Call of Juarez is a first-person shooter in which the player controls alternating protagonists - Billy 'Candle' and Ray McCall, each of whom has a different style of gameplay. Billy's levels are partially stealth-based, whereas Ray's are more traditional shoot 'em ups.
Although the style of play for each character is different, controlling them is broadly similar. Each shares an identical HUD, with the same information available to the player.[7] Both can single-wield or dual wield handguns and single-wield other weapons, such as rifles.[8] Both can also interact with certain objects, such as health pick-ups (in the Xbox 360 version, health automatically regenerates over time[9]), ammo, and weaponry.[8] Both characters can also throw dynamite and can start fires by throwing or shooting oil lamps.[8] Both are capable of hand-to-hand combat, although Ray can pick up items such as chairs, and either throw them at enemies or use them as melee weapons.[8] Both can also ride horses, from which they can shoot and enter gallop mode. Gallop mode can only be maintained for a certain amount of time before the horse becomes fatigued.[10]
The main difference between the two characters is that Ray is stronger and slower, and although he cannot jump as high as Billy, he can kick heavy obstacles out of his way and take considerably more damage from enemy fire, due to wearing a cuirass.[11][12] Billy can move faster than Ray and is quieter, allowing him to sneak up on enemies. He can also grip onto ledges and pull himself up.[13] Billy can also use two weapons that Ray cannot - a bow and a whip.[11] When Billy uses the bow, the game automatically goes into slow motion for a set period.[14] This is the only weapon in the game that allows for silent kills.[15] The whip is very weak as a weapon, and is mainly used to aid Billy in climbing or jumping over large gaps, by lassoing nearby trees.[13][16] Unique to Ray is his ability to rapid-fire a single six-shooter (fanning) and his ability to wield a Bible.[17][18] If the player presses the shoot button for the hand holding the Bible, Ray will quote a random bible passage.[15] This will occasionally cause enemies to panic and drop their weapons, freeze, or run away entirely.[9][17]