I know what you are thinking. A video game based on a rapper? Video games based on anything are usually awful and 50’s first foray into gaming with Bulletproof did not exactly leave us with a lasting memory of excellence. I tried to play this game with as much impartiality as possible and I was honestly surprised; the game is pretty good. Once you get past the absurd storyline and dialogue, the game plays like a better than average shooter and has some great ideas that will be imitated for future titles.

Before I get into the actual game, you need to play this with a grain of salt. 50 Cent plays himself. Okay, so what? 50 Cent plays himself as if he is not only a rapper, but a combination of Master Chief, Solid Snake, Rambo, and The Terminator all rolled into one. 50 Cent plays the greatest killing machine we have ever seen. Yeah. Once you get by that small but important point, you delve into a story of intrigue, betrayal, revenge, and vindication. No, not really. Just watch the opening cut-scene and try not to piss yourself.

The graphics here are both great and not great at the same time. The character models for the major characters look awesome. The level detail, not too bad. The enemies are cookie cutter at best. It is obvious that they focused their efforts on making 50 and his crew look bad ass and they succeeded. The weapon design is nothing special but it gets the job done. Oh yes, there will be blood as well. Blood on the Sand. Although most of the fighting takes place on roads.

The sound here is like the graphics, very good and very ridiculous. You have the ability to make an in-game play list of all 50 Cent’s songs with some of his greatest hits unlockable. As a fan of his music, I loved this. There is something satisfying when you are poppin’ head shots to In Da Club. 50 will also talk during the game. A lot. Every time he kills someone. Which is every 10 seconds. You will get lines like, “I’m throwing grenades, bitch,” and “Is that all you got, pussy.” You will also be treated to more F bombs than you can possibly imagine.

The core game play mechanic is Gears of War. Identical sans roadie run. Duck and cover, blind fire, use the same button for everything. This is not a bad thing but it is funny that they adopted the exact same control scheme. There are some fun elements in the campaign that break up the repetition, which is rampant. Every so often, you will get a challenge which is rewarded with bonus points for things like killing 3 grenadiers, or snipers, or attacking guys. They glow red and can be seen from 400 miles away, but it adds urgency to the game as they are timed and will run out if you don’t pay quick attention.

The game will get repetitive and that is the problem. Every level is essentially the same thing. Go from checkpoint to checkpoint clearing out enemies who will respawn out of nowhere and have clipping issues more often than they should. The weapon upgrade system is fun, but the guns are priced so exorbitantly that you will have to play through the game many times to unlock them all, which is not really worth it.

The campaign can be beaten in about 5 hours tops. The co-op is fun though, both online and offline. The split screen works fine and hearing the different dialogue from one of his 3 initial G-Unit sidekicks is funny. The game is also not too difficult, so it is a fun rental and I do recommend you give it a try. Maxim said it was better than both Killzone 2 and SF IV. Is that true? Well no, but 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a lot better than most expected and better than average shooter in a crowded market.  Give this a rent because let’s face it, running around and killing everyone in sight while screaming curses in a completely ridiculous story is what video games are all about.

Overall: 7 of 10