50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Time for my side of the story on 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.
If I had to describe this game in one word It would have to be "surprising."  The game actually didn't disappoint me and I have to admit I had very low expectations going into it.  The combat works nicely there's nothing to fancy and the graphics look good.  That's not to say the game doesn't have it's flaws or show, at times, that it had a tight budget during conception.  But overall it's a very solid entertaining game that's good to pick up and play as long or as short a time as you want.

Let's start with basic storyline here.  From what I could pick up 50 just played a show and the promoter was holding out on paying him so after a little gangster intimidation the promoter pays him with a priceless skull encrusted with diamonds.  Leaving the show you get ambushed and the skull gets stolen.  That basically sets the scene.  You play in a foreign country they never name but looks like the middle east.

During gameplay you find posters and targets on the wall that help boost your score for unlocks like rap videos and concept art which is a nice feature.  The gun collection is pretty diverse but you'll find your favorites pretty quick and shortly forsake your early collection.  Different weapons work better in different situations and the gameplay is fast so it was refreshing to find that your four main weapons are attached to the d-pad directions so you can swap easily.

Most of the game is spent on foot but just when you think you've had enough they throw in a Humvee level or a helicopter door gunner mission to help break up the monotony .  They do what they're supposed to by varying the gameplay so they're nice when you reach them.  But at the end of each big mission is a fight against a helicopter.  Now this is the same Helicopter you shot down before in the same way with the same weapons while it does the same thing.  It was a nice little fight the first time or even the second but over and over got a bit dry.

Graphics on this game look good and the music of course is 50 Cent and his collection of songs.  One feature I like is that you can wipe the play list and get a strictly instrumental score to the game still hip hop themed of course but suiting.  The online is interesting but the chat is almost pointless unless you know who your playing with due to the fact that 50 and his sidekick are always talking to one another calling out enemies and telling you when it's clear.  It's nice to have someone who's not just there to support you and is there to get it done with the online as the AI is pretty much only there to help you when you start to get overrun but he won't be stealing kills either.

All in all I would have to say 50 might have a chance at a career doing voice overs the acting wasn't bad although sometimes overly repetitive but it has some of the most diverse soundbite collections I've found in a game as far as idle speech..

Overall the game was definitely entertaining if a little short if you love 50 Cent then buy it you wont be disappointed  but if you just want to find a good third person shooter it's definitely worth a rental since I managed to beat it in roughly two days of playing and get most of the unlocks in the process.  But with the flaws that it had I can't score it to high.  Overlapping levels and backtracking to keep levels small was a good use of small space but felt like going places just to go back.

Last thing before I go.  This game has a unique melee system.  It's a great attempt at something different but it just doesn't work with the fast gameplay.  When you attempt to melee someone it stops the game goes into a cinematic view and then gives you a single button mini-game where you have to kill the guy buy hitting or cutting repeatedly.  It's a great flashy system but it pulls you out of the game and then dumps you right back into the firefight so you have to regain your bearings and try to continue the fight.  Although melee was a great for killing one enemy I usually died immediately after due to the fact that it pulled me out and dumped me right back into the action.

Overall I give this a 6.5 out of 10.