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Review: Dispense street justice in 'Bulletproof'By Sid Lipsey  In "Bulletproof," rapper 50 Cent takes on the persona of a thuggish, heavily armed action hero. RELATED
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(NEW YORK) -- Rapper 50 Cent sure knows how to make the best of a bad situation. Back in his pre-superstar days, 50 Cent was shot nine times. He survived the shooting and celebrated it in the hit single "In Da Club." He then wrote about it in a best-selling autobiography and fictionalized it in his recent movie, "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'." 50 Cent continues his inspiring, and profitable, lemonade-out-of-lemons approach to personal hardship with his new video game, "Bulletproof." In the game you and a fictionalized version of 50 Cent go on a blood-soaked quest to dole out some street justice. 50 Cent is not 50 Cent, the rapper in this game; he's 50 Cent, the hardest street hustler in New York, a thuggish, heavily armed action hero who dispenses wads of cash to neighborhood snitches and various ne'er-do-wells but still has to take the subway everywhere. "Bulletproof" is brimming with star power. Its storyline was written by Terence Winter, a writer for "The Sopranos." The game's supporting characters are voiced by members of 50's real-life G-Unit record label, including rappers Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Tony Yao. But the game's real star turns come from superstar rappers Dr. Dre and Eminem. Dre plays a neighborhood weapons dealer and Eminem plays a, er... "shady" police detective named McVicar. 50 and G-Unit's music is all over this game -- 150 tracks in all including 13 previously unreleased songs. And you can piece them together to create your own game soundtrack. As far as gameplay goes, "Bulletproof" is a flashy yet stripped-down shooter. Forget about playing with your friends online; "Bulletproof" offers single-player action only. But there's plenty of it. Unlike the bad guys in most action video games -- who, despite recent advances in artificial intelligence, still tend to stand around waiting for you to shoot them -- enemies here are very mobile and come at you from directions that seem to vary each time you play. These cunning and agile bad guys make for a game that's more challenging than most. But they also add a level of frenetic, high-caliber chaos that enhances the fun. Be warned: "Bulletproof" more than earns its MA rating. The language is very raw and graphic, much like the language on your average hip-hop CD. And the level of violence may surprise even the most hard-core gamers. In close-quarters combat, you can have 50 take out an enemy with a variety of gruesome "counter-kills" reminiscent of the finishing moves in the "Mortal Kombat" games. But when you're fictionalizing 50 Cent's street persona, a certain level of violence probably comes with the territory. And, coming on the heels of 50 Cent's music, books and movies, "Bulletproof" is perhaps 50's most ambitious take yet on his slugs-to-riches story. That is, until he decides to do "Bulletproof: The Broadway Musical." 
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