows for more than one approach to a level.

Unsurprisingly, there are some entertaining, pace-changing parts of Bound in Blood that serve to wreak carnage, and indeed a leaking of blood, all over the dusty locations of the West. Once enough heart-stopping kills have been registered, you’ll temporarily earn the right for a slow-motion assault on the remaining opponents. For Ray, simply manoeuvre your sight over as many foes as possible within a reasonable time limit, before unleashing an unstoppable onslaught of bullets that can take out entire squads at a time. Thomas’ however regards a little more skill and faster hand movement, as you crank the right stick round in circles and fire at the same time to take out enemies with his revolver. Extremely satisfying on the surface, and often a huge boost in cramped shoot-outs, Bound in Blood once again proves it doesn’t have to do anything special to be a thrilling ride of mistrust, betrayal and war, all of which are underlined by the third McCall brother who just so happens to be a servant of god.

Aside from the bullet time events, you’ll be offered the chance to defend bases with cannon fire, tackle rampaging horsemen from inside an unsteady cart, and even obliterate everything in your path with the dreaded gattling gun. Although it causes you to lumber round like an obese drunk, the force behind such a behemoth is unparalleled compared to the rest of the weapons on offer. You’ll also get a few chances to explore the glorious landscape of Arizona, and take on extra missions, which often task you with eliminating a dangerous individual and their gang. We wanted more opportunities to upgrade our weapon selection, as this is only available at certain sections in the game, and isn’t pointed out clearly. It seems the best method to gaining the stronger guns is by upgrading early while you have the chance, as Bound in Blood will be completed by most gamers in just over five hours on medium difficulty.

For those wishing to extend their cowboy fantasies, there’s an entertaining online mode to get involved with. With numerous classes and characters to level up, and a handful of genuinely fun modes to try out, this could build a solid community if further maps and upgrades are released. There’s a real rush when trying to break into a bank, steal the loot and exit the town without being hunted, allowing Bound in Blood to add some extra incentive for those who are up to the task. Each game mode is structured to make you become a legend of the West, with extremely tough competition that is almost always settled with one or two lethal gunshots. Although enjoyable, we have no idea how a title like this can omit having a co-op story mode, as it’s seemingly built for partnerships all over the world to blast through together. With such a short narrative anyway, it really is baffling at how such a huge opportunity can be missed, forcing us to hope that it gets patched in sometime soon.

Although unoriginal and certainly not ambitious, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is worth a shot if you want to hop out of the endlessly dull futuristic spacesuits and into some leather chaps and matching boots. With Westerns as rare as rain in the desert, we enjoyed our romp thoroughly, and would love to see some more content in the coming months. The occasional hard-to-spot enemy and difficulty spike aside, this series is now back on track and should be heading for success in the future. That is, if Ray and Thomas McCall don’t have something to say about it first.

Grade: C+