Beta + Cancelled Others Video Games - Page 126 of 173

Shattered Nations is a cancelled sci-fi action / RTS game that was in development by Blizzard Entertainment. There is not much info on this lost project besides a teaser trailer in which we see a futuristic city and a flying helicopter. From the video description we can read that:

The game was set in a world which was at peace but one day fire rained down from the sky, in which people were forced to scavenge for food and technology. There was a 20 year nuclear winter which made the world into a vast wasteland. The player would have to search for technology and move your people around so that the civilization will thrive.

Rumors say that Shattered Nations evolved into Starcraft. In some issues of PC Champ (a Korean magazine from late 1995 to early 1996) derboo found a render image that shows one mech from Shattered Nations, but in a following issue, that same mech was described as the Goliath from Starcraft (The Goliath in the final game looks way different, though).

The original Starcraft was released in 1998, so it’s possible that in 3 years Blizzard decided to completely change Shattered Nations’ settings and story to create their popular RTS. It’s also possible that some of the Shattered Nations’ assets could have been reused in Starcraft. Sadly we don’t have any confirmation of this theory and even Blizzard refers to Shattered Nations as one of their cancelled games.

Thanks to derboo for the contribution!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Videos:

Others, PC / MAC

Warhammer: Dark Crusaders [PC – Cancelled]

monokoma

25-04-2010

8 Comments

Warhammer: Dark Crusaders is a cancelled FPS that was in development for PC by Mindscape in 1995 / 1996. This project is not related to the RTS “Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade” expansion pack that was released in 2006. The 1996 Dark Crusaders was going to be one of the few first person shooters based on the Warhammer world, but the gameplay was not that much fun and in the end Mindscape decided to never publish the game, even though it was almost complete.

PC Gamer Online even reviewed a review-copy, with a 65% score:

Initially, the gameplay bears a strong resemblance to another squad-based shooter — Terra Nova — but unlike the sleek, efficient commands and diverse missions in TN, Dark Crusaders doesn’t let you make the most of your squad, and the missions don’t really require you to either.
During each of the 15 missions, which range from kill-’em-all scenarios to more specific reconnaissance missions, there are commands to order your troops to explore, follow, and teleport to and fro. But regardless of which command you choose, the results seem to be the same as if you left your brethren at home.
When ordered to explore, troops merely bump around walls shooting any enemies they encounter, then bump around some more often getting stuck in tight passages or wandering about aimlessly, leaving any and all mission-related work for you.
The weak command interface is so disappointing that during most missions it hardly seems worth the effort to even add units to the roster, since you’ll end up doing all the work yourself.

It seems that the FMV sequences used in Warhammer: Dark Crusaders were later recycled for Warhammer: Final Liberation, a turn-based tactics game published for PCs in 1997.

Derboo found a screenshot of the game in an old Korean magazine, if someone has saved more images or videos from old magazines or websites, please let us know!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections! Thanks to Michal Fridrich and Tragos2d for the scans!

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Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

The Fallen [PSX PC – Cancelled]

monokoma

23-04-2010

1 Comment

The Fallen is a cancelled action adventure game that was in development in 1995 / 1996 by Sensory Deception and it would have been published by Psygnosis for the original Playstation and PC. Sadly just few screenshots were found by Celine in CD Consoles magazine issue #19 and Edge magazine issue #33.

Below you can read the story / setting of the game, as announced at E3 1996:

The Lords are the law enforcers of the future, maintaining their own brand of vicious law and order in cities across the U.S. The Fallen are their prey, the drop-outs from society who fall foul of The System and want to find their own way without rules. When the two meet, only chaos can follow.
Play Lord or Fallen in this huge and minutely detailed strategic adventure which takes you from coast to coast across America and offers so many real-life options, you’ll think you’re there. And with bribery, corruption, gambling and violence all on the agenda, there might not be the place you want to be.

Some of the promised features:

Unique characterisation system introduces realistic characters capable of complex interaction.
Fully textured real-time 3D graphics.
Non-linear structure allows the player to dictate the action strategy.
Huge array of fully interactive vehicles, weapons and special objects.
Combat includes hand-to-hand fighting, vehicle ramming and use of futuristic weapons.
Multi-player options (PC version)

Even if we don’t know much about the project, from this description it seems that the gameplay could have been somehow similar to a futuristic Grand Theft Auto. The Fallen was cancelled for unknown reasons, maybe because it was too ambitious for 1996.

If you know someone who worked on this game and can share some more info or media, please let us know!

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Dreamcast, Others, PC / MAC, Sega

Alien Breed: Conflict [PC / Dreamcast – Cancelled]

monokoma

22-04-2010

2 Comments

Alien Breed: Conflict (aka Alien Breed Action, ABC, or ABA) is a cancelled FPS in the Alien Breed series that was in development by Team17 in 1999 / 2000 for PC and Dreamcast. It was meant to be a follow-up to Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds, published in 1996 by Ocean Software. Sadly the development was cancelled as the size of the project was a bit overwhelming at the time.

We can read a short preview of Alien Breed Conflict on Computer And Videogames, but sadly only few screens are available:

ABC is a darkly futuristic, real-time 3-D strategy game. The player takes control of a small band of special operations soldiers as they fight for the freedom of their people. These guerrillas carry out dangerous missions behind enemy lines using guile, cunning, stealth and strategic abilities. Missions, including assassinations, strategic destruction, information retrieval and prisoner rescue, will be attempted by the player as he develops his skills of tactical combat.
You’ll get to develop your own characters with the skills you desire, deploy your units with predefined orders, command multiple groups, define your own tactics and select your weapons of choice.
The singleplayer missions in the game are said to be vast. Team17 will also focus strongly on multiplay and will run dedicated servers to save player stats and rankings.

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

Images:

Dreamcast, Others, PC / MAC, Sega

MDK2 [PC Dreamcast – Beta / Concept]

monokoma

14-04-2010

No Comments

MDK2 is an action game developed by BioWare, as a sequel to the original MDK developed by Shiny Entertainment and released in 1997 by Interplay. MDK2 was originally released for the Dreamcast and PC in 2000, but it was later revised and re-released for the PlayStation 2 as MDK2: Armageddon. [Info from Wikipedia]

Some of the early screenshots released for this project show a beta build 20% complete. The character models seem to be the same, though the places in these pictures do not exist in the final product. Some of them are similar to an area at the start of the game , so maybe it was an early version of that stage.

The the lightning looks extremely weird especially on the character model. The HUD is also different.

Finally, the lack of any screenshots of the other two characters leads us to believe that they had either not been implemented yet or that the game wasn’t going to include them.

If you can notice more differences in these beta screens and artworks, please let us know!

Thanks to F2bnp for the contribution!

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