Line #58 VideoGame/CallOfJuarez


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/callofjuarezoriginal.png]]
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3	Billy Candle has had a crappy life: [[DisappearedDad his dad is gone]], his mom married a guy who [[DomesticAbuse beat him up regularly]], he was mistreated by other kids for being a Mexican; when he ran away from home to find lost treasures, he didn't make it far; a girl he loved had a BoyfriendBlockingDad and he lost both the girl and his job. He returns to his hometown of Hope, "the most hopeless place on Earth", because he has nowhere left to go... and finds his mother and stepfather shot dead in their home, "[[ArcWords Call of Juarez]]" written in blood above their bodies. Worse even, he is seen by his step-uncle [[BadassPreacher Reverend Ray]] who assumes he is the murderer and [[SternChase gives chase]] to him...
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5	''Call of Juarez'' is a fast-paced {{Western}} FirstPersonShooter, where the player [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent alternatingly assumes the roles of Billy and Reverend Ray]], who is after his head. Billy is more of a FragileSpeedster with heavy emphasis on [[StealthBasedGame stealth]], whereas Ray is a MightyGlacier ''and'' TheGunslinger, which allows for an interesting twist: revisiting [[RemixedLevel the same level]] (Ray is chasing after Billy, after all) never grows boring, thanks to the vastly different gameplay styles of the two.
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7	The original game (2006) started the eponymous series, currently consisting of three more titles:
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9	* ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezBoundInBlood'', a 2009 prequel to the original
10	* ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezTheCartel'', a 2011 (very) distant sequel
11	* ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezGunslinger'', a 2013 SpiritualSuccessor
12	----
13	!!Tropes found in the original ''Call of Juarez'':
14	* AbusiveParents: Billy's stepfather beats him regularly. [[spoiler:His biological father, Juarez, is even worse.]]
15	* AKA47: Rather surprisingly, given that all the guns involved are almost 200 years old, and are presumably no longer covered by trademark. Although it may simply be for simplicity's sake, as "Classic Rifle" is a lot shorter to write than "Winchester Model 1892".
16	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: You switch between Billy and Ray throughout the game. Billy's sections emphasize stealth and platforming, while Ray's sections are geared towards straightforward action.
17	* AsTheGoodBookSays: Ray picks up the habit to quote ''Literature/TheBible''... [[BadassPreacher in all the wrong situations]].
18	* AxCrazy: Ray clearly is not alright in the head, even before his brother and sister-in-law are murdered, very obviously showing his disdain for the people he's preaching to for the sin they carry. ''After'' his brother and sister-in-law are murdered, he falls into a delusional quest for what he thinks is justice, killing everyone in his path under the belief that it's his God-given duty. [[spoiler:Being deceived by two bandits posing as rangers, which causes the death of Molly's father, finally makes him reflect on his actions.]]
19	* BadassPreacher: Ray can hold Literature/TheBible in the left hand and [[AsTheGoodBookSays read passages]] from it even as he guns down mooks with a revolver in his right.
20	* BittersweetEnding:
21	** In the extra story on the original Call of Juarez [[spoiler:the unnamed sheriff kills his corrupt boss, County Commissioner Grizzwald, and the bandit, Vasquez, is executed leaving Round Rock in peace... but the whole town saw him gun down Grizzwald and Vasquez was the only person who knew he was corrupt, forcing the sheriff to flee to Mexico, or get hung by the citizens.]]
22	** In the main ending [[spoiler: Juarez is killed, Billy and Molly get married, and Billy has finally found the treasure, but Ray dies.]]
23	* BreakableWeapons: All guns eventually explode after a few dozen shots. How quickly this happens depends on the condition of the weapon, with "rusty" weapons exploding in your hands a lot more quickly than those in good condition. This was removed in ''Bound in Blood'', in favor of more weapon quality levels and stats.
24	* BulletTime: Ray can go into it when armed with revolvers. [[spoiler:Billy can do it, too, after he acquires a bow.]] Both players can do it in Bound in Blood, to different effects.
25	* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: In the original, this is what starts the entire story, appropriately enough with "Call of Juarez" even being written near the bodies of Billy's parents. Since the prequel, ''Bound in Blood'', has been released, however, it essentially turns into a case of SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome.
26	* ChurchMilitant: Ray explicitly considers himself the Wrath of God.
27	* DisappearedDad: Billy's dad [[spoiler:''is'' the titular Juarez.]]
28	* DeadGuyJunior: Thomas obviously named Billy after his youngest brother.
29	* DodgeTheBullet: In the first game, quick-draw duels take place in slow motion, and (if you're quick enough) you can even lean left or right to dodge incoming enemy bullets.
30	* DomesticAbuse: Thomas Ray has beaten Billy up regularly, and Billy initially avoided his home while it was being attacked because he mistook the noises for Thomas going through one of his rages.
31	* DuelingPlayerCharacters: There is a brief level where Ray finally catches up with Billy and guns him down (though Billy survives).
32	* {{Expy}}: Ray is essentially Creator/ClintEastwood's character in ''Film/PaleRider''
33	* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Juarez initially presents himself as a polite man who frames the deaths of Billy's parents as an altercation that got out of hand. When Billy reveals that he doesn't have what Juarez seeks however, the niceties immediately drop, and Juarez just reveals himself to be worse and worse as the rest of the game goes on.]]
34	* FisticuffsBoss: There are two in the original game, the bigoted farmhand leader and the final boss.
35	* FragileSpeedster: Billy can hardly take damage before dropping dead, but he's far faster than Ray, which is one of the reasons he's able to evade him during Ray's pursuit.
36	* FriendlyFireproof: Enforced by the game--trying to shoot a civilian will result in the character saying no (and if you ''do'' manage to harm them somehow, you'll get [[NonstandardGameOver kicked out of the game]].)
37	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: While in Hope, before being accused of murder, Billy, armed only with a whip, can, if the player is skilled and determined enough, kill just about the entire town population, without any long-term repercussions.
38	* GrapplingHookPistol: Billy's whip can act as this.
39	* GuideDangIt: It's not immediately obvious that [[spoiler:you have to make the final shot on Juarez as a duel - i.e. flick the control stick to draw - because every previous duel was announced openly]]. All the more frustrating because you only have a split-second, and must watch a long unskippable cutscene before every attempt.
40	* GunsAkimbo: Ray's most powerful weapon are his trusty dual [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]], even in the final stages, though everyone else can use them in general. You can even do it with {{Sawn Off Shotgun}}s.
41	* TheGunslinger: Ray is a mix of Trick Shot and The Woo.
42	* HandCannon: The pair of lever-action Volcano Pistols you get from Juarez after your duel against him near the end of the game. They're the most powerful pistols in the game and will kill any enemy in one shot, while still having a sizable ammo capacity and rate of fire.
43	* HatedHometown: Billy hates his hometown (as well as everything from his crappy childhood, except his mother), but has to return to it in the beginning of the first game.
44	* HowWeGotHere: The game starts with Ray entering Juarez's compound with a [[GatlingGood gatling gun]] before cutting back to Billy arriving home.
45	* ImprobableAimingSkills: Concentration mode causes BulletTime and lets the player fire and dodge bullets by ducking and leaning while doing so. Ray eventually has to shoot dynamite falling toward him and hit a flaming lamp away from him with bullets alone.
46	* InjunCountry: The Native Americans in ''Call Of Juarez'' and ''Bound In Blood'' are identified as Apache, Comanche, and Navajo; but they all live in tipis, use totem poles, and wear BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins.
47	* InstantDeathBullet: Only in quick-draw duels. Except when [[NotQuiteDead it isn't]].
48	* LastSecondVillainRecovery: In the finale, Billy defeats the BigBad Juan Juarez ''twice'' (once in a ShowdownAtHighNoon and once with GoodOldFisticuffs) and is reunited with his love interest Molly. While they are tearfully embracing each other, however, Juarez gets up a ''third'' time and tries to stab Billy InTheBack... only to be shot in the head by Billy's [[TheGunslinger mortally-wounded uncle Ray]].
49	* MadeOfIron: Mostly averted, as all boss battles are quick-draw duels that end with only a couple shots. The only exception is Juarez himself when you fight him as Ray inside the treasure cave, [[spoiler: and his ability to take a few dozen bullets before retreating is later explained by the fact that he's wearing armor just like Ray]].
50	* {{Mayincatec}}: The final prize in the game are the cursed Aztec treasures. The treasure is identified as the ransom for Montezuma, seized by Cortez's men. The {{Mayincatec}} temple near Juarez, roughly 1000 miles north from the territory of the Aztec is another thing though.
51	* MightyGlacier: Ray combines the toughness and power of a MightyGlacier (and he is immune to frontal attacks thanks to the cuirass he's wearing) with speed of a Trick Shot, thus being effectively indestructible in combat. Think Death Star on legs.
52	* NeutralFemale: Molly during the final fight with Juarez. She just stands frozen in fear while Juarez and Billy duke it out.
53	* NeverBringAKnifeToAFistfight: Subversion: [[spoiler:Juarez pulls out a knife after being beaten in a fistfight by Billy. He still loses, but only because Reverend Ray draws a gun and shoots him.]]
54	* NoobBridge: A certain jump near the beginning of episode VII requires you to grapple a branch with the whip, then shorten the whip to bring yourself upwards before swinging across to the ledge. The in-game tutorial never mentions that you can shorten or lengthen the whip when grappling, so players who don't bother to read manuals will likely get stuck on that part for a while.
55	* {{Overheating}}: Happens to guns in the original game.
56	* RailRoading: Early in the game, as Billy enters Hope, sheriff on the bridge will take his gun away. If you try to trick the game by dropping your weapon before the bridge encounter, you'll discover afterwards that it has "mysteriously" vanished.
57	* RedemptionFailure: Ray becomes a priest after [[spoiler:killing his brother William]] in ''Bound in Blood''. In the original game, he goes right back to being TheGunslinger after his ''other'' brother is killed.
58	* RemixedLevel: In the original game.
59	* RememberTheNewGuy: Inverted. In the first game, neither Ray nor Juarez act as though they recognize each other, despite the fact that they're meeting under extremely similar circumstances as before, and neither has changed ''that'' much over the past 20 years (Ray is still even wearing his signature armor).
60	* RollercoasterMine: The original game had some, the prequel doesn't.
61	* RuleOfCool: The main reason you can use ''Literature/TheBible'' to spout [[BadassPreacher quotes while gunning people down]].
62	* SinisterMinister: Ray is this in the AxCrazy sense rather than the corrupt sense, being a very unhinged man very willing to kill in the name of God.
63	* SinsOfOurFathers: It's much more clear if you read the tie-in comic, but the reason Thomas beat Billy mercilessly throughout the poor kid's childhood is because he saw Billy's father [[spoiler: Juarez]] in the kid whenever he looked at him, and was also afraid Billy would grow up to be just like the guy.
64	* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Ray gets into these regularly.
65	* SoftWater: Averted. Falling into a body of water from a far height will kill you just like if you hit solid dirt.
66	* SouthOfTheBorder: The primary setting.
67	* StealthBasedMission: Most missions involving Billy, whereas Ray's are primarily action-heavy.
68	* SternChase: The central conceit of the story's structure, with Billy as the fugitive and Ray as the pursuer.
69	* StoryOverwrite: [[spoiler:Even if you kill Juarez with a headshot in the first game, he will always be back, claiming that his chestplate saved him.]]
70	* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Some of the bosses deliver fairly long speeches before you begin fighting them; of course, the protagonist just stands there and waits for them to finish.
71	* TitleDrop: "Call of Juarez" also doubles as ArcWords.
72	* ThrowAwayGuns: All guns have limited durability and will explode after enough shots, so you never hold onto a particular gun for long. Higher quality guns do last longer, but will break down eventually.
73	* UnexpectedGameplayChange:
74	** After several levels of linear cowboy slaying, Billy wakes up from a headshot to the face to find himself dumped into a WideOpenSandbox spirit quest taking place in a ''huge'' continuous forest and lake map.
75	** Happens whenever the game shifts from Billy to Ray and vice versa. Billy's levels are more stealth orientated, due to him being a FragileSpeedster, whereas Ray's are more about brute force.
76	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Ray can shoot an enemy a couple of times, reload, go into BulletTime and unload two pistol magazines into said enemy. Plus a couple to the head if you're accurate enough.
77	* VideogameCrueltyPunishment: Harming civilians or horses will quickly result in an unceremonious NonstandardGameOver.
78	* WeCanRuleTogether: Juarez makes this offer to [[spoiler: his son]] Billy at the end of the first game. Seeing as how Juarez recently beat him unconscious as well as kidnapped his girlfriend and threatened to rape and kill her, Billy isn't remotely interested.
79	* TheWestern: All of it.
80	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever happened to Suzy? Ray burns down the bar/brothel where she works to kill all the town thugs, does that mean he also killed her and all the other working girls? [[AntiHero Almost certainly so.]]

Context VideoGame / CallOfJuarez