And it’s made even less appealing by the weird, milky haze the game casts over its visuals, and the mediocre voice acting (complete with constant, awkwardly delivered profanity and enemies who hilariously pepper nearly all their lines with thewords “ese,” “homes” and/or “chinga”).Īs lengthy as it is, the three-perspective campaign isn’t all there is to The Cartel.
It’s also made more compelling by the heroes’ hidden agendas, which mean that certain points of suspicion – like whether one of your buddies murdered a key witness after you briefly split up, or is secretly working with the cartel – remain secret until you play through the campaign as them.ĭiscovering these secrets also opens up an alternate ending for each character, but the prospect of slogging through the game a second or even third time just to reveal a few secrets about its narrative isn’t an appealing one. to Mexico, the characters split up more frequently and elements of the previous games – like an Old West ghost town, a villain named Juan Mendozaand the legendary (and possibly cursed) treasure of Juarez – start to creep into view. (Thankfully, though, the tedious quick-draw sequences from CoJ: Bound in Blood are a thing of the past.)Ībout halfway through its campaign, The Cartel redeems itself a little, as its story and gameplay finally start to build up some steam.
While their unique abilities make each character a slightly different experience, the action still boils down to uninspired run-and-gun, broken up occasionally by slow-mo room-clearing sequences, boss fights against choppers and moments during which you run between hiding spots while your allies cover you, enabling you to get the drop on heavily armed groups of thugs. And Detective Ben McCall (a dead ringer for the earlier games’ Reverend Ray) can soak up more damage, is tougher in fistfights and more lethal with heavy weapons. The FBI’s Kim Evans has the best accuracy with a sniper rifle, an extra level of zoom-in aiming with her other guns, and a lengthier “concentration mode” (read: bullet time) than the other characters. DEA agent Eddie Guerra, for example, can wield submachine guns instead of pistols, and shoot with one in each hand. Each also has their own specialties in combat, which don’t come through in the AI. The AI’s reliance on pistols is weird, because each character has three weapon slots – one for a rifle, and two for pistols. You’re always the driver, and your survival depends more on your ability to pilot your sluggish ride around trouble than it does on your partners, who plink away ineffectually at the bad guys with (again) their pistols. In single-player, meanwhile, they’re just clumsy.
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In co-op, the game’s car-chase sequences are clumsy but fun, as one (defenseless) player takes the wheel and steers through a semi-open track while the other two lean out the windows and unload on carloads of baddies.
I missed 3 on level 13 because I was doing the Tomb Raider achievement.They also never drive. It is not complete, but it was enough for me to unlock it.