Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
DEVELOPER: Techland
PUBLISHER: Ubisoft
RELEASE DATE: May 22, 2013

As a fan of all things old west, I crave video games set in those times, and there haven’t been a whole lot of them to enjoy. The best so far has been Red Dead Redemption, but the ultimate would be a first-person open-world RPG western, kind of like Fallout: New Vegas but in the late 19th century and without all the apocalypse stuff.

It was this wish for more first-person western games that first drew me to the Call of Juarez series. The first game was a little rough around the edges, but because it was a western FPS it gained a special place in my heart. The sequel, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, was actually a prequel, and also an improvement over the first game. Then came Call of Juarez: The Cartel, which has no place in this conversation because it jumped to modern day Los Angeles and made me very sad.

I wasn’t the only one saddened by this attempted escape from the old west, and developer Techland and publisher Ubisoft took notice, returning to the franchise’s roots for the fourth game in the series, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. But is it worth your time?

The Call of Juarez video game series is a bit of an awkward one, to say the least. The first two games in the series—Call of Juarez and its prequel, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood—are by no means considered to be great by most people. But if you’re really into westerns, such as myself, they can also be a ton of fun to play.

Then came word of the third game, which would be called Call of Juarez: The Cartel and be set in modern day Los Angeles. As you might have guessed, both fans of the previous two games and non-fans alike scratched their heads at the move. And unsurprisingly, the game did not do well at all.

To developer Techland and publisher Ubisoft’s credit, they learned from the mistake, and are now returning to the old west with Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. Continue below for more and to check out a gameplay trailer for the game.

For those who haven’t heard, a sequel to the Deep Silver and Techland zombie apocalypse survival game, Dead Island, is on the way.

Just like the first trailer for Dead Island, which took the internet by storm upon its release (so much so that it led to a battle to acquire the movie rights well before the game arrived—later optioned by Lionsgate), a beautiful and haunting cinematic kicks things off for the sequel, which is titled Dead Island: Riptide.

The trailer isn’t quite as good as the one we saw for the first game, but still, it’s an excellent trailer well worth watching. You can watch it below now.

Dead Island
Xbox 360 I PS3 I PC
DEVELOPER: Techland
PUBLISHER: Deep Silver
RELEASE DATE: September 06, 2011

Ever since the release of that incredible first cinematic trailer, fans of horror video games and the zombie sub–genre have been frothing at the mouth to get their hands on the latest title from developer Techland (Call of Juarez and its two sequels, Bound in Blood and The Cartel) and publisher Deep Silver, Dead Island.

The game takes place on the island of Banoi at a beautiful vacation resort. Unfortunately, the beauty is quickly diluted by pure hell when a plague breaks out, turning most of the tourists on the island into bloodthirsty zombies and leaving you to fight to survive and try and escape the many horrors you’ll encounter.

But does the game live up to all the hype created by that first trailer, or does it fall a little short?

Not too long ago a game set during a zombie outbreak called Dead Island took the online world by storm when a hauntingly beautiful cinematic trailer arrived online. That trailer alone almost sold most of us on wanting to play the game from Techland, the team behind westerns Call of Juarez and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, but we would all need to see some solid gameplay to really commit.

If you haven’t noticed yet this has been a pretty gameplay-friendly E3 convention, showing off a lot of the games we’ve known were coming. So of course we were going to finally get a good long look at Dead Island and what it’s bringing to the table. In fact, it was just before E3 that the first extensive look at the gameplay was released, so we’re a little behind the times.

You can head below to see the new Dead Island trailer, followed by a lengthy demonstration of how the game works, how the gameplay looks, and how you’ll go about slaughtering an endless supply of zombie attackers. Be warned: lots of gore and naughty words await you.