How 50 Cent Renewed My Faith In Games

Posted: October 24, 2012

This morning I woke up at 3 am from post surgical pain and played through a very special game that made up for recent sequel fatigue. That game was 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. It reminded me what games can be when they suck in a good way.

It’s completely unintentional that this game would turn out to be great in an ironic way, but that’s really the only way something can be. When you try to create this effect knowingly you end up with the crappy follow ups to Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The genius of this game is just how ridiculous the concept is. Rapper 50 Cent performs a concert in the middle east and gets paid with a diamond encrusted skull. It’s taken by someone and the whole game is about Fiddy getting his skull back.

There’s a sense that the developers must have known how crazy it is because there’s a massive juxtaposition between the base plot making commentary on war in the middle east, and the ridiculous premise of a 50 Cent game. Villains are rarely so obvious and cartoonish in a game like this which makes it refreshing. The whole thing is like a Saturday morning cartoon, or a great 80/90’s B movie, with a sprinkling of one off jokes.

The combat was typical cover based shooting but competent enough to not distract from the real reason to play. That reason being to blow up numerous helicopters with a hand gun. Overall it was a joy to play and an oddity that will remain in my collection forever, ready to be shown to anyone who needs to just have some good old stupid fun.