50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Overview

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a third-person shooter developed by Swordfish Studios and published by THQ for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the sequel to 50 Cent: Bulletproof and came out in February 2009. The story follows a fictional 50 Cent and G-Unit concert in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.

After the show, the promoter cannot pay the 10 million dollars he promised and hands over a diamond-and-pearl encrusted human skull as collateral instead. A paramilitary group led by Said Kamal and his right-hand woman Leila steals it, and 50 Cent, with a G-Unit partner, goes to get it back and finds a bigger enemy behind it all.

Play is mostly on-foot combat with a cover system, plus vehicle sections such as a Humvee chase with a turret gunner and a helicopter minigun shootout, and boss fights against helicopters. A mode called Gangsta Fire slows down the action so you can take on several enemies at once. Payphones hidden in each level open a shop where cash buys and upgrades weapons and unlocks counter-kill moves and taunts.

Each level has five high-value targets, crates of gold bars and five posters. Kills earn points toward bronze, silver and gold G-Unit badges, which unlock better gear. The soundtrack has more than 40 tracks, including 18 made for the game by 50 Cent, and the original score is by Swizz Beatz, Lab Ox and The Individuals.

The game grew out of a cancelled Covert-One project at Swordfish Studios that was reworked into something lighter. Vivendi Games, the first publisher, merged with Activision, which dropped the game, and THQ bought the publishing rights on 13 October 2008. Late additions included the helicopters, which came from a request by 50 Cent's son while he was playing a build.

It was better received than Bulletproof, with praise for 50 Cent's involvement, solid gunplay and strong co-op, though critics found it repetitive. It still sold poorly, with about 56,000 copies in the US by April 2009. It was not released in Germany.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Third-person shooter

Developer

Swordfish Studios

Publisher

THQ

Series

50 Cent

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Composers

Swizz Beatz

Designers

Tim Austin, Gavin Cooper, Ed Kay

Writers

Kamran Pasha

Directors

Julian Widdows

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

2

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Trophies

Trophies47

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

3

Silver

7

Bronze

36

Total

47

Points

1320

• 100% Clear All trophy is unlocked Platinum 18.49% of players
• I'm Supposed To Die Tonight Complete Mission 1 on any difficulty Bronze 83.07% of players
• Get In My Car Complete Mission 2 on any difficulty Bronze 81.1% of players
• Candy Shop Complete Mission 3 on any difficulty Bronze 71.65% of players
• Straight To The Bank Complete Mission 4 on any difficulty Bronze 68.61% of players
• Disco Inferno Complete Mission 5 on any difficulty Bronze 63.35% of players
• Amusement Park Complete Mission 6 on any difficulty Bronze 62.86% of players
• Gunz Come Out Complete Mission 7 on any difficulty Bronze 58.92% of players
• I'll Still Kill Complete Mission 8 on any difficulty Bronze 56.7% of players
• Gotta Make It To Heaven Complete Mission 9 on any difficulty Bronze 56.53% of players
• Got Paid Complete all missions on Easy or better difficulty level Bronze 56.04% of players
• Gangsta Complete all missions on Normal or better difficulty level Silver 42.32% of players
• Bulletproof Complete all missions on Hard difficulty level Gold 28.51% of players
• Packin' Heat Unlock all pistols Bronze 45.11% of players
• Point Blank Unlock all close combat weapons Bronze 41.17% of players
• Rifled Unlock all assault weapons Bronze 41.82% of players
• Explosive Unlock all special weapons Bronze 39.85% of players
• Tooled Up Unlock all weapons Silver 35.66% of players
• Wanna-be Obtain 15 or more Silver Badges Bronze 25.39% of players
• Regular Obtain all Silver Badges Silver 21.86% of players
• Hardcore Obtain 15 or more Gold Badges Silver 20.95% of players
• O.G. Obtain all Gold Badges Gold 20.13% of players
• Savior Revive a coop player Bronze 27.36% of players
• We're Supposed To Die Tonight Complete Mission 1 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 24.82% of players
• Get In Our Car Complete Mission 2 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 24.98% of players
• Our Candy Shop Complete Mission 3 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 24.49% of players
• We're Going Straight To The Bank Complete Mission 4 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 23.42% of players
• Our Disco Inferno Complete Mission 5 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 23.25% of players
• Our Amusement Park Complete Mission 6 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 23.66% of players
• Our Gunz Come Out Complete Mission 7 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 22.93% of players
• We'll Still Kill Complete Mission 8 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 23.09% of players
• We Gotta Make It To Heaven Complete Mission 9 on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Bronze 23.5% of players
• G-Unit Complete all missions on any difficulty as a member of G-Unit Silver 22.02% of players
• Hit and Run Run over a foot soldier in a driving section Bronze 80.2% of players
• Ramping Up Complete any of the ramp scenarios in a driving section Bronze 79.79% of players
• Death From Above Destroy 50 vehicles and destroyable objects on the flying level without dying Bronze 26.05% of players
• Up Close Perform a counter kill Bronze 90.96% of players
• Millionaire Have 1,000,000 dollars in the bank Gold 32.37% of players
• Got It Done Successfully complete one scenario Bronze 89.07% of players
• Scenario Master Successfully complete 50 scenarios Silver 63.85% of players
• Black Belt Unlock all counter kill packs Silver 46.01% of players
• Sharpshooter Kill an enemy by shooting a rocket or grenade out of the air using Gangsta Fire Bronze 31.31% of players
• Fly Poster Collect all 5 posters on any level. This can also be achieved by assisting another player in Coop Bronze 65.57% of players
• Target Practice Shoot all 5 targets on any level. This can also be achieved by assisting another player in Coop Bronze 41.33% of players
• Flying High Score air time from a single character for more than 5 seconds Bronze 74.53% of players
• Massacre Kill 5 enemies fast enough to score a 5 kill combo Bronze 75.35% of players
• Not Bulletproof Die on Easy difficulty Bronze 54.89% of players

Playable today

Online

The game has two-player online co-op in a drop-in, drop-out format. It has no local co-op.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	72	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	7.1	10
GameSpot	7	10
Game Informer	8	10
Eurogamer	7	10
Edge	7	10
GameTrailers	7	10
GameZone	6.5	10
GamePro	3.5	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Julian Widdows
Designer	Tim Austin
Designer	Gavin Cooper
Designer	Ed Kay
Writer	Kamran Pasha
Artist	Fergus Duggan
Artist	Mark O'Kane
Artist	Andrew Taylor
Composer	Swizz Beatz

Cast

Character	Actor
50 Cent	50 Cent

Notes for collectors

• The game started life as a cancelled Covert-One project and was reworked into a lighter game.
• It was never released in Germany.
• A Japanese release exists, with its own disc ID (BLJS10056).
• THQ bought the publishing rights from Activision on 13 October 2008, a few months before launch.
• 50 Cent recorded 18 exclusive tracks for the game, and there are unlockable songs and videos.
• The Platinum is called 100% Clear and needs the other 46 trophies, including a G-Unit playthrough and all missions on Hard.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 5 hours