First-person shooter fans who have become blasé about blowing holes in Nazi helmets or desensitised to drilling alien scum full of laser bolts will undoubtedly welcome Call of Juarez.

With all its sharp shooting, pistol duelling and various other horseplay, the Wild West would seem like an obvious setting for an action game.

In fact, there have only been a handful of attempts to bring the western to the desktop – most of which have barely managed to capture the spirit of video gaming, let alone the spirit of the wild frontier.

Call of Juarez tries to right these wrongs with an authentically gritty yarn that slips players into the cowboy boots of two completely different characters – troubled youth Billy and bloodthirsty pastor Reverend Ray – both of whom have their own distinctive gameplay styles.

As Billy, you’ll need to employ cunning and stealth to get by. But as the Reverend you’ll get to unleash your inner gunslinger and take a more head-on approach to matters.

Although this provides a lot of potential variety, players will naturally prefer one style over the other. We definitely enjoyed the shooting more than the sneaking.

Indeed, the first 40 minutes of the game (which force you to play as Billy) include some of the most infuriating stealth-based sequences we’ve ever encountered.

All we can suggest is that you keep with it until you get to play as the trigger-happy Reverend Ray, who is infinitely more fun.

You’ll need a very powerful system and a top-of-the-range graphics card to appreciate the lovingly rendered textures and environments. And you’ll need a whole heap of patience to get past the annoying bits.

Persevere and you’ll find that Call of Juarez can sometimes be an absorbing, dynamic game with an intriguing – if familiar – single-player storyline, and the potential for some amusing multi-cowboy online action.