50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Review
- Posted February 24th, 2009 at 18:16 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 128 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 7.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 1.2
Summary
For 50 Cent fans Blood on the Sand is a must-buy, but devotees of the genre will also be pleasantly surprised at its impressive features and rampant gameplay.
We like
- The gratuitous, non-stop action
- The solid co-op mode
- The rewarding side objectives
We dislike
- The bizarre storyline
- The bland environments
- The lack of Trophy support
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand’s surreal and far-fetched storyline, which sees the foul-mouthed rapper and his G-Unit buddies tackling a bunch of heavily-armed thugs in the Middle-East in the search of a diamond-embedded skull, doesn’t bode well for the rest the game. The underwhelming graphics and colorless environments don’t fill you with confidence either; aside from the finely rendered character models and the accurate representation of 50 Cent himself, Blood on the Sand sadly doesn’t look worlds apart from Bulletproof on the PS2.
We expected, therefore, that the gameplay would follow the same lazy pattern, and also assumed that 50 Cent fans would be the only people interested in tackling foes to the beat of the rapper’s own soundtrack and crude ‘gangsta talk.’ Surprisingly though, there’s much more to Blood on the Sand than first meets the eye. At the core of Swordfish Studio’s third person shooter are some solid gameplay mechanics that do an excellent job at making this farcical romp through the mean streets of a fictional Middle-Eastern city a highly enjoyable experience – something that we certainly didn’t expect, but are happily surprised about.
On the surface, Blood on the Sand seems to employ simple run-and-gun mechanics where you mindlessly blast through hordes of enemies with little or no tactics necessary. A few stages into it, however, it becomes obvious that a lot more has gone into the game's creation than initially apparent. Though you can try and run-and-gun your way through the short story mode, which incidentally is the most entertaining way to play Blood on the Sand, there's plenty of opportunity to use intelligent tactics. Clever level design allows for this, with trickily positioned mounted gunners making it difficult for you to tackle them head-on, snipers perched on roof-tops who take accurate pot-shots, and multi-tiered levels where enemies can gain the upper hand if you're not on your toes. Thankfully, the lean and peak cover system, which has been implemented superbly, helps to counteract the enemy threat. You can stick yourself behind cover instantly and swap from one piece of cover to the next extremely smoothly, and then effortlessly peak over the object to focus in on the enemy. The smooth cover system and the polished combat control scheme make for a fluent and well-paced game that feels almost arcade-like.
Co-op play makes an appearance, allowing you to jump into someone else’s game or host your own, and battle through the story mode together. It works seamlessly, too. You can dive into a game instantly with no signs of slowdown to interrupt the action or dodgy camera angles to make things difficult. With two players working together side-by-side to grind down the enemy threat and carry out tasks specifically designed for two people, such as giving each other a leg-up onto a roof or lifting up some heavy shutters to reach a new area, it can be a great deal of fun as you rack up multipliers and dash around picking up loot from dead bodies.
Alternatively, if you don’t want human company fighting alongside you, you can choose from one of three A.I. controlled sidekicks, who do a great job at backing you up and providing cover as you attempt to clear the enemy threat and catch up with the “bitch” who stole your skull. Blood on the Sand is all about racking up points, picking up hard cash, and massacring those who stand in your way. Multipliers are awarded for kills, which adds a bit of excitement to proceedings and encourages you to chain together kills, while cash can be collected from dead bodies and caskets and used to purchase new weapons, counter-kills, and taunt packs that add weight -- and a whole load of "mutha f**kers" and ill-bred jibes -- to your vocabulary. There are also masses of timed side objectives, which add intensity and drama to each of the stages.
It’s these side objectives that really make Blood on the Sand much more than a run-of-the-mill third person shooter. During each stage, you trigger a number of objectives where you’re tasked with the likes of taking out the sniper threat, planting some C4 on a tank, or gunning down the guy who's parked on ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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Dave-The-Rave |
Dave-The-Rave- 6:26pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 3
7.0 "Fo' Real!!" (<<< Joke)
I'd give it a 1.0, without opening the case..lol
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superbeast1370 |
superbeast2000- 6:37pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 5
it's like a gorilla simulator, only with handguns instead of bananas.
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supamariobrotha |
supamariobrotha- 6:59pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 9
first off @5 yeah your comment is considered racist stop being a dumbf**k. now about the review that's a way better score than i predicted i may actually try this out sounds pretty good!!!
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BronxKnight28 |
BronxKnight28- 7:21pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 11
lol majority of you guys are racist i can see, i bet the "snoop dogg album on rockband" news bothered too huh
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superbeast1370 |
superbeast2000- 7:23pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 12
@ 9, wait a minute, isn't that what G-unit stand for? Gorilla unit. I saw a kid wearing a shirt that said that so I thought thats what it stood for.
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TheWalkingDude |
TheWalkingDude19- 7:25pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 13
@1 gangbangers HA more like punkb*tches without a hope in this world destine for prison, welfare, and death.
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supamariobrotha |
supamariobrotha- 7:42pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 15
@12 well if you meant it in that way then i apologise but the g in g-unit doesn't stand for gorilla like the animal its guerrilla just like guerrilla games.
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Mo-green28 |
Mo-green28- 7:48pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 17
Good game it's just mega -short.
PSU you sure do have some racist people on here, Keep saying the world is messed up because of people like 50... The world is messed up because of racist people like the ones on PSU.
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djschief |
djschief- 7:53pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 19
racist? you kidding me? so calling a former gangbanger out for who he is, is racist? i have nothing against the african american society. it just a shame that the ones that are in gangs or were in gangs have to get into the mainstream media and plastered all over to become "role models" for kids. thats not being a racist, thats called being a realist.
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WonsAuto |
WonsAuto- 8:04pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 22
LOL @ everyone judging the game without playing it. Just because the premise is corny doesn't mean that the game doesn't deserve to be reviewed as objectively as any other game. And hey, guess what? The consensus so far says that it's not bad. Get over it, and get over yourselves.
@djscheif - I'm not a big fan of 50 but he's not trying to be a role model, and any parent or guardian that allows him to become one for their child has failed. Not his fault, the game is rated Mature for a reason.
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Superblaster76
- 8:06pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 23
Man, first a lilac PSP now a 50 Cent game review. Sony is burning a trail!
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djschief |
djschief- 8:11pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 24
@ WonsAuto: ask some kids in an urban school...trust me...
and i totally see about the parents being responsible for letting that kind of material in the house, but face the facts, its there. just like all the parents that take their kids to R rated movies.
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Charl3z523 |
Charl3z523- 8:16pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 25
How about you guys actually play it before judging it. Just cuz it has 50 Cent on it doesn't mean it has to be terrible.
It does mean it wont be good, but it doesn't have to necessarily mean it's terrible... ;)
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superbeast1370 |
superbeast2000- 8:17pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 26
@ 15... O_o! Darn! I made a complete idiot out of myself. I apologize.
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WonsAuto |
WonsAuto- 8:23pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 28
@djschief (24) - Yea, so? My point still stands. Besides, this shouldn't be about anything more than the fact that 50 has another game out, and it quite surprisingly doesn't blow. There are bigger things to worry about than 50 "corrupting" our youth and crappy parenting.
Like the fact that this game doesn't have trophy support for some dumb reason. I was going to rent it, but I guess I'll rent it for 360.
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Shalashaaska |
Shalashaaska- 8:29pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 30
Why....why would you even review this game PSU?
A game about a rapper...?
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Oatmeal |
NEJI64- 8:37pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 32
wait hold up i don't like Fiddy but he get much respect for coming from out the hood to having your own game. but its no way you can blame him for todays youth being messed up better yet....
@djschief and @thewalkingdude19 and we wonder why the youth of America is messed up...
cause we give game devloper Dave Jones:Game Of The Year Award...
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PsychoMantis |
KuruptX- 8:39pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 33
Fairly good score but I'll save my money. I'm still shaking my head because I bought the first one a long time ago. lol
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Lanthros
- 8:49pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 36
@marquisxx I cant speak for anyone else but theres nothing racist about calling him fake and retarded, because he IS. Now if it had Ice T's name on it my tune may be different but this just reaks of fail.
@djschief, so your saying anyone with a shady history has no buisness being a celebrity? That in and of its self is idiotic. If that were the standard then there would be almost NOTHING in the entertainment industry apart from a few games just because they were made by nerds who never leave thier house to get in trouble. Even at that how many game designers you think have been involved in hacking/cracking? As for thier impact on children, Id MUCH rather have someone telling my kids something is bad who actually has experience with how bad it is. Nothing worse then a hypocrit saying dont do drugs they are bad for you when theyve never even taken a sip of alcohol let alone known just how bad crack can destroy your life.
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superbeast1370 |
superbeast2000- 8:53pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 37
@ 31, we're not racist. we "hate" him because
1) his first game S-U-C-K-E-D
2) He's a "Rapper"
3) he "Thinks" he's a game developer
4) his "music" sucks
5) he's an idiot. (he wanted parents to buy M-rated games for their kids)
6) his stage name is head-scratching
7) his new game is a joke (where's mah skull, foo?)
8) we're bashing him for the LULZ
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Lanthros
- 8:53pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 38
@PSU your censorship program is retarded. You should tweak it to actually filter out REAL offensive language instead of letting it block WORDS WITH LEGITIMATE USES JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY SOUND DIRTY OR CAN BE USED AS INSULTS. Or better idea, USE AGE VERIFICATION IN ACCOUNT SET UP SO ADULTS CAN HAVE ADULT CONVERSATIONS.
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HARDCOREPS3
- 9:11pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 40
lack of trophy support? LAME! i ll buy Kz2 instead! 50 cents sucks so long!
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Lanthros
- 9:20pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 41
@djschief lmao no because I can talk all day about how horrible 50 cent is music wise. No though PSU's language filter likes to block out generic descriptors and the like just because someone can use them as insults. Even though I wasnt aiming mine at anyone. Its retarded that adults would have to censor themselves in nonargumentitive conversation because of the backwards morality of others (namely those that seem to think sex and foul language are the most dangerous things around).
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Intervention
- 9:29pm GMT - February 24th, 2009
- 44
Why oh why do they make something for that talentless foul mouthed piece of $#!^. Never played one of these games nor would I for any rapper.
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nelias5380
- 12:18am GMT - February 25th, 2009
- 46
they should had tupac in a video game instead of 50 cent
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Etrnal |
Chrono_A- 12:21am GMT - February 25th, 2009
- 47
Wtf ok seriously, some of you people are so stupid. I don't care if I'm offending anybody, but I feel like saying what I feel right now. 50 Cent made a game, right, okay. And....this bothers you HOW? You may not like his music (to each his own, Im not a fan either) but seriously, grow up. The marketing for this game isnt working for you? So don't buy it, ignore it.
I bet if it was some other dude, besides 50 Cent, more of you people would be all over this. It's hilarious yet sad how people jump on the hate wagon when they don't know **** about a person, other than the fact that he's a rapper they don't like with a video game. Most of you are losers. And again, I'm just speaking my mind.
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SignOfZodiac
- 12:36am GMT - February 25th, 2009
- 48
(1) Everybody is a Gangbanger, even you if you think about it. Gangs and Groups that don't like nor agree with other organizations for there color, sex or religion are Gangbangers. Besides, America is the biggest Gang in the world and some of there leaders are 88 and KKK members. So, get use to it.
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r_e_f_l_e_x |
r_e_f_l_e_x- 12:53am GMT - February 25th, 2009
- 49
no racism... im obviously not talking to you if you werent being racist.
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gamewaffle
- 1:08am GMT - February 25th, 2009
- 50
So, thewalkingdude19, do you realize that you just said that people who publically brag about violence, drug use and other assorted crimes are more destined for success than those who ride about on wheeled wood and bicycles and occasionally express themselves with graffiti? extreme sports, urban art, and rock music rarely result in such detrement to its enviroment as the "Gangsta" lifestyle does (What was that about Harlem, Newark, and '40s Chicago that I was watching?). I know some peers of mine that you would consider "punkb!tches" who are highly successful IB and AP students who've already a dent in college credit and have clear, concise, career goals. Personally, when you laugh with such assertion as you did, i would prefer you don't blindly defend a pathetic lifestyle, for which the only reason to do so is to metonically defend yourself.
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