Head2Head – 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Length: 00:03:49 We go Head2Head with 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. Which version should you drop your hard earned pennies on?

For our latest Lens of Truth LIVE! we had a chance to sit down and compare 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. We had a lot of fun playing this one but there were a few major differences. You have to ask yourself a tough question. What means more to you? Looks or performance?

The game starts with 50 Cent performing a sold-out concert somewhere in the middle east. We soon find out that 50 Cent and the G-Unit are robbed of their cash and paid with a priceless diamond encrusted skull. Yet again, 50 Cent and the G-Unit get robbed by a local crime-lord’s gang, but this time they stole the diamond encrusted skull. Determined to collect his payment and enact revenge on the idiots foolish enough to disrespect him, 50 Cent sets out to get rich or die trying. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand features intense third-person action/shooter gameplay, an intuitive cover system similar to the well know Gears of War franchise. A drop in and drop out online multiplayer co-op, melee counter-kills and a soundtrack that combines 50 Cent’s greatest hits with 18 exclusive new tracks. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand puts players in control of their own virtual action film by blending visuals from the Unreal 3 game engine technology with an over-the-top story and voice over work by 50 Cent and the G-Unit. Surprisingly this game was pretty amusing and fun to play. The characters and environment were especially good looking and with a control style similar to Gears of War it was actually fun to play. Although the game looked very close on both systems there were major differences between the two that couldn’t be ignored.

This is a great example of how a game can be ported to two different systems and still look almost identical. Each system looks really impressive and if we didn’t play these side by side I doubt we would have noticed a difference in graphics. As usual the Xbox 360 had slightly clearer in-game textures than the PS3. We usually don’t count pre-rendered cut scenes but this time I feel it’s important to mention them because of how bad I thought they looked. Both versions had some pretty bad compression going on. This was probably the first time I saw a rendered cut scene look inferior to the actual game, I kid you not, the game looked way better.

Now just because a game has better textures and better cut scenes doesn’t make it the atomic rap king. So before continuing on a performance rampage you need to ask your self one question. What’s more important to you as a gamer? Looks or performance? I personally feel if looks are hurting the overall performance of a game then developers should compensate by systematically removing technical features from the game until a stable frame rate is achieved. Unfortunately some people may disagree, and choosing priority for performance over graphics or vice versa. But really it comes down to personal preference. Instead of making a personal decision let’s focus on the technical facts each game brings to the mic.

The Xbox 360 version definitely had the edge in the graphics department sporting sharper textures and higher anti-aliasing. Also the Xbox 360 and PS3 loading times where almost identical even with a mandatory install required for the PS3 version.  Fortunately the 1.7 gb install only took 3 minutes to complete, making this one of the fastest installs we have witnessed on the PS3 so far. Now if you are only comparing static images the Xbox 360 easily wins this Head2Head but there is a terrifying truth that lies beneath.

While the Xbox 360 may look superior in still shots another story is told when in motion. Wolverine’s claws made a guest appearance on the Xbox 360 version by constantly slicing the screen in half. Seriously though the Xbox 360 version had some of the worst screen tearing we seen since Golden Axe Beast Rider. Every single round fired from your weapon splits the mussel flash effect into two that made it really difficult to focus on aiming. Not only did every bullet fired cause screen tearing on the Xbox 360 version, but the tearing happened even when walking down an empty hallway with absolutely nothing happening.

Roll over the image to see the differences. Notice the buildings in  the distance are much easier to see on the Xbox 360. Also the character lighting is different.

Roll over the image to see the differences.

Roll over the image to see the differences.

THQ has turned the Titanic around thankfully by not recreating another WWE Legends of WrestleMaina for us.  This time the two versions actually looked very close and both where enjoyably and entertaining to play. THQ has redeemed themselves with 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and should be proud that they managed to utilize their talent and made a game worthy on either console.

	G R A P H I C S
	Xbox 360 wins this category with slightly sharper textures and less aliasing throughout. Either way both version looked great and handled the Unreal 3 engine very well.
	P E R F O R M A N C E
	PS3 wins this category with flying colors. While both games suffered with frame rate dips here and there the Xbox 360 suffered with some seriously horrific  screen tearing.
	C O N T R O L
	Tie. If you liked the way Gears of War controls then you’ll love these controls. Minus the roadie run the control scheme are identical to Gears of War layout, and both controllers handled identical.
	L O A D I N G
	Tie. Loading times where virtually identical.
	O U T C O M E
	Tie. Both version of this game looked really close in terms of graphics. It just depends on if you what graphics or performance. And by utilizing a control scheme similar to Gears of War made the game fun to play on either console.