Most Surprisingly Good Game

Next Best Story

Special Achievement

Have you ever read about an upcoming game and just knew in your heart that it was going to be awful? And what about the games that you don't see coming, the games you don't even know about until you happen to stumble upon them? These games have something in common: the potential to surprise us. Whether they made us wince every time we heard about them, or flew under our radar entirely, we were delighted to find that these games not only surpassed our expectations, but turned out to be the most surprisingly good games of 2009.

Editors' Choice Winner

Click to reveal winner

Editors' Choice Winner

And the winner is…

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Swordfish Studios

GameSpot's Best Games of 2009 Editors' Choice Winner

While 50 Cent may have been a smash hit in other forms of media, his 2005 video game debut was a dud. Though its critical reception seemed to doom it to obscurity, 50 Cent: Bulletproof sold remarkably well, all but guaranteeing a sequel. When the sequel was announced in 2008, it was received with a massive groan from the gaming public, and the revelation that a jewel-encrusted skull, of all things, was to be featured prominently in the game seemed to confirm suspicions that Blood on the Sand was going to be a whole lot of ridiculous nonsense.

What a pleasant surprise, then, when that ridiculous nonsense turned out to be pretty darn good. The inaccurate, unsatisfying gunplay of Bulletproof has been replaced by responsive controls and a variety of fun-to-shoot weapons; the bright, detailed Middle Eastern environments are a big improvement over the dreary cityscapes of the first game; and the music is much more competently integrated.

But 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand isn't just a vast improvement over a poor game; it's an entertaining third-person shooter in its own right. The arcade-style scoring system is surprisingly engaging, keeping the pace lively and rewarding players for their death-dealing skills. Though the action and environments can get a bit repetitive, there is enough brash, vulgar attitude to keep things entertaining, and the drop-in/drop-out cooperative play makes it easy to enjoy with a friend. Running through ruined streets, blasting anything that moves, and earning big points while a great selection of 50 Cent and G-Unit tracks play in the background is a whole lot of fun regardless of what your expectations were, which is why 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is the most surprisingly good game of 2009.

Readers' Choice Voting

Info	Title	Vote
	Comet Crash	Vote
	Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason	Vote
	DJ Hero	Vote
	G-Force	Vote
	50 Cent: Blood on the Sand	Vote
	Ghostbusters The Video Game	Vote
	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Vote
	Ninja Blade	Vote
	Stoked	Vote
	Velvet Assassin	Vote

Prev Special Achievement Intro

Next Best Story

21 Comments

Refresh comments

First to Last
Latest

prev next

Metalhed4lyfe
Posted Dec 29, 2009 3:24 pm GMT

What?! A game that further reinforces the idea that 50 cent is a macho poser jerk? jesus...I'll admit, it wasn't as bad as i thort it would be...but it was still pretty poor
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
Tomrock101
Posted Dec 23, 2009 5:51 pm GMT

Where Is Batman AA?
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
sambob530
Posted Dec 22, 2009 9:49 am GMT

Because that's the Editor's choice, that percentage is the number of readers who voted for it.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
Dinoblade
Posted Dec 22, 2009 5:22 am GMT

It says 50 cent won but it has a lower percentage than some of the other games.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
samedizombie
Posted Dec 21, 2009 3:26 pm GMT

Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason. This game proves that attention to detail and inovation will always win out.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
bm1212
Posted Dec 21, 2009 2:15 pm GMT

Wow the game still actually wasn't good.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
ace-of-spades93
Posted Dec 21, 2009 3:21 am GMT

Dj hero gets my vote.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
91210user
Posted Dec 20, 2009 10:19 am GMT

50 Cent gets my vote, after his imfamous repuation in early in the decade, he returns with a really good game, just shows there a part of him that does care about gamers. If he doesn't win the award, there should be an MMO after him.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
BalramRules
Posted Dec 19, 2009 8:21 am GMT

@chocolate1325

It was better than many people expected, true but come on, did you expect something that good from Eidos, I did, come on, they're GREAT devs.
- agree 1
- disagree 0
- = +1
- Sign in to rate this comment
chocolate1325
Posted Dec 19, 2009 7:51 am GMT

I think Batman should have been here because while it was good it was alot better than many expected.
- agree 1
- disagree 0
- = +1
- Sign in to rate this comment
BalramRules
Posted Dec 19, 2009 5:18 am GMT

UC2 should've been there, I thought it was gonna be awesome, in fact I knew it, but not that awesome in as much effort they put in it!! I JUST COULDN'T IMAGINE IT the way they did!! WOW!
- agree 1
- disagree 0
- = +1
- Sign in to rate this comment
efc91
Posted Dec 19, 2009 12:53 am GMT

Ghostbusters should have been in the top 5
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
psycho_path
Posted Dec 18, 2009 5:31 pm GMT

I wish Ghostbusters would make it to the top five nominees. I love Ghostbusters!
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
smithster118
Posted Dec 18, 2009 11:57 am GMT

I'm going for DJ Hero.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
Racer850
Posted Dec 18, 2009 10:44 am GMT

50 cent was a big surprise!
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
thenephariouson
Posted Dec 18, 2009 10:43 am GMT

Batman: Arkham Assylum gets my vote in this catagory
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
lukas1051
Posted Dec 18, 2009 10:27 am GMT

I'm surprised Borderlands wasn't here, it wasn't very hyped. Out of these, Ghostbusters is probably the only good one really.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
Jigsaw-
Posted Dec 18, 2009 7:04 am GMT

I'm quite surprised X-men Origin game is on here, I personaly didn't enjoy it.... :/ All in all Ghostbusters has to be the biggest supprise for me, (Well out of those on the list anyway).
And although my username may lead you to suspect a biased opinion, but I really do belevie Saw the video game should be on here.... I mean it turned out a decent game!
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
will952
Posted Dec 18, 2009 5:48 am GMT

The annoying thing is that even if you entered UC2 for EVERY category, Sony fans would boost it up anyway.
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment
viper_najem
Posted Dec 18, 2009 4:36 am GMT

Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason!
- agree 2
- disagree 0
- = +2
- Sign in to rate this comment

First to Last
Latest

prev next

Games Index

Introduction

Winner Reveal Schedule

Dec 21

Special Achievement
Dec 22

Dubious Honors
Dec 23

Genre Awards
Dec 24

Platform Awards
Dec 25

Game of the Year

Readers' Choice winners are announced Jan. 27, 2010

Special Achievement