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After shucking its setting in favor of modern drug cartels, the Call of Juarez franchise has course corrected with a return to the Wild West. Unfortunately, it might be too late, as the damage associated with Call of Juarez: The Cartel has been done.

Nevertheless, developer Techland plans to keep their cult favorite franchise going with Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, which is slated to release on the Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, and PC. To give fans a brief taste of what Gunslinger has in store for them, Ubisoft has released a new trailer for the game.

The trailer also introduces the game's main character, Silas Greaves. Greaves is presumably the eponymous gunslinger of the game's title, a Wild West outlaw who rubbed elbows with the likes of Jesse James and Butch Cassidy. Fans wanted more of the Wild West, and clearly they're getting it with Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.

At the same time, the trailer does not feature any of the elements that made the stories in the first two Call of Juarez games' unique, specifically the treasure of Juarez. Yes, the gunslinging was sorely missing from The Cartel, but that was only part of the problem. The series up until that point had followed a very specific lineage, members of the McCall family, and told a story from two intersecting perspectives, yet that doesn't appear to be the case with Gunslinger.

Call of Juarez Gunslinger Trailer

We won't judge the product further until Ubisoft shows some official gameplay, but for now we're decidedly reserved. Still, gunslinging in the Wild West sounds like a lot of fun, and a downloadable release could be the type of experience this franchise needs.

That said, it still feels like Techland either didn't know what made their original title so unique, or they're trying to find ways to make a game that still has airs of its predecessors, but is more commercially appealing. Either way, we apparently will know more about the game on March 14th.

What do you think of this new trailer for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger? Do you think that Techland has the game headed in the right direction?

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger should release some time this year on the PSN, XBLA, and PC.