Call of Juarez: The Cartel (v1.1.12)

Los Angeles erupts after a cartel bombing, sending three deeply compromised law-enforcement officers on a violent trail toward Juarez. Call of Juarez: The Cartel trades the series’ historical frontier for a contemporary borderland where assault rifles, strip malls, desert highways, and corrupt agencies replace six-shooters and saloons. The tone is loud, pulpy, and deliberately rough around the edges, built around an escalating crime thriller rather than a careful tactical simulation. Its central mystery keeps the pressure on as DEA agent Ben McCall, FBI officer Kim Evans, and LAPD detective Eddie Guerra pursue the people responsible while carrying secrets of their own.

Campaign missions play as a first-person shooter mix of street fights, raids, vehicle chases, and set-piece escapes across Southern California and Mexico. Each protagonist uses broadly similar guns but has personal abilities and objectives, encouraging different approaches during co-op play; one character can lean into heavy weapons, another favors precision, while another brings more mobility. Combat centers on aggressive firefights with pistols, rifles, shotguns, cover, and a concentration-style slow-motion mechanic for picking off several opponents quickly. The campaign supports up to three players online, and its strongest moments come when teammates coordinate through chaotic encounters while quietly pursuing optional, character-specific goals.

The unusual hook is its distrust system: players receive secret side tasks, may hide information from partners, and can be tempted to turn on the group for a bigger reward. That idea gives the cooperative campaign more tension than a standard corridor shooter, even when the shooting itself feels closer to an early-2010s action movie than modern military tactics. The setting also stands apart from the dusty duels associated with earlier Call of Juarez games, using the US-Mexico border as a grim, contemporary Wild West. Fans of co-op shooters such as Kane & Lynch or Army of Two, especially players who enjoy messy crime dramas and betrayal mechanics, find more to like here than solo players seeking polished gunplay.