Call of Juarez: The Cartel multiplayer trailer is a bloody, chaotic mess

By Adam Rosenberg July 13, 2011

call-of-juarez-the-cartel — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The first thing you might notice about this multiplayer trailer for Techland’s upcoming Ubisoft-published first-person shooter Call of Juarez: The Cartel is that it doesn’t look quite as strong visually as its predecessor, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, did. Then you’ll notice that it doesn’t matter, because all of that chaotic gunplay looks kinda fun.

Ubi dropped the latest trailer for The Cartel today in advance of the game’s July 19 release next week. You don’t get a very detailed look at what each mode entails in the minute-and-a-half long runthrough of the multiplayer modes, but you do get a sense of things. Team Deathmatch is pretty self-explanatory, as is Star Witness, an escort/assassinate the VIP mode. Cartel Deal is a little less clear; it looks like TDM, only with a big helicopter shooting at everyone from on high. Which is an undeniably neat twist, if that’s how the mode works.

Bound in Blood and its predecessor (titled simply Call of Juarez) are period first-person shooters set in the Wild West. The Cartel winds the clock forward to the present day, following three colorful law enforcement agents through a variety of locations. While some fans complain that the change in time period runs the risk of losing the spirit of the series, Techland has proven time and again that it’s got some great ideas hidden away. Don’t count The Cartel out until the reviews are in.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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