This game is so unapologetically videogamey, I love it. Basically a third person cover shooter with a more arcadey approach. It's so arcadey that using covers is a mere suggestion most of the time, the game wants you to play direct and aggressive with a sort of kill combo system that rewards you with higher scores the more stuff you do, like killing with an explosive barrel, a double kill with an RPG, or a melee execution, even cursing! Yeah, there's a dedicated button to curse, which multiplies your combo points with an specific percentage depending on the level of slurs you have, because yes, you can upgrade your slurs. In a “shop” at the payphone. This game is similar to Resident Evil 4 in a way, you go around smashing crates that give you money to buy stuff (weapons, melee execution animations and slur packs) at the payphone, which acts pretty much like the merchant from RE4.
You’re given four different slots for different types of weapons: Pistol, SMG/Shotgun, Rifle/LMG and RPG/Sniper. And yeah, you can quickscope in the 50 Cent game. Each slot has a unique colour: The SMG/Shotgun slot is blue, the Rifle/LMG slot is yellow and the RPG/Sniper slot is red (I don’t remember the pistol slot having any colour), and the funny thing is, enemies are normally dressed in one of those colours, so you always know which kind of gun they’re using. This is useful because that way you know which weapons are better to waste ammo with and what enemies you should deal with first. The red guys have either Rocket Launchers or Sniper Rifles, so maybe you should take care of them first and then the rest. Although later in the game, you start fighting enemies which wear different colours, which means that either they are stronger/have more life or that they throw grenades/molotovs, maybe even both. In short, the game gives enemies different levels of priority in a very distinctive way to not confuse the player. This helps establish the wacky and videogamey tone the game has.
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is honest with its intentions. It just wants the player to have a fun time. Sure, you could accuse it of excusing genocide in the Middle East with “it’s just for the funsies”, but I think it’s just playing along with the trends on the videogame industry at the time in a sort of jokey and parodic way. Even then, Fifty is pretty indifferent to all this situation, he just wants his Diamond Skull back. While every other game hid patriotic and militaristic propaganda behind run-of-the-mill Shooters, Blood on the Sand is about 50 getting his payday and it reminds you constantly about that so you know he's not better (or that he's cooler, depending on how you look at it) than the people he is killing without hesitation, you're not meant to idolize the guy although this is pretty much a love letter to himself. He just wants the skull back. All of this presented in a sort of self-parodic way, because after all, you're not meant to take it seriously. The story itself is pretty simple, but it doesn’t need to be anything else. “Bitch took ma skull” is all you need, really. I kid you not, an entire betrayal and character arc starts and ends in the span of like 30 to 45 minutes. You’re not here for the story, you’re here to chain sick kill combos and suplex terrorists.
This is a game I wish came back at least on a remaster/port to modern systems. This is the kind of experience we’ve lost since the PS4/XOne days, no more mid-budget wacky and (sort of) experimental games like these anymore. I wish companies produced more shorter, mid-budget games where the devs are let to do whatever they wanted like this, because 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is actually a really fun game! And although I’ve been praising it all this time, it does have a lot of flaws shared with a lot of Third Person Cover Shooters. You know, extreme linearity, uninspired enemies, tedious boss battles, yada yada, you know the drill. But still, if you can get your hands on 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, this is going to be 10x times more fun, honest and entertaining than most of the Third Person Shooters at the time and still to this day.
You’re given four different slots for different types of weapons: Pistol, SMG/Shotgun, Rifle/LMG and RPG/Sniper. And yeah, you can quickscope in the 50 Cent game. Each slot has a unique colour: The SMG/Shotgun slot is blue, the Rifle/LMG slot is yellow and the RPG/Sniper slot is red (I don’t remember the pistol slot having any colour), and the funny thing is, enemies are normally dressed in one of those colours, so you always know which kind of gun they’re using. This is useful because that way you know which weapons are better to waste ammo with and what enemies you should deal with first. The red guys have either Rocket Launchers or Sniper Rifles, so maybe you should take care of them first and then the rest. Although later in the game, you start fighting enemies which wear different colours, which means that either they are stronger/have more life or that they throw grenades/molotovs, maybe even both. In short, the game gives enemies different levels of priority in a very distinctive way to not confuse the player. This helps establish the wacky and videogamey tone the game has.
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is honest with its intentions. It just wants the player to have a fun time. Sure, you could accuse it of excusing genocide in the Middle East with “it’s just for the funsies”, but I think it’s just playing along with the trends on the videogame industry at the time in a sort of jokey and parodic way. Even then, Fifty is pretty indifferent to all this situation, he just wants his Diamond Skull back. While every other game hid patriotic and militaristic propaganda behind run-of-the-mill Shooters, Blood on the Sand is about 50 getting his payday and it reminds you constantly about that so you know he's not better (or that he's cooler, depending on how you look at it) than the people he is killing without hesitation, you're not meant to idolize the guy although this is pretty much a love letter to himself. He just wants the skull back. All of this presented in a sort of self-parodic way, because after all, you're not meant to take it seriously. The story itself is pretty simple, but it doesn’t need to be anything else. “Bitch took ma skull” is all you need, really. I kid you not, an entire betrayal and character arc starts and ends in the span of like 30 to 45 minutes. You’re not here for the story, you’re here to chain sick kill combos and suplex terrorists.
This is a game I wish came back at least on a remaster/port to modern systems. This is the kind of experience we’ve lost since the PS4/XOne days, no more mid-budget wacky and (sort of) experimental games like these anymore. I wish companies produced more shorter, mid-budget games where the devs are let to do whatever they wanted like this, because 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is actually a really fun game! And although I’ve been praising it all this time, it does have a lot of flaws shared with a lot of Third Person Cover Shooters. You know, extreme linearity, uninspired enemies, tedious boss battles, yada yada, you know the drill. But still, if you can get your hands on 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, this is going to be 10x times more fun, honest and entertaining than most of the Third Person Shooters at the time and still to this day.
Moister
5 months ago