Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Can’t keep it to myself: a look at Sierra’s upcoming titles


I ain't afraid of no blood or ghosts

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

It's actually the heartwarming story of a boy coming of age. Really. We swear. 

I never played 50 Cent: Bulletproof, but I've heard that it's one of the few games capable of giving Drake of the 99 Dragons a run for its money in terms of sheer awfulness. Despite that, it sold over two million copies, which is why Sierra is releasing a sequel, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. This time around, 50 and G Unit are playing themselves as international rap stars, but on a quest for revenge across foreign borders. The game will be a third-person shooter in the vein of Gears of War and Army of Two, and will feature a number of similar elements, such as use of cover and two-character puzzles.

The plot, as was explained to us during the demo, is as follows: 50 and G Unit are performing a concert in some unnamed Middle East country when they get stiffed for payment by the concert's promoter. After convincing him to pay them, the promoter gives the game's heroes a diamond-encrusted skull as part of their fee. International gangsters  ("is that a more politically correct term than 'terrorist'?" one of our group asked) then proceed to mug the group and make off with the skull. The game's title then comes into play, as 50 and one of G Unit tag team their way through the country while mowing through waves of enemies in a quest to reclaim their macabre bling.

Fiddy disagrees with a gentleman about whether or not hand grenades qualify as "bling". 

Aside from the ludicrous plot, this looks like a far more competent game than its predecessor. While there was still much placeholder artwork being used, character models looked pretty decent and the environments seemed like they could haveve come from Army of Two. In terms of actual combat, the controls looked like they were pretty solid, as aiming is handled in the over-the-shoulder perspective that has become the norm. Things like taking cover, special kill animations, and providing cover fire for one's partner are also mixed in, and didn't look any better or worse than anywhere else I've seen them implemented.

We were also informed that, while there wouldn't be an online multiplayer feature, drop-in cooperative play will be available. The one obvious problem I noted was that enemy AI seemed to need some work, as enemies would refuse to react, waiting for 50 Cent to remove them from the gene pool. Although we only saw a Middle East level, we were told that Russian mobsters (amongst other groups) would make an appearance in the game, and it sounded like they would be exclusive to other locales.

Blood on the Sand seems like it's a game so far over the top that, if properly executed, could come across as brilliant satire. While performing special takedown maneuvers, blood always seemed to wind up on the camera (even from a move like kneeing the enemy in the stomach), and more points are accumulated when performing combo kills and accomplishing mini-goals throughout a level. These points can be used to buy things like new weapons, more ammo, taunts, and exclusive 50 Cent tracks unavailable anywhere outside of the game. Personally, I thought it was a bit much to trash talk a guy after setting him on fire with a Molotov cocktail, but probably no more so than playing air guitar is after slaughtering a couple dozen people.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand isn't going for original gameplay, but it is going for big explosions.

Ultimately, though, this is a game made primarily for 50 Cent's fans, who have proven to be a strong market on their own. Hardcore gamers will probably ignore Blood on the Sand, as it seemed like it won't do anything new with the shooter genre, but it did look like it'll be a relatively solid game with a lot of appeal for those who like 50 and G Unit's music. With a game that's designed to tie into a rapper, that's just about as much as you can hope for.  


The physics engine in Ghostbusters is very impressive.

It has been almost twenty years since audiences were treated to a Ghostbusters movie; while another sequel isn't going to hit the theaters anytime soon, Dan Akroyd has stated that he considers Terminal Reality's game to be the third film in the franchise. It's hard to disagree with him: Akroyd and Harold Ramis were heavily involved with the game's script, most of the movies' cast are reprising their roles (except Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis), and the plot revolves around the group getting a new member a few years after Ghostbusters II. During Sierra's media day, we didn't get to see much actual game play; instead, what we got was more of a technical demonstration showing just how powerful the game's engine is.

Ghostbusters features a lot of technology built from the ground up by Terminal Reality, and the engine is amazing. You can't make a Ghostbusters game without there being an emphasis on destruction, and this physics system lets players do a lot of damage. When the rookie Ghostbuster marched through the library and fired his gun, tables and chairs broke apart in myriad ways and then went flying across the room.

The other thing we got to see in the library was how a new "goo gun" can be used to anchor and draw two objects towards each other: undoubtedly, this will be used for some puzzles in the game, but we got to see it lift and suspend numerous cars from the library's ceiling. Sometimes, these physics were more decorative than anything else, like how objects will float and bob realistically (or sink, if they're heavy enough) in water. The other impressive tech display came when we were shown 1,000 NPCs wandering around the streets of New York, each with individual pathfinding AI, and with no visible slowdown to the game.

All the environments on display were immense and gorgeous, too. 

In terms of game play, not a whole lot was really shown. We only saw one level, where the Ghostbusters were on the hunt for some pesky poltergeists in an architecture firm. Other squad members were present throughout the level and seemed both reasonably intelligent and capable, but they were easily overwhelmed if surrounded by a group of enemies.  If someone gets knocked out, it's a simple matter of getting over to revive them, something both player and game-controlled characters are capable of. We didn't get to see any opponents other than some doglike monsters ("the marshmallow minions"), a couple of ghosts towards the end of the level, and the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man. The enemies on display looked and moved beautifully, and they all appeared to be pretty challenging since John, our host, had to stop talking to us in order to emerge from certain portions alive.

Some of the enemies in the game can simply be blasted away; others need to be captured with traps. If you have to capture a ghost, you first have to snag it in a beam and then drag it over to an open trap—sometimes easier said than done. If you've got a friend with you, you can tag team the spirit and move it around with ease; if it's just you, you can slam the spirit into different surfaces in order to stun it for a few seconds. We were also told that Ecto-1 will have some sort of role in the game, but that players won't get to drive it. Despite the power of the engine, I was told that the game is going to be fairly linear and won't feature too many open world environments to explore.

Capturing ghosts, while fun, is not nearly as easy as it looks. 

I really would have liked to spend more time checking out Ghostbusters, especially to see some more of the enemies and gadgets that would be appearing. But based on what game play we did get to see, the involvement of the original cast we were told about, and the technology displayed, there is much to be hopeful about when the game ships this Fall.

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