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| | Title:
50 Cent: Bulletproof
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System:
Xbox
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Genre:
Action
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Publisher:
Vivendi Universal
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Developer:
Genuine Games
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Release:
Fall 2005
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Rating Pending
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I’m not the sort of fellow who gets into the whole rap thing, but this isn’t rap, it’s a video game with the main character based on popular rapper, 50 Cent. You don’t even have to like rap to appreciate what the game is promising to deliver. With veteran publisher Vivendi, making headway for Genuine Games to provide players with an experience tailored for the taste of anyone who loves pure-bred super-action titles.
Rapper on the run
The storyline to the game comes from Emmy winner, veteran writer Terence Winter (i.e., The Sopranos, etc.), after he spent time with 50 Cent on tour a couple of years ago for research purposes. Considering his experience with 50, it seemed likely (With 50 Cent’s influence) that Terence was to be the writer of the story that ventures to explore an exaggerated outlook on an alternate life 50 Cent could’ve had, if he weren’t a rapper, but rather, a street-hewn hustler with a die-hard attitude and give-without-regret personality. It follows Mr. Cent after being backstabbed, shot nine times and lead into an international crime conspiracy dealing with the common assortment of less-than-legal paraphernalia. So of course, 50 Cent is out for a little payback...Okay a lot of payback. In 50 Cent’s Bulletproof, players immerse into the world of the unlawful underground. Hence, playing by the rules is not an option for the hardcore action savant. As dodging the law and taking out crime syndicates, in and around L.A, will require a lot of firepower and a little help from 50 Cent’s savvy group of the rap-world, the G-Unit.
Arrested decorum
Like recent, hard-knocks and bone-busting (super) action titles (i.e., The Punisher, Total Overdose, Warriors, etc.,) Bulletproof is one of those games where too much of any gratuity is thankfully entertaining. Seemingly because some of the video-game action veterans who worked on Dead to Rights are also on board with development team, Genuine Games, to bring the action hard and relentless.
Players will have a healthy choice of weapons and variable means of violence to carry out on their foes. Some of these means include, but not limited to: Grabbing your enemy and using them as a human shield; eating bullets for your protection, or plowing their face into the heated coils on a stove. You can also rearrange the pavement by tossing foes off buildings; introducing their face to lots of broken glass, or smashing it to a pulp. One of the neat aspects of the game’s mechanics is the way the AI responds to player actions; take out one of the ring leaders and watch the flunkies scatter; disarm a boss with some fancy but deadly moves and watch his guards get angry or get scared. The AI is varied to the circumstances that players inflict; gun-ho tactics will ensure a completely different response from the AI as opposed to those who are much coyer about shooting first and asking later. Sometimes it’s not always about beating down your enemies, or cracking their skulls with your pistol. There’s times when talking can also get the job readily done. As street-thugs, dullards, lackeys, henchmen or hooligans can sometimes provide you with insightful info concerning the whereabouts of some characters. But talking your way around is more of a choice, not a requirement.
Guns, gangs and glory
What’s an action game without the standard plethora of weapons to make your enemies pay? 50's Bulletproof makes no exceptions to bringing a powerful array of deadly arsenal to the table.
As fore-mentioned, fists and bone busting grabs are amongst the list, along with the stock of pistols, shotguns, sub-machine guns, assault rifles, M-79 grenade launchers, rocket launchers and more. But that’s just the start of things. Having an assortment of guns and their variations are nice, but it’s what you do with them that make the value of entertainment so much more entertaining. For instance, 50 Cent has disarming moves he can use to retrieve weapons from foes while incapacitating them in the process. Much to the likes of Dead to Rights (viz., remember these are some of the same people from Namco?) 50 uses disarm techniques with all the glitz and glory of snazzy, spinning slow-motion camera effects, that is a repeated crowd-winning effort to provide fancy, John Woo-style shoot-outs.
With replay value being the distinguishing factor between a keeper and a renter, 50 Cent’s Bulletproof was given extra incentives to steer a crowd towards the keeper category. The option to buy and unlock new items, weapons, moves and even additional levels all add to the replay value. There’s plenty reasons offered within the game to keep players, playing.
Getting it done old-school style
In addition to the gruesome and action-packed, tense-ridden story mode, there’s also an arcade mode for the pure action enthusiast. It’s entirely about blasting punks to pieces, old-school arcade style. A hi-scores mode racks up the numbers based on the various sort of conditions the player used to achieve their kills: Body shields, Body jacking, Perfect shots, Counter-kills, etc., etc. But if that’s not enough, to enrich this tantalizing feast of violent entertainment, are a total of sixteen different playable characters from the G-Unit, including: Dr. Dre, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, Eminem and more. Each member of the G-Unit has special weapon settings or skills that determine the playing style, from extra health, or armor bonuses, to different weapon classes and skills with such weapons. Each having something different for certain encounters within the Arcade mode.
So after 50's fans get done with the Story mode and still feel like busting chops for the heck of it, they can carry their scrawny be-hind on over to the arcade mode for some serious cap-blasting. Or if you still need more, 50 Cent has custom soundtracks and videos specially tailored for Bulletproof, all coming at you on November 21, 2005.
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