Melee combat, with or without weapons, appears throughout the Call of Juarez series.
In Call of Juarez the player may select fists at any time (once fist-fighting is available). In Call of Juarez: The Cartel and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, the player can strike with their equipped weapon. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood has the most limited melee combat options in the series of far.
Call of Juarez[]
Melee weapons in the original Call of Juarez include chairs and tomahawks (both of which can be wielded or thrown), and Billy Candle's whip.
Fists are first available in Episode II, and can be selected as a weapon anytime after that with either Reverend Ray, Billy Candle or the Unidentified Deputy (player character from the Extra Missions on Xbox 360 version). There are several combos that can be used (e.g. right vertical punch, left uppercut, right haymaker, left uppercut). Reverend Ray can also kick opponents.
Fistfights[]
Fistfights are a mechanic exclusive to Call of Juarez. An area becomes locked off after a cutscene, and Reverend Ray/Billy Candle are limited to using only their fists to engage opponents. Ray fights three thieves in a fistfight in Episode II, the most opponents seen in a single boss fight in the game. Billy is confronted by Chat in Episode VII and a fistfight ensues. On Very Hard mode, run-and-gun tactics are necessary to succeed in a fistfight. This makes Billy's brawl with Chat, which takes place in a more confined space, one of the most difficult moments in the game. The third and final fistfight is in Episode XV, where, having run out of ammo, Juarez fights Billy in hand-to-hand combat.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood[]
Ray or Thomas can get pistol-whipped by enemy gunmen, stabbed with their bayonets (during the Civil War levels) or thumped them with their rifle or shotgun butts.
Unfortunately the player is unable to pull any of these melee moves himself. The chair is the only melee weapon the player can wield, and makes very few appearances as a weapon during the game.
Unarmed melee combat is not featured within the gameplay of Bound in Blood at all, although it does feature in parts of the story, including a cutscene in the Apache village with the McCall brothers apparently preparing to wrestle.
Call of Juarez: The Cartel[]
There are three scripted sequences in which the player has to fistfight enemies. In the mission "Gang Bang", the Interagency Task Force storms a Rolling 50's stashhouse to spray Araña gang symbols. As they enter the house, they are attacked by Rolling 50's gangsters, and the Task Force punch down the attackers. Later on in the mission "Candy Store" the Task Force enters The Candy Store gentleman's club. After interrogating several women, Ben, Eddie, and Kim punch down the bouncers. In the mission "Panorama", the trio engage in fistfights with Araña gangsters in the lower floors of the nightclub. In the mission "Disco", Ben, Eddie, and Kim fistfight several gangsters in the alleys outside of the El Dorado nightclub. In the mission "Motel", Ben will raise his fists after cartel hitmen shoot up the motel room he and Eddie were staying in, however, instead of a fistfight, the hitmen start to destroy the motel with a wrecking ball.
The player can also bludgeon enemies with their weapons (pistol-whipping in the case of handguns, and small submachine guns such as the U.Z.I. and Skorpion, or smacking enemies with two-handed weapons.)
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger[]
Silas Greaves can pistol-whip or use the butt of a two handed weapon to kill enemies. This earns points as a "handshake" kill. Enemies can also melee in this way with their guns.
Some enemies are armed with tomahawks or other melee weapons and will run to chop at Silas with them.
Trivia[]
- In Call of Juarez, successfully completing five combos in Let He Who Is Without Sin... unlocks the "Boxer" achievement on the Xbox 360 version of the game.
- In Call of Juarez it is possible to kill horses or civilians using fists, but it causes the mission to fail.
- In Call of Juarez: The Cartel all attacks are haymakers.
- In Call of Juarez: The Cartel if they player punches an enemy in the face in the right spot, the enemy's face will have blood on it (possibly due to the nose breaking). This can also happen if the player melees an enemy in the face with a weapon.