50 Cent: Blood on the Sand on sale at Play-Asia (Limited-time Offer)

Before you laugh this off, I'd like you to know that this game is actually pretty good. And for 1,800 Yen (900+ Pesos), it's a really good deal. But you better hurry because the offer is on a limited-time basis. It was on sale a few weeks ago, and I bought it then, but then the price went up a week later. Checking again today at the prices, I noticed they dropped it once again.

This game, believe it or not, has been reviewed relatively well, and it even won an award from Gamespot - Most Suprisingly Good Game of 2009. And it was pretty suprising considering that the first 50 Cent game, called Bulletproof, was terrible. I actually had that for the PS2.

I haven't played through the whole game yet. I think I am at the very end. But I can safely say that for 1000 Pesos, brand new, this game will not disappoint fans of third-person shooters.

In Blood in the Sand, you play as 50 Cent. After performing at a concert in an unnamed country in the Middle East (read Iraq), 50 Cent goes to collect his payment of $10 million, but the organizer says that gangs have stolen his money. In exchange for the cash payment, the organizer gives 50 Cent a priceless treasure - a skull studded with diamonds. However, on the way out, 50 Cent and his crew are ambushed, and the skull is taken away from him.

What happens when you mess with "Fiddy"? People die.

Yeah, ok, the story is pretty bad, and it gets more stupid as the game progresses. But that's precisely one of the things that makes the game so great. The story is so terrible, it's actually funny. Combined with Fiddy's crazy gangster bad mouthing (you get points for saying bad words after killing an enemy), this game is great fun.

Other things that make the game awesome are:

- The online coop function (like in Resident Evil 5) where anyone can jump into your game at anytime, or vice versa.
- Satisfying gun mechanics. The guns feel and sound powerful.
- The points system. You get points depending on how you eliminate enemies, and more points for killing streaks.
- Enemy and teammate AI. Enemy AI don't just stick to one place and shoot out in the open. They will hide and change positions, and will try to flank you at times (though not as aggresively as in Killzone 2). Teammmate AI also rarely gets in the way, and will at times even attempt to flank opponents.

As for negative points, I really only have two:

- The cover system is flawed. You can get into cover behind some things, but not others. The cover system also integrates a system of jumping over cover, but for some reason, you can't jump over some obstacles, even if they are very low. Also, because the roll button is the same button as the cover button, you sometimes accidentally roll out in front of flying bullets instead of ducking behind cover.
- No multiplayer deathmatches. Not exactly a flaw, but this would have increased the game's replayability.

All in all, for 1,000 Pesos, this is a great buy. Even if you don't like rap music.