Genre: FPS
Publisher: TBA
Developer: Techland
Release Date: TBA

For some reason, the events of the global conflict known as World War II have been the focal point of about 98% of all first-person shooter games for nigh on 300 years. That's how it seems, anyhow. However, for some strangely intangible reason, it's almost as if every developer on earth who dabbles in the "FPS" school of design has collectively decided to shift gears all at the same time. An industry-wide paradigm shift is going on right now, and no one can figure out why. Do we care? Not really, just as long as we don't have to re-visit Normandy yet again. WWII is old and busted; say hello to the new hotness: the American Wild West! Techland, a team just shy of "infamous" for their work on Chrome and Chrome: SpecForce, are "biting the bullet" (insert groan here) and going with the flow. The end result is Call of Juarez, a gritty celebration of dead gringos, homicidal preachers, whiskey shots, and boot hills.

Now, if you're like me, you're probably already a salivating fool over the HBO series called Deadwood. In my opinion, this program is easily the best of example of what "Western" can be. There are no square-jawed, singing cowpokes courting giggling ladies swaddled in two tons of petticoats, swinging parasols in a squeaky-clean town built of machine-hewn timber here. Deadwood is as filthy and real as it gets, and my newfound love of this era is bleeding through into my gaming preferences. With Call of Juarez, there is promise of all the dark grit I love, as well as liberal doses of the Garth Ennis-penned Preacher comics. This is partly due to the fact that for at least part of this game, you play a character that resembles the "Saint of Killers" (from the aforementioned comic). You're a fire-and-brimstone man of the cloth whose salvation was tempered in a crucible of pain and suffering. "Gimme that old time religion," indeed.

This preview build that I've had some time to dabble in only includes two levels, so I can't really give too much detail regarding the storyline. What I do know is that at one point, Ray the preacher gets it in his head that some bad people need to die, so he pulls out his trusty six-shooter irons and gets to work. It helps that someone guns down the sheriff right in front him, but I think the intent was there even beforehand. You do have the option, if you desire, to just run around blasting everything in sight, but there's a much cooler – and more effective – option. So long as Preacher Ray has his guns holstered, right- or left-clicking the mouse activates a concentration "bullet time" for a few seconds. This is usually enough time to take out the dusty outlaws that happen to have broken cover, and then it's time to reload.

What impresses me about this feature is how it hints at what truly great gunfighter reflexes may have been like – a calm serenity that leads to a type of intuitive precognition before the weapons even see the light of day. If you feel like spicing things up, you can tap the Z key for a quick-fire mode with a single revolver. It's a form of low-tech semi-auto for an era devoid of the Uzi 9-millimeter. You can also pull out your Good Book and quote particularly vengeful passages from the Old Testament, a minor feature that I found quite amusing from a perspective of creating ambience. This mission takes you from the church, to a shootout in the town's main street, to preventing a jail break, and eventually has you facing the level boss in front of a saloon you just set ablaze (you blast everybody who comes running out, naturally). Speaking of fire, the latter part of the mission has oil lamps scattered all over the place which you can pick up, throw at a person or object, and then ignite the fuel. Burn, baby, burn. Not only do the flames look pretty real, but the fire also acts as it might in real life. If something flammable is nearby, it will also catch fire and spread, or you can pick up crates, drop them within close proximity of the fire, and watch them go up in flames.

The other level of this build sees you playing Billy (yes, he's a kid, but I'm not sure if he's the Kid), a fugitive on the run from the crazed minister who is somewhat forced to absorb the wisdom of an aged Native American, and it is here where I feel Call of Juarez shines with the brightest potential. The first level has its moments, but really, it's just your standard "all guns blazing" FPS with some cool slow-mo action. This second level is so completely different, it's quite surprising. You're first tasked with hunting some rabbits with bow and arrow, which is significantly different from shooting at a man with a pistol. After this, you need to put out a fire with a bucket and some assistance from a nearby stream. Finally, you're sent to climb a massive stone pillar in the middle of a nearby lake. The old man wants you to get an eagle's feather without killing the bird, so you get nothing more than a whip to get to the top with. This level was extremely interesting and absolutely unlike anything I have ever encountered in this genre before. The whip is a neat tool; not only does it function as a melee weapon, but you can also use it "Indiana Jones" style to wrap around trees and swing across gaps. If the rest of the level design in Call of Juarez is as strong as this one, this game is automatically a must-have.

Techland has really set the bar higher with the expansive scope of the areas on display. In all honesty, I can't recall ever seeing 3D play areas this massive in scale; even Planetside didn't achieve this degree of awe-inspiring space. To call it vast is to severely understate the effect. It certainly comes close to capturing the majesty of nature. Not only are there stunning draw distances, but there is also an excess of lush flora and foliage without any lag at all. This effect is in place even with at the highest possible graphical settings, and with code that has yet to be optimized for my graphics card. Imagine what the polish will be like after the full development cycle is complete! Call of Juarez is being built on the Chrome engine, which was a solid enough effort in the first place when it was powering Chrome and its sequel, but the advancements Techland has made to this software is startling. Even the models and textures have been given upgrades; humans look almost photorealistic now compared to the blocky texture-wrapped wireframes used in previous titles by this crew.

One aspect that looks like it was taken from Valve's Half-Life 2 are the physics puzzles that you have to figure out in order to advance or create your own getaway. In one section of the game, you are stuck in a burning building, so you have to move crates in order to climb onto the roof, jump to an adjacent building, move more crates in order to level out a pair of planks so you can cross a gap, and then shoot a weight level to lower the water tower's hose so you can use it to escape the fire. Other usable objects are buckets, chairs, suitcases, tables, and so forth....

This preview build was too short, but it certainly left me craving more. After the relative disappointments of Red Dead Revolver and the more recent Gun, I feel the time is ripe for a Wild West game that does more than just change the textures of the models from U.S. Military olive-green to buckskin tan and call it a brand new experience. We want Aces over Eights, we want stale whiskey, we want smoking iron and vigilante justice, and we want our action as tough as coffin nails and as bittersweet as a mortician's smile! Can Techland sate our cravings? I think they might; Call of Juarez is on the right track to deliver all of this and more, with fantastic next-generation visuals and sharply innovative level design. If the final product delivers on the promises made with this build, then you can be sure they have a huge hit on their hands. I, for one, now have another "must-have" title on my list.