I didn't have very high expectations before sitting down for a demo of "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand." Heck, I'm not even that into rap music.
Yet, like I mentioned in a story filed at MTV News earlier this week, I left a 15-minute demo at Sierra's recent media event and told other games editors they should check out "Blood on the Sand."
Not only is it better than you think, I told them, it just might be good.
Everyone's already heard the comparisons to "Gears of War," but I think there's a closer friend in Sega's recently released but mostly ignored score-based shooter "The Club."
"The Club" was surgical in design. "Blood on the Sand," however, is the exact opposite: a big, beautiful, unapologetic mess. And, well, 50 Cent's in it.
It almost goes without saying that things blow up really nicely in "Blood on the Sand." You don't need to do very much for the entire environment to get rocked by a massive explosion, while you continue to rain down a hail of bullets on the enemies fleeing in the other direction. All the while, the game is plastering the interface with a NASCAR fender's worth of on-screen icons and score counters.
In "The Club," the score mechanics are the end game, the reason for playing. You're achieving high scores in order to unlock more difficult scenarios and rack up a spot on the game's Internet leaderboards. I don't get the impression anyone will play "Blood on the Sand" with the intent of being number one.
The developer, Swordfish Studios, is rewarding players with more than leaderboard glory for being interactive. You can't help but feel good when there's a 20X multiplier on the screen, causing your score meter to spin out of control as barrels ignite left and right.
Sometimes it's almost too much to keep up with, but that's sort of the point. I've compared "Blood on the Sand" to old-school light gun shooters. Those games had to do everything in their power to grab the attention of gamers during arcade's heyday. These shooters succeeded by making the screen a kaleidoscope of destruction, rewarding your every action, every bullet, no matter how insignificant.
That's not too different than this. Sure, "Blood on the Sand" also has a very "Gears of War"-esque cover system, but whereas "Gears of War" sometimes asked the player to engage in calculated tactics, those weren't particularly present when we saw "Blood on the Sand." If anything, that's a distinctively good thing. "Blood on the Sand" wants you to know it's over-the-top for good reason.
It's a welcomed throwback, and one that I suspect many non-50 Cent fans, like myself, will happily hop on board for.
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