Post by Double~Hitz on Sept 16, 2005 0:51:23 GMT
You can't accuse hardcore rapper 50 Cent of hypocrisy when he says "get rich or die trying."
When we were delivering papers for some cash to buy North vs South, 50 was selling vials of crack. At school. From the age of twelve, 50 always had his eyes on the Benjamins. And it flowed his way - first via a $5000 a day crack business, then by building a huge underground reputation on mix tapes.
His breakthrough came when he was spotted by Eminem and smashed records left, right and centre with his first massive album, Get Rich or Die Trying. This year's follow up The Massacre sold over a million copies in four days stateside.
And like any good Rap mogul, the cashflow doesn't stop with the royalties. He brought along his own G-Unit, struck up a deal with Reebok to sell 50-endorsed trainers and even plasters his face all over a 50 Cent energy drink. And of course Fiddy was invited to feature in that Grand Theft Auto San Andreas game.
But 50 don't like to share the stage. He wants it all and Vivendi and developers Genuine Games are making the dream happen. In fact, the only surprise is that it's taken this long for his personal empire to encompass videogames.
The game might be all about the green but 50 does make a compelling anti-hero. In a rap-scene full of gun rhetoric, few have actually been through such genuine so much. Here's a guy who's been shot N-I-N-E times. Once in the face. And lived.
Not only has he done 'the crack dealing thing' he's so full of himself that gobbing off at established names like Jay-Z and Ghostfaced Killa got him dropped from his first label, dissed in public and beaten up.
His mouth runs so fast that he's only recently ended a feud with The Game, a bloke in his own G-Unit. 50 has an omnipresent bodyguard and wears a bulletproof jacket. Every. Single. Day. How many of you can say that, eh? EH? Not many. Not many at all.
So the background's there and Fiddy certainly is a 'character'. But this isn't a rags-to-riches story. It's more of a 'what if?' We grilled Andre Emerson, former Dead to Rights guru and now executive producer on this hip-hop blockbuster for gossip about the story.
With GTA San Andreas, 25 To Life and Snoop Dogg's Fear and Respect in production, hip-hop and gangsta games are hip as hell right now. Aren't they, Andre?
"This is not a 'hood' game," he says. "We aren't jumping on the bandwagon. Bulletproof is the definitive 50 Cent experience. It's a deep third-person shooter, with over three hours of past, present and exclusive 50 Cent and G-unit music - and tons of his music videos. It's the first must-have fusion of gaming, music and video."
Then Emerson adds, darkly: "This game will be 'M' rated and is intended for an adult audience." So Bulletproof is set to be a gaming/hip-hop playground with voiceovers and fan unlockables a-go-go.
Presumably Fiddy has been pretty involved then? "50 has been engaged since day one," Emerson confirms. "I've never seen anything like it. The idea for the game actually came from him and Jimmy (Lovine, Interscope records).
50 has done hours of voice recording, he is writing new music and freestyles and has been actively involved in the game's story, content and mechanics. He's amazing to work with."
Sweet. We struggle to imagine 50 setting down in front of his Mac wrestling with writer's block and trying to conjure up the backstories of characters, though. Who's penning this yarn?
"The story was inked by Emmy-Award winner, Terry Winter. Terry is an exec producer and writer for the legendary Sopranos series and also wrote the screenplay for 50's movie Locked and Loaded. The story for the game is a modern contemporary crime classic."
That's thoroughbred writing pedigree, dues paid, but prising details about actual missions from Andre was a little trickier. Especially since we forgot all of our gats.
"All of the 'missions' are tightly woven into the story, so we can't give too much away just yet. But 50 will be working with the G-Unit - (Lloyd) Banks, (Young) Buck and (Tony) Yayo."
And will Em and The Doc be appearing? "As Dre would say, 'Hell Yeah!'" Well, if you're gonna roll, you may as well do it with hip-hop's biggest, hardest, richest and gobbiest.
So what we're left with is how 50 Cent's life might have been had he not become one of the world's biggest hip-hop stars. After smoking a big fat bowl of, er, imagination. And the denouement? A violent, dark videogame-cum-hip-hop-show-off interactive experience.
Set on the dark and dangerous film noir influenced streets of NYC it tracks the fortunes of 50 as a Noo Yoik hustler who gets entangled in an international conspiracy.
As a result he'll have to seriously shake up, or (more to the point) shoot, his way through the city's crime families. This won't be a GTA romp-a-thon but a game with a story that will drive you through the game.
Expect a far more linear, narrative-driven structure with some pretty awesome set pieces.
A hustler doesn't own the streets alone of course. 50 will come across various different crews including gangbangers, bikers, the Italian mob and Latinos who'll fight both with and against you as the story unfolds.
And of course your own G-Unit. But mates and tattoos don't cut the mustard alone. Emerson filled us in...
"The arsenal is gigantic. We've got everything from nine millies to Macs to AK's to grenade launchers. There are over 20 heaters in the game."
You may be packing more heat than the sun but Andre insists that there's more to it than blasting away. "The game mechanic diversity is crazy. We've got extremely brutal counter-kills, silent kills, human shields, mobile cover objects that allow you to run or crush enemies with a dumpster for instance."
Any particular favourite moves? "Body jacking," he say. "You can steal everything from fallen enemies, from wallets to chains, and from passports to credit cards."
Combining 50's darkly humorous lyrics with an outrageous take on the gangster lifestyle makes for what looks like some truly sensational action.
We've seen 50 using enemies' bodies as shields, leaping across furniture while firing, dual-wielding automatic weapons and when all else is up, taking out a goon by throwing a pistol at his face - made all the cooler with slick, stylised animation.
The city might not be laid open for you but this crime caper will take in a broad cross-section of New York - from subways to mansions, junkyards to offices, it seems badass crime rots every part of the Big Apple to the core.
Each gang has its own hangouts of course, and in those areas you'll come across different levels of enemies with a hierarchy that takes in foot soldiers, generals and leaders, with seniority seemingly reflected in height and gut size.
Saving the world in your own unique thug way takes a bit more than whacking fatty though. On the streets you'll have to interact with pawnbrokers, weapon dealers, informants, shady doctors and music bootleggers.
If you need a little R&R before your next blood-soaked killing spree you can chill in your crib listening to 50 music and watching honey-filled videos. And of course, being a P.I.M.P. there'll be a few hip-hop honeyz, all too keen to 'interact' with you. And have sex too, we'd wager.
You can also impress the fly ladies in your local 'hood and let your inner 50 run riot by using the 'lab'.
Here you can mix beats with 50 and G-Unit freestyle lyrics to create phat joints without having to wear a baseball cap at a jaunty angle or buy baggy pants with the surface area of the Millennium Dome's roof.
50 Cent Bulletproof tells a story that's about as far removed from British culture as you can get. But let's face it: a game about getting pissed on Stella before pathetically attempting to trade blows with some other mashed up idiot/your best mate/a traffic light doesn't exactly inspire.
If we're more than happy laying the smack down with a bit of Kung Fu in ancient China or imagining ourselves as a futuristic space marine fighting aliens, it's fair to say that hip-hop gangsters provide an equally valid base for grounding a combat fantasy game in.
And we're reassured that they're exploiting the resources at their disposal - maximising the support of some of the world's few bona fide superstars, getting a decent writer in and committing themselves to a Daily Mail-bating orgy of bloodshed.
50 Cent may have rolled the dice on making this game, but despite giving us a glimpse, Genuine Games are keeping their cards all too close to their chest right now.
Will this be the dopest game dropped this decade or a cash-in dropped for dopes? We'll be the first to let you know once Vivendi show their hand.
More very, very soon...
50 Cent Bulletproof will be available for PS2, Xbox and PSP this autumn
source - www.gamesradar.com
