Never have I scratched my head as
much as I did when the original 50 Cent: Bulletproof sold millions upon
millions of copies. While the game sold remarkably well, the title itself wasn’t
the most original or interesting game on the market back in 2005. Still, people
looked beyond the flaws and continued to gobble up anything related to 50 Cent,
so it’s no surprise that four years later, we are being introduced to its
inevitable sequel, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. In comparison to the
original, Blood on the Sand is a much better game in almost every area
including: graphics, entertainment value, controls, and just pure wackiness.
That’s right, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is wacky and it proves to be a
better game because it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Similar to Sega and Bizarre
Creation’s The Club, Blood on the Sand employs an arcade-style
scoring system as you advance through the game’s odd storyline. Fast-paced and
over-the-top, Blood on the Sand has 50 Cent marching through the Middle
East in effort to re-obtain a “blinged out” skull that was stolen from him.
Tagging along for the journey will either be Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks or DJ Whoo
Kid from the G-Unit to assist 50 Cent in his war on terror. If you can excuse
the game for not having a sensible plot, then you can easily understand how
Blood on the Sand could be a potentially entertaining game. The only problem
lies in if you hold storylines in your video games with high prestige because
Blood on the Sand doesn’t offer a coherent one.
Fighting through Middle Eastern
environments, you’ll kill countless goons and henchmen that are thrown in front
of you. You’ll also jump in a few vehicles to spice up the combat, but for the
majority this is a third-person shooter with running and gunning to the next
level. With his very own bullet time (called “gangsta fire mode”) 50 Cent is
equipped to take on all comers with his G-Unit sidekick. There’ll be times
you’ll be asked to jump into cover, but these occasions aren’t often and that’s
a good thing since they are poorly implemented. 50 Cent can roll and dive
through the level with ease, but doesn’t help to diversify 50 Cent’s commands.
There are also cooperative moments where you need your G-Unit sidekick to lift
you over a wall or break down a door, and luckily, these moments don’t make or
break the game. The main problem with Blood on the Sand is that doesn’t
feel like the game was made with 50 Cent in mind as the main character – it
feels as if he was slapped on at the last moment as a marketing ploy to sell
more copies. Regardless if this was intended as a 50 Cent title from the onset,
Blood on the Sand is mindless fun even though it crosses the line of
repetition beyond the first few stages you play through.
The biggest draw of Blood on the
Sand is the audio department. If you’re a fan of rap music – or 50 Cent in
general – you’ll fall in love with the soundtrack upon starting the game.
Featuring over 40 tracks – 18 of them new and exclusive to the game – Blood
on the Sand is aurally pleasant on the ears. In addition, the voice-overs
and dialogue is extensively hilarious due to sheer cheesiness of the title. It
is one part campy and one part silly, so be prepared to laugh your way through
the game and cheer “Go get ‘em Fiddy.” The dialogue is 100% vulgar and is full
of one-liners as if 50 Cent is trying out for a role of James Bond.
For the graphics, don’t expect to be
blown away, but to encounter realistic renders of 50 Cent and the G-Unit. The
same can’t be said for 50 Cent’s enemies due to the simple fact that you’ll kill
the same enemy at least 10 times in one level since there’s not a diverse set of
enemy models. If you happen to be bored by the use of browns and yellow hues in
video games, then you best be prepared to cover your eyes. Blood on the Sand
doesn’t feature many colors of the rainbow and doesn’t have a distinct look to
stand out from your standard shooter. The levels and environments are cleverly
designed or unique, so your best bet is to expect a horrible game and come away
impressed at the fast-paced action. The less you build yourself up for Blood
in the Sand, the more you’ll enjoy it – even if it’s for your right to
giggle at 50 Cent.
What’s left to be said about 50
Cent: Blood in the Sand? Well there are a wide number of weapons at your
disposal, and for being a third-person shooter, the title controls rather well.
There’s no offline cooperative mode, so that’s a downer. Sure, there’s an online
cooperative mode, but good luck convincing one of your friends to buy the game
to play the storyline with you. There are also no online competitive multiplayer
modes, so that should bust a lot of people’s hopes of jumping into gunfights
with their friends. Lastly, the HUD provided is a mess and will confuse a lot of
gamers on what exactly is going on in the screen. Next time, simplicity is the
route to go for a HUD.
Gameplay: 7.0
It doesn’t do anything differently than your standard third-person shooter,
but the arcade-style points you earn are a nice twist that is borrowed from
Sega’s The Club.
Graphics: 6.0
Tired of browns and yellows? Then look elsewhere since Blood in the Sand
is your run-of-the-mill Unreal engine title.
Sound: 8.4
Having lost my attraction for rap music a long time ago – I’d probably
pinpoint the moment when Cash Money Millionaires broke up – 50 Cent: Blood in
the Sand has rekindled my interest… even if it was just a little. Plus, the
vulgar dialogue is so goofy that it’s provocative.
Difficulty: Easy
Concept: 6.0
It’s your typical third-person shooter, but their decision to have 50 Cent
run around the Middle East is peculiar.
Multiplayer: 5.0
An offline cooperative mode is needed next time so players aren’t forced to
rent or own two copies of the title.
Overall: 6.5
As long as you remove high expectations – which I have no clue why anyone
would have any for a 50 Cent title – then you’ll come away having a blast with
50 Cent: Blood in the Sand. It’s not the most original or clever title to
release in 2009, but it’s a good 10-15 hours of mindless fun where you can shut
off the thinking part of your brain and have a great time blowing up everything
in your sight.
