50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

"Hey shawty, it's your birthday"

There have been some strange video game concepts over the years. We've had games about rolling around a giant ball of junk to help rebuild the universe; games about kidnapping, raising, and then putting little creatures in cockfights; games about a couple of Italian plumbers saving a kingdom from evil little mushrooms. Even though it's apparent that video games are just in general a pretty weird form of entertainment, last generation introduced us to one of the dorkiest licensed video games ever. Was it a movie tie-in? Is it quite as silly as that Michael Jackson game? No to both questions, but you can't deny that taking a rapper and making an entire third-person shooter about him is pretty strange. That game was 50 Cent: Bulletproof, and while I didn't really like it all that much, it still did a few things right. It's hard to believe the game did well enough to warrant a sequel, but it did, and here we are with 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, another third-person shooter about 50 Cent.

However, Blood on the Sand is much odder than Bulletproof. It seems that 50 Cent and G-Unit are in the Middle East giving a concert, all hell breaks loose, and then you get to go around shooting a bunch of terrorists. I know it sounds absolutely ludicrous, but that's because it is absolutely ludicrous. The game's silly concept doesn't kill it or anything (it actually makes it even more enjoyable), but it's worth noting that those looking for a serious game shouldn't even bother finishing this review because I'll tell you right now: if you are looking for a super gritty and deeply emotional game, you aren't going to find one with 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Blood on the Sand takes after Gears of War and Resident Evil 4 with its gameplay style. Boasting the tried-and-true over-the-shoulder camera mechanic and the Gears of War cover system, the game definitely knows how to make a good third-person shooter. Instead of being a survival-horror game or an action-adventure game, Blood on the Sand falls more into the realm of an arcade shooter in that while it steals conventions from the popular games just mentioned, it warps them to a more fast-paced format. You will be sprinting through the levels and demolishing everything you see.

To do this you'll need a good set of weapons, and Blood on the Sand isn't lacking at all in the weapons department. You have shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, an infinite ammo pistol, grenades, Molotov cocktails, and pipe bombs. While you can just pick up new weapons from dead enemies, you also have the option to purchase these weapons at a payphone whenever you come across one.

Other things you can buy at this little payphone, using money you find around the environment in breakable boxes, including taunts that are pretty damn hilarious to use and some sweet melee kills. You see, instead of just letting you bash people with your gun all the time, Blood on the Sand utilizes a nice gameplay mechanic where you initiate a fight with an enemy by using the melee button near them. This will allow you to hit the melee button again as the screen prompts you to pull off a fatal combo on your enemy. For some reason or another, I got a Def Jam feel from this whole thing, but it works out well and it keeps the game interesting.

If you were just running around on foot shooting people up, Blood on the Sand would prove to be quite the boring title. To keep you on the edge of your seat and to keep your eyes glued to the screen at all times, Blood on the Sand has little scenarios that occur throughout the levels. These scenarios task you to complete something before the time runs out, and if you do, you are rewarded with weapons like grenades. I really liked this idea and it does for the entire game what Resident Evil 4 does for cut-scenes with its QTEs.

Scenarios aren't the only thing breaking up the action a little bit. There are also driving segments which, surprisingly, aren't puke-worthy terrible. The standard turret segment is also included where you basically just gun down as many enemies as possible in a rail shooter-like fashion. I really wished there was more of the latter as it was easily one of the best exciting parts of the game.

The point of any good arcade game though is to build up the high score, and thankfully Blood on the Sand has a scoring system. You are scored based on your enemies killed, money collected, the number of posters you've found and the number of targets you've found. The posters are little pictures of random characters and G-Unit members, and they are pretty easy to find. The targets, on the other hand, are quite difficult to find and are very reminiscent of the badges from Resident Evil 5.

Online co-op is available in Blood on the Sand, but here lies the game's greatest and unforgivable flaw: Blood on the Sand lacks local co-op. I can't believe the developers actually made a design decision this stupid, but they did, and it is still boggling my brain as I think about it now. I was extremely disappointed in the lack of local co-op and I hope that if there's a sequel, they rectify this terrible mistake.

Bulletproof had a pretty bad storyline. The game tried to incorporate a bunch of different people from 50 Cent's life into a video game character and while interesting it didn't work out well at all. Blood on the Sand has a story that sort of just jumps around everywhere and it's just way too short for you to really care about any of the characters. The whole plot is just kind of nonsensical and it centers around 50 Cent and G-Unit hunting down a skull that they were paid with at the end of one of their concerts. There are some cool set-pieces that the game shows off plus some of the cut-scenes were action packed. It's not the greatest story told, but it does have its share of twists and turns if you are able to care about the characters and figure out what's going on before the show is over.

Blood on the Sand is no sloucher in the graphics department either. The character models have been drastically improved, though the facial animations are pretty bad and make the game even more comical when it's not trying to be. Texture pop-in didn't break the game at all, but it's just really annoying when such a short game like 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand can have texture issues that are just as bad as the texture pop-in in a gigantic RPG like Mass Effect or an open-world masterpiece like Grand Theft Auto IV.

I do have to give Blood on the Sand props with its music though as it has a slew of licensed tracks straight from 50 Cent himself. Fans of his music will be in heaven here as there are some songs that haven't even been released before. The voice acting could've used some work, especially on 50 Cent's part, but besides that the audio experience is phenomenal. Similarly to the Tony Hawk games, you can make your own playlist of songs so you aren't going to be listening to any music that you don't want to listen to. Hell, even if you don't like 50 Cent's music at all, you can just take all of the songs off the playlist.

You can easily beat 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand in under five hours, which is a big disappointment and it's another reason the game just wasn't as good as it had potential to be with its addicting arcade gameplay. Finding all of the pictures in the levels isn't a daunting task and it will feel more like searching for things like in the Lego games. It's not a hard task, but it will still challenge you to search. Shooting the targets is a little more difficult, but besides that there are multiple difficulties and achievements to unlock, though the achievements are pretty lame and not very imaginative. You can unlock new songs and music videos as you earn your rankings in the game, so if you like 50 Cent's music, Blood on the Sand can simply serve as a mega CD for you if you so wish. The main killer here though is the lack of local co-op as it is just a must for third-person shooters this generation, especially after Gears of War and Army of Two showing how fun it can be.

While his game was pretty lame last generation, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand proves that there can indeed be a good video game made about 50 Cent. The arcade gameplay is addictive and fun as hell and you will find it hard to put the controller down. Unfortunately, this awesomeness is held back by the lack of local co-op, some poor voice acting on 50's part, a story that does too much to be good, inexcusable texture pop-in, and longevity issues. Can 50 Cent roll with the likes of Gears of War and Army of Two? I'd say yes, though this series has a lot of untapped potential, and so far it hasn't done anything we haven't seen before. Let's hope for some innovation, shawty.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/09

Game Release: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (US, 02/24/09)