Never have I scratched my head as much as I did when the original 50 Cent: Bulletproof sold millions upon millions of copies. While the game sold remarkably well, the title itself wasn’t the most original or interesting game on the market back in 2005. Still, people looked beyond the flaws and continued to gobble up anything related to 50 Cent, so it’s no surprise that four years later, we are being introduced to its inevitable sequel, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. In comparison to the original, Blood on the Sand is a much better game in almost every area including: graphics, entertainment value, controls, and just pure wackiness. That’s right, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is wacky and it proves to be a better game because it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Similar to Sega and Bizarre Creation’s The Club, Blood on the Sand employs an arcade-style scoring system as you advance through the game’s odd storyline. Fast-paced and over-the-top, Blood on the Sand has 50 Cent marching through the Middle East in effort to re-obtain a “blinged out” skull that was stolen from him. Tagging along for the journey will either be Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks or DJ Whoo Kid from the G-Unit to assist 50 Cent in his war on terror. If you can excuse the game for not having a sensible plot, then you can easily understand how Blood on the Sand could be a potentially entertaining game. The only problem lies in if you hold storylines in your video games with high prestige because Blood on the Sand doesn’t offer a coherent one.

Fighting through Middle Eastern environments, you’ll kill countless goons and henchmen that are thrown in front of you. You’ll also jump in a few vehicles to spice up the combat, but for the majority this is a third-person shooter with running and gunning to the next level. With his very own bullet time (called “gangsta fire mode”) 50 Cent is equipped to take on all comers with his G-Unit sidekick. There’ll be times you’ll be asked to jump into cover, but these occasions aren’t often and that’s a good thing since they are poorly implemented. 50 Cent can roll and dive through the level with ease, but doesn’t help to diversify 50 Cent’s commands. There are also cooperative moments where you need your G-Unit sidekick to lift you over a wall or break down a door, and luckily, these moments don’t make or break the game. The main problem with Blood on the Sand is that doesn’t feel like the game was made with 50 Cent in mind as the main character – it feels as if he was slapped on at the last moment as a marketing ploy to sell more copies. Regardless if this was intended as a 50 Cent title from the onset, Blood on the Sand is mindless fun even though it crosses the line of repetition beyond the first few stages you play through.

The biggest draw of Blood on the Sand is the audio department. If you’re a fan of rap music – or 50 Cent in general – you’ll fall in love with the soundtrack upon starting the game. Featuring over 40 tracks – 18 of them new and exclusive to the game – Blood on the Sand is aurally pleasant on the ears. In addition, the voice-overs and dialogue is extensively hilarious due to sheer cheesiness of the title. It is one part campy and one part silly, so be prepared to laugh your way through the game and cheer “Go get ‘em Fiddy.” The dialogue is 100% vulgar and is full of one-liners as if 50 Cent is trying out for a role of James Bond.

For the graphics, don’t expect to be blown away, but to encounter realistic renders of 50 Cent and the G-Unit. The same can’t be said for 50 Cent’s enemies due to the simple fact that you’ll kill the same enemy at least 10 times in one level since there’s not a diverse set of enemy models. If you happen to be bored by the use of browns and yellow hues in video games, then you best be prepared to cover your eyes. Blood on the Sand doesn’t feature many colors of the rainbow and doesn’t have a distinct look to stand out from your standard shooter. The levels and environments are cleverly designed or unique, so your best bet is to expect a horrible game and come away impressed at the fast-paced action. The less you build yourself up for Blood in the Sand, the more you’ll enjoy it – even if it’s for your right to giggle at 50 Cent.

What’s left to be said about 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand? Well there are a wide number of weapons at your disposal, and for being a third-person shooter, the title controls rather well. There’s no offline cooperative mode, so that’s a downer. Sure, there’s an online cooperative mode, but good luck convincing one of your friends to buy the game to play the storyline with you. There are also no online competitive multiplayer modes, so that should bust a lot of people’s hopes of jumping into gunfights with their friends. Lastly, the HUD provided is a mess and will confuse a lot of gamers on what exactly is going on in the screen. Next time, simplicity is the route to go for a HUD.

Gameplay: 7.0
It doesn’t do anything differently than your standard third-person shooter, but the arcade-style points you earn are a nice twist that is borrowed from Sega’s The Club.

Graphics: 6.0
Tired of browns and yellows? Then look elsewhere since Blood in the Sand is your run-of-the-mill Unreal engine title.

Sound: 8.4
Having lost my attraction for rap music a long time ago – I’d probably pinpoint the moment when Cash Money Millionaires broke up – 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand has rekindled my interest… even if it was just a little. Plus, the vulgar dialogue is so goofy that it’s provocative.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 6.0
It’s your typical third-person shooter, but their decision to have 50 Cent run around the Middle East is peculiar.

Multiplayer: 5.0
An offline cooperative mode is needed next time so players aren’t forced to rent or own two copies of the title.

Overall: 6.5
As long as you remove high expectations – which I have no clue why anyone would have any for a 50 Cent title – then you’ll come away having a blast with 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand. It’s not the most original or clever title to release in 2009, but it’s a good 10-15 hours of mindless fun where you can shut off the thinking part of your brain and have a great time blowing up everything in your sight.