ResponseEve, a responsive template by SiGa

50 Cent: Blood On The Sand!

Play as 50 Cent, the world's biggest hip-hop star, in this fast-paced action shooter! You and the G-Unit battle across two war-torn countries to collect your payday and exact your revenge on those who have crossed you in 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Initial Impressions: Whenever possible, we try to give our loyal website viewers the most video footage and most in depth unbiased reviews imaginable. Part of that development is our "initial impressions" where we offer up our first impressions of the title that we are playing.

This gives our website visitors more of clear understanding of what to first expect out of the game when they initially pop it into their consoles.

If you scroll to the bottom of the page in the Rent vs. Buy section of the review and do not see the "final impressions" assessment then it's safe to say that you are reading our initial impression of the game. Once the final impression is up, there will be no further video or review done to that particular title.

Final Impressions: The final impression is just that, our completed breakdown and overall thoughts on the game based off of our entire game playing time.

You can locate the final impressions assessment in the "Rent vs. Buy" section of the review (always located at the very end of all of our reviews). Here you will be able to read our final thoughts on the title and also see any potential grade changes that were made to the game as well (higher or lower). Should a grading change occur, it will be clearly noted with the previous grade, the new grade, and why the change occurred.

Although this approach is more time consuming and requires many more man hours, our entire goal has always been to provide the best and completely unbiased reviews possible and we feel that the inclusion of the Initial Impressions and Final Impressions sections will give you a better view of what to expect from a new game.

All that we ask in return is for you to continue to support Krakrabbit.com by visiting the site and letting others know about our cause. Together we can supply our fellow gamers with the most impartial information so they can make an informed decision on whether to buy or rent this particular title.

Gangster Indiana Jones: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand takes place in a fictional Middle Eastern country where 50 Cent had just finished the last stop on his worldwide tour. In exchange for performing in this war-torn country, 50 was promised a payment of ten million dollars.

After 50 Cent discovers his money has been stolen, his promoter instead gives him a priceless crystal skull for payment. When native crime bosses steal the skull, 50 Cent and the G-Unit go on a rampage in an attempt to get his missing crystal skull back.

The storyline, as you can probably guess, is not very deep and fall short of what is now a standard for gaming storylines. The storyline progresses at a fine rate and will keep the action moving, but you will not see any food for thought here.

Ice this ****: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is an action packed thrill ride that keeps you moving from firefight to firefight without a pause longer then a cutscene. You will be fighting your way through city streets, buildings and even in cars and helicopters. Explosions, gunfire and music will be blasting as you move from cover to cover and there is never any time to rest. As expected, BotS is not a game for the kids. There are massive amounts of violence and unsavory language as well as some other adult aspects that should be kept away from the children.

Blood on the Sand is at its core a mindless shoot 'em up that oddly still manages to succeed despite this fact. You will be mowing through seemingly endless waves of enemies that, while somewhat challenging in massive groups go down a little too easily. The gameplay is quite entertaining actually, which is a rarity in a game such as Blood on the Sand.

The gameplay does not grow as repetitive as one might think it would. In fact, the game is rather fulfilling through the entire campaign!

As you progress through the main storyline, the enemies actually get a bit tougher and will pose quite the threat in numbers.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand also features a very satisfying close-quarters combat system that allows you to take down an enemy in style. As soon as you get close to an adversary and press B or O on the Xbox 360 or PS3 respectively you will be shot into a cinematic animation that shows you taking your enemy down with your bare hands (or knife in some cases).

You will be forced to time the button press so as to be successful. If you fail to press the button at the appropriate time, you will have a small portion of your health taken away and you will have to try again.

Under the influence: Blood on the Sand features a remarkable cover system that is not unlike the one featured in the cover-system powerhouses Gears of War and Gears of War 2. You will be able to take cover behind virtually anything from trash bins and crates to pillars and cars.

The cover system is exciting and you are able to jump in and out of cover at will with ease. You are even able to blindfire if you are afraid of getting "capped." The cover system in 50 Cent is clearly influenced by Gears of War and it shows!

Nothing without friends: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand features the ability to play through the entire campaign with a co-op partner. Your co-op partner will play as a member of the G-Unit and will assist you throughout the main storyline.

As aforementioned you can play through the entire campaign in co-op, but one huge disadvantage to BotS's co-op is the total lack of local co-op.

You can only play the game in co-op online, and there is no option to play the game with a friend sitting next to you. This is a huge disappointment to those who either do not have online access or do not wish to deal with the Xbox Live community.

Looking like your 50: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand has relatively impressive cutscenes that play between each mission, but the same cannot be said for the actual in-game graphics. Many of your environments are undetailed as well as the G-Unit. The only character model that impressed us is 50 Cent himself. 50 Cent is highly detailed and you will see some rather unexpected details such as detailed grenades attached to his vest as well as some physical features like scarring and noticeable veins in his massively huge biceps.

The G-Unit is a little too under-detailed and while you do not notice the less-than-stellar graphics, at times it shows.

Bleepedy bleep: As for the soundtrack features in Blood on the Sand, there is no need to worry. As you would probably expect, every song that is featured in BotS is from 50 Cent and some tracks in the game are even exclusive debut songs.

The game runs through the entire playlist while you play the game and you will be able to hear it faintly in the background as you play. The music is not intrusive and does not interrupt the gameplay or bother you in any way. If you are not a fan of 50, or would like to reduce the amount of cursing you are subjected to, you still have the option to turn the music off completely.

Rent vs. Buy & Impressions: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a pretty impressive game considering its roots and what the game is based off of (a rap singer for a building block usually does not make for a great game).

Actually, Blood on the Sand does not even feel like a 50 Cent game, but more like an action title with 50 Cent simply in it.

The striking gameplay alone is enough to make up for the weak storyline and so-so environmental and G-Unit visual effects, making Blood on the Sand an impressive single player game. Unfortunately though, the lack of local co-op really takes a lot out of the potential of the game and a game such as BotS would have been significantly better with local co-op.

If you are a fan of action packed shooters, then you cannot go wrong with picking the game up, but if you are more interested in "think before you shoot" game, you may be better off simply renting this title.

Latest Headlines

Want to know which titles are booming overseas? How about patch notes and announcements for your favorite games? This is the place to get your daily gaming headlines from around the world.
Click For Latest Headlines!