Release: Feb 24, 2009 (US), Feb 20, 2009 (UK)
Developer: Swordfish Studios
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Shooter, Action
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand feels a bit watered down, like a stock made out of a single Gears of War 2 disc boiled in a hundred gallons of Glaceau Formula 50. That’s not to say the game has no merit, just that it’s often trying too hard to play catch-up and never quite succeeding.
There’s obviously something there, though. At least, there must have been enough merit in the package to convince THQ to purchase the publishing rights after Vivendi dissolved last year. Or maybe they thought 50 Cent a shrewd enough entrepreneur to guarantee lucrative, desirable sales. The developers, Swordfish Studios, must have some sort of mutual respect for the source material considering their interpretation of the rapper’s gaming legacy is handled with more tact than Genuine Games’s treatment of 50 Cent: Bulletproof.
At its core, Blood on the Sand is a mixture of the heady machismo of Gears of War with the stylistic emphasis of The Club. Two good games to riff ideas from, you might think. The basic premise is subsequently simple: run 50 Cent into a room, snap to the nearest piece of cover and shoot away. For all the attempts to shoehorn a narrative into the proceedings, there’s very little sense of gravitas to what actually goes on. Engagement with the story is also ruined by the constantly repeated animations and scenarios that the player will see so much of in a single playthrough it’s absurd, resulting in the finished product lacking any sense of authenticity or refinement.
Gears of War is now such an iconic part of videogaming heritage that Blood on the Sand can’t possibly square up to the legacy. It’s perhaps a bit obvious to mention that Epic have nothing to worry about. But when Blood on the Sand picks up momentum, and it does, from some of the more crowded and lavishly designed set pieces, there’s a real sense of stumbling onto something that, whilst not gaming at its most delectable peak, is certainly fun.
The problem is that the fun stops and starts. It’s sporadic enjoyment in a confused plot, and the schizophrenic design means that one room might be a blast only to be followed by a sensation of disparaging dullness. Dispatching an adversary results in a little bar ticking down at the top of the screen, and if you bag another kill within that time window your score multiplier increases. During this you get given points for outlandish, stylish and dangerous kills. This system, however, is little more than a framework: the game never serves up sufficient impetus to engage with your score, seemingly offering no other bonus than a worthless number dished out at the end of the level.
But that doesn’t mean the system is a write-off, and with a little polish it could have been something much greater. Flinging Fiddy into a one hundred and eighty degree turn and getting a couple of snap shot kills whilst doing so is genuinely gratifying, and the intelligent use of the multiplier clock means that the big points can’t be obtained without clever ammo management and precise aiming.
Other tricks up Fiddy’s rather bandwagon-themed sleeves include Gangster Time, a slow-mo button that drapes the screen in a rather bland monochrome filter and gives you the ability to take out an entire room in a couple of seconds. There’s also backup, and the potential for some Xbox Live based co-op sessions, in the form of one of the G-Unit acting as 50’s sidekick. Split-screen multiplayer is, bafflingly, absent, and the drop-in drop-out online features have had a spanner thrown in the works because somebody leaving causes the game to reset to the last checkpoint.
When you get to the meat and potatoes of Blood on the Sand, it becomes clear how comical the whole thing is. It’s an absurdly ridiculous game that reaches its peak when enemies park themselves next to explosive barrels, stand on rooftops to give the physics engine a bit of workout, and systematically pop their head out so they can have them shot off. The whole storyline revolves around Fiddy and his pals trying to retrieve a bling-encrusted skull that he was given as payment for a former debt, which is never explained. There’s, naturally, a love interest and flamboyant NPC’s. And for some reason you’re in an unnamed middle-eastern country.
It’s also a safe bet to say that anything that can explode, will explode.
There’s a clear design impetus towards simplification. The game makes everything so obvious that the only way it could be more simplistic is if it played the game for you. It’s heavy on the signposting, pointing you with visual markers showing where enemies will appear and where the current objective is located. It’s also a bit simple, even on hard mode, and can be waded through in a few evenings without any real sense of difficulty.
There’s more consistency to the proceedings. It’s a pared down experience from its abhorrent predecessor, opting for a narrative route that doesn’t attempt to sell itself on cameo roles from other rappers. The mutual rap-circle appreciation is still apparent, but there’s more flavour to the gameplay now. That doesn’t stop the back cover from giving top billing to the fact it features eighteen new tracks from 50 Cent, making the target audience abundantly clear.
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is by no means a poor game. Its action mechanics are often well executed, there’s plenty of variety in the weapons and more than enough bonus stuff to unlock. The story is tongue-in-cheek from the outset and there are certain design quirks – manned turrets don’t overheat, for instance – that feel like a breath of fresh air in a colossally crowded genre. Its problem, however, is that it came out the design studio a little too early, and its structural and graphical repetition, alongside the wonky difficulty, work against the overall quality of the game.
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