50 Cent: Blood on The Sand
2009-04-06 15:08:49 (257 views)
Forget for a minute that the protagonist of this game is a conceited rap star who can’t act to save his life... or his dignity. Forget for a minute that the friendly A.I. in this game is so bad you’ll actually contemplate flying down to the States just to track down and slap the entire G-Unit. Forget for a minute the voice acting that’s so bad, it’s actually good just like our very own Son of Dracula.
If you can forget or look past all of the above mentioned stuff, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (BoTS) is mindless entertainment at its best. If you can’t, well, I suggest you move on to greener pastures.
Blood in the Sand begins with Fiddy and his mindless crew of suckups AKA the G-unit that comprise of Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and DJ Whoo Kid delivering a "mind-blasting" concert in the Middle East. Of course, Fiddy don’t run no charitable organization so like any self respecting rap star, he heads over to the organizer to collect his fat paycheck after the concert. Unfortunately his manager’s been robbed and the only thing that he can offer Fiddy in exchange for his valuable services is a diamond encrusted skull that’s pretty sacred to the people of the land.
Now Fiddy can’t resist this sort of extravagant bling so he accepts his remuneration and is about to head back to the States when his convoy gets ambushed and his skull, stolen by a group of mercenaries. Now this pisses Fiddy off to end cos no one, and I mean no one messes with Fiddy and gets away with it so he embarks on a journey to recover his precious "mother*****g" skull only to get double, triple and quadruple crossed along the way.
Like I mentioned earlier, voice acting is not one of the game’s stronger points. I think a piece of rock could emote better than Fiddy and the entire G-Unit put together. The other Middle Eastern denizens are such horribly clichéd one dimensional characters, you’ll be constantly praying for their death so you don’t have to hear their god awful accents anymore. Plus the plot’s painfully predictable so when people start betraying Fiddy, it comes as no surprise. On the plus side, some of the dialogues are so bad, they’re good – which does make things bearable to a certain extent.
On the other hand, the constant Captain Obvious babble from the retards that pass off as your buddies in the game can border on unbearable at times. "Hey Fiddy, check that door." "Hey Fiddy, bust that crate open". "Hey Fiddy, shoot that chopper down." Really!? If a chopper’s attacking me with a constant barrage of bullets and rockets what exactly did the G-Unit think I was going to do? Go for a desert safari?
Sadly the game includes no option where you can play it by yourself; you’re forced to select one of these monkeys to be your partner through the nine missions this game has to offer. What’s worse is that they’re as dumb as they sound and prove utterly useless 99.99% of the time. The only thing they’re actually good at is kissing Fiddy’s butt throughout the game by complementing him on his mad shooting skillz.
But every dark cloud has a silver lining and this game’s silver lining is its highly entertaining gameplay. For starters, Fiddy controls like any other protagonist from a third person action game. He can take cover behind objects, indulge in some blind fire, and pop out from time to time to squeeze off some juicy headshots. What keeps the gameplay totally addictive is the fact that it borrows some of the best aspects of Sega’s shooter, The Club to encourage multiple playthroughs.
Every time you kill someone in the game you trigger a combo meter of sorts. Kill more people before the timer runs out and you stand to earn more points. Wait until the meter runs out and you’ll have to start from scratch all over again. Think of it as chaining kills to earn the most amount of points. Helping you prolong that combo meter are taunts that Fiddy screams at his downed foes by calling them B****c, H**s, P*ssies, Motherf****s and so on. Too many people too handle? Fire up some Gangster Fire, a slow motion mechanic a la Max Payne to clean up the entire room. And finally, ripped off straight from The Club (once again) are round targets strewn all over the map that earn you more points and increase your combo meter effectively.
If an enemy gets too close for comfort Fiddy can stab, maim or kick the living daylight out of him brutally by pressing the B button whenever prompted on-screen. You’ll start off with a basic set of counter attacks and just like his humiliating taunts, these counter kills can be upgraded via the black market trader you’ll meet earlier on in the game.
Of course since this is the Middle East, money litters every level in the form of cardboard crates that can be bashed open to earn money (if only real life was this simple). At the black market trader you can use all this easy earned money to buy better weapons, most of which are totally satisfying to use like the Rambo-esque machine gun, the grenade launcher, rocket launcher, dual desert eagles etc.
Keeping things fresh are various challenges that crop up while you’re mowing down enemies through a certain level. It could range from killing a heavy gunner or mowing down three rocket launcher wielding bad guys during a stipulated time period. Fail this challenge and you won’t be penalized but complete it successfully and you’ll receive momentary upgrades like exploding rounds or incendiary rounds.
The game unfortunately hits a minor road block by the time you cross the 3/4th mark and it just doesn’t seem all that much fun anymore. Enemies get tougher, which means it becomes a real bitch to chain kills and the friendly AI’s shortcomings come blaring through. Also for some reason every boss battle in this game is against a helicopter; it’s like no one likes tanks or planes anymore.
Then there are the driving segments that aren’t as much fun as the on-foot ones. While playing alone you have no choice but to drive your hummer from one area to another while hundreds of people fire at you and if you’re lucky your AI controlled monkey may just kill 2 of them. Of course these segments play a lot better in co-op where even if you’re driving, your partner significantly reduces the amount of bullet fire coming your way.
Visually the game looks pretty good running on the Unreal 3 engine. It’s no Stranglehold as far as environmental destruction is concerned but it’s not as ugly as the Wheelman either. Character models – especially Fiddy’s – look well detailed whereas the grunts are generic Middle Eastern bad guys. Frame rates stay rock solid throughout the game dipping just a few times amidst all the intense action. Weapons and explosions sounds pretty bad ass and if you’re a fan of Fiddy’s music, you’re in for a real treat since his tunes constantly keep playing throughout the game via a Music Player.
Every level you complete unlocks newer songs and there are five posters strewn across every map that grant you more Fiddy related media be it songs or music videos. The game can be played entirely in co-op with a friend and even though it was tough to find servers on XBL, once I joined one, I had a complete blast. The game has no dedicated multiplayer component so you’re restricted to playing the game multiple times in various difficulty levels.
So yes, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand isn’t one of the most sensible games out there, nor is it a contender for Action GOTY. What it does really well is no holds barred mindless action that’s addictive and thanks to the scoring system warrants multiple playthroughs alone or with a friend. If you’re one of those elite gamers who just has to have a sensible plot guiding him through the game, please stay as far away from this game as humanly possible. On the other hand, if like me you can appreciate well done mindless action, I suggest you pick this bad boy up ASAP.
Avinash Bali
http://www.tech2.com
 |
NEWS GROUPS