No treasure to be found in Call of Juarez sequel

If you've played either of the last two Call of Juarez games, with old west grit driving gun-blazing redemption, you’ll quickly find yourself asking whether Call of Juarez: The Cartel will bear any resemblance to the character-driven plots and morality-rich themes that permeated the previous two. At first, with Cartel’s hard-hitting modern action, no-holds-barred characters and betrayal-rich narrative, it feels like you’ve struck gold. But soon, the static characters collapse into clichĂ©, and the lack of any type of higher purpose in the plot combined with a horribly predictable ending leaves you realizing you’ve struck nothing but plain old pyrite — Cartel is but fool’s gold, my friends.

The plot moves away from the personal path of forgiveness that gave the original Call of Juarez its unique flavour. Under the guise of putting a huge dent in the bulletproof vest of the Mexican drug trade, the DEA, LAPD, and FBI join forces to create an elite trio of operatives. Tough and rugged, they are charged to make changes using any means necessary.

And means they use. These musketeers of mayhem bring the rain, destroying grow ops, rescuing kidnapped “ladies of the night” and chase down lead suspects, all with guns blazing and pedal-to-the-metal, borderline bloodthirsty antics. Even the quietest of missions degenerates into a modern O.K. Corral with wave upon wave, carload after carload of gang members being unleashed. This surprisingly never gets repetitive or pedantic. However, this intensity is where the game’s appeal ends. With each new addition, the game — and the franchise — takes a step back.

The secret agendas you can perform in each mission would seem to lend both an explorative incentive and a moral choice to the gameplay. But the fact that there is no backstory behind these agendas and the fact that your choices do not affect the storyline means you’ll be left unconnected emotionally to both character and narrative. Besides, completing these agendas is essential to unlocking higher-powered weapons anyways, thereby making the perceived choice moot.

Yet another futile facet is the playable characters. Three potential choices yields a seemingly customizable playing experience, though when you’re surrounded by battle-hungry bad guys, with bullets whizzing by, the weapon specialties of each character deteriorate in the fray, making the addition of weapon specialties as meaningless as the characters themselves.

The characters in Cartel are so clichĂ©d it’s painful. You have the by-the-book cop as well as the dirty cop. And then there’s McCall rounding out the trio, looking, sounding and acting like something out of a bad Eastwood movie. The formulaic “fun” doesn’t stop there. Irrelevant nudity, tacked-on swearing, and even a traitor-in-the-midst story angle all seem ripped out of a cheesy ’70s cop movie.

There are a few redeeming qualities to the game. On top of the barrage of playable weapons and fast-and-furious achievements, the game’s graphics also stand out as a highlight. Don’t be discouraged by the downright dismally limited and pixelated menus; the graphics are actually quite impressive once you're on the streets of downtrodden Los Angeles and Mexico. Textures hold up well from both close and afar, and there is a great diversity in the settings to keep you engaged. Character models are borderline striking when it comes to clothing, skin textures, and movement, but facial expressions and lip-syncing are embarrassing.

Overall, the ammo-spattering intensity is the only shine on this bullet. Most everything else, from the plot to the co-op, from the characters to the clichés makes Call of Juarez: The Cartel an embarrassment to the franchise and a seething belly wound to modern gaming.

When he’s not teaching junior high school, St. Albert Catholic High School alumnus Derek Mitchell can be found attached to a video game console.