NEW YORK — Not one demonstration or interview about 50 Cent's new video game has gone by without a developer mentioning that "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand" is going to be better than the last one.
It's important for the game's creators to separate the new game, a high-score-focused action adventure set in the Middle East, from the high-selling but critically bashed first 50 game. They wanted the press and gamers to know the difference. And they hoped — big time — that 50 would too.
"I was in fear that he wouldn't be pleased," the game's producer Aaron Blean said during a demonstration of the game on Tuesday. He said that 50 was shown a version of the game several weeks ago. "He watched it at least three times and was really excited," Blean said. "He recognized the game was looking better than the first one."
50 has told MTV News that he has high hopes, and the people around him seem to be rallying. Blean mentioned that Tony Yayo, who is one of three G-Unit members who fight at 50's side in the game, recently remarked that "Blood on the Sand" is "looking as good as 'Gears of War.' "
Since the last update, the developers can now talk about music plans for the game. And how about a love interest?
For music, Blean revealed that 50 and G-Unit are contributing 19 exclusive tracks to the game, all featuring Fif. The game is also in the process of being scored by Swizz Beatz. "He'd provided us with over an hour's worth of score already," Blean said. The developers send the producer footage of the game, and he puts together the tracks.
Blean didn't reveal too much about the love interest, but she's apparently a fictional character with a twist that 50 thought up: "His idea was to not just have a female character be a love interest but someone he would lose trust in." She didn't appear in the demo Blean showed MTV News, but it sounds like she will play a prominent role in the game, starting out as an agent of 50's enemies.
What Blean showed of the game was similar to what we glimpsed in April. A heavily armed 50 Cent is on a quest for payback in the Middle East, trying to reclaim some valuables that were stolen from him. The game is technically a third-person shooter, and it's designed to play up gaming's arcade roots. Everything 50 successfully shoots generates points that get tallied into a score. Trickier shots and nastier kills net more points. Players can purchase and arm 50 with a selection of taunts that, if delivered at the right time, will increase point values even more. (We didn't hear any taunts that we could write here without violating MTV's language standards.)
The game will have more than 20 levels and is designed for a second player to drop in and out, assisting the main player as a G-Unit ally. "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand" is developed by Swordfish Studios. It's slated for release this fall on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
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