50 Cent: Blood on the Sand - PS3 (2009)

Status - 100% completed   

What the box says - "Play as 50 Cent, the world's biggest hip-hop star, in this fast-paced action shooter!  You and the G-Unit will battle across two countries to collect your payday and exact your revenge on those who have crossed you"   

What I say - Play as 50 Cent, bottle full of bub, in a shooting massacre/blood bath just so he can get a jewel encrusted skull back from Middle-Eastern paramilitary group.   

Genre - Hip-hop ‘em up

Rage quitting/stress levels - Medium-low   

Price Paid - $14.95 from Revolution CD (Belconnen)   

Metacritic - 72 out of 100   

50 Cent, the Wikipedia described "master of the nuanced art of lyrical brevity", who rhymes "Drugs" with "Hugs" and "Sex" with "X".  Me loves it.

It's terrific to think that 50 Cent not only branched out into motion pictures ("Get Rich or Die Trying'") but also into video games with 2005's "50 Cent: Bulletproof" on PS2 and with its 2009 follow-up "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand" on the PS3 and XB360.

In a nutshell, Fiddy gets paid by a promoter with a jewel encrusted skull in lieu of getting paid for a concert performed in a middle eastern (mystery), the skull gets stolen by a paramilitary group, then Fiddy and certain G Unit members go on a murderous shooting spree to get it back, all to the backing soundtrack of 50 Cent (40 tracks all up including new tracks).

The gameplay is mostly run/cover and gun of the Unchartered/Gears of War mould, but with slightly dodgy AI (pretty much everyone pops in and out of cover in pretty standard ways).  Along the way, the run/gun gameplay is sometimes broken up with cut-scenes RE 50 Cent getting his skull and/or car chase/helicopter shoot outs.

Although this is something I 100% completed, I would have to say that the game tends to outstay its welcome - particularly in the later levels where the game is pretty much recycling the same sorts of levels with increasing difficulty (but not insanely hard).  But it is good, dumb fun (~70 metacritc seems to be just right - it's no "Uncharted 2" but it is no "Ride to Hell").  One big critique is that you unlock new songs as you progress through the game but you don't unlock his big hits ("In Da Club", et al) until really later on in the game.  I think I'd much prefer for the full set list to have been unlocked from the onset (or at least have the "klassique" 50 songs like "In Da club" from the get go which should be everyone's "go to" song to conduct mass scale destruction activities).

Another minor gripe is the lack of inclusion of PS Trophies (apparently the Japanese release includes trophy support but not the Aussie version).

I haven't played the OG 50 Cent game ("50 Cent: Bulletproof") but according to the interweb sources - this is a greatly improved game but the improved critical reception didn't stop the game from being a "box office bomb".  Maybe it was because of Fiddy's wane of popularity from the musical perspective (he had released his fourth album by this stage and I think he peaked at "Ayo Technology" (Timbaland/timberlake assists) which came out a couple of years before this game and don't think he has really had a hit single after that. 

Admittedly - you play this game and think to yourself - "it is fairly morally bankrupt to murder 100s of people to get back a tacky diamond encrusted skull" - but hey - it's Fiddy.  Recommended for a weekend hire.