Playstation 2 (PS2)

Shaolin Streets [PS2 / PSP – Cancelled]

Shaolin Streets is a cancelled beat ’em up that was in development in 2005 by Jailed Games for the Playstation 2 and PSP, before it was canned and reworked for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. A playable beta version of Shaolin Streets was somehow leaked online, so you can have a look at the videos below, to have a better idea about how the game would have been played. Sadly, even the Xbox 360 / PS3 versions of Shaolin Streets were cancelled and it seems that Jailed Games had to close down for economic issues.

Videos by MaximumRD:

 

Jak 3 [Beta – PS2]

Jak 3 is an action game developed by Naughty Dog as the third game in the main Jak and Daxter series, published in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. As we can read on Wikipedia, Jak 3 was first revealed to be in the works by one of Superplay’s writers on January 8, 2004. While browsing the Naughty Dog offices, he saw early work being done with desert environments.

Below you can see a video of a Jak 3 beta dated 24-28 August and about 70% complete, thanks to BamzookiMan130.

  • Most maps lack borders, such as water or walls.
  • Crates are missing from the game.
  • Health bar for vehicles.
  • Different noises for collecting items.
  • Different shooting noises for the desert drones.
  • The Wasteland map is vastly different.
  • NPC’s seem to be missing from Haven City.
  • The KGB Blast Bot seems to rarely take damage.
  • The voicing in the game seems to be unfinished/not started on.
  • The Armor of Mar is unused.
  • The Jak 2 health bar is used, and even though it is used in the trailer, there seems to be no way to check how much Light Eco you have.
  • When Jak changes from the Scatter Gun to the Plasmite RPG, the diagram of the gun doesn’t change.
  • There is no appearance of the Dark Mod for the Blaster in the trailer, hinting that one of more variants of it were unfinished.

Video:
 

Colosseum: Road To Freedom [Beta / Uncut – PS2]

Colosseum: Road to Freedom (aka Gladiator: Road to Freedom in Japan) is an action game developed by Ertain and published by Koei in 2005 for the Playstation 2. The uncut / beta version is a different enough game that it could be probably be considered the equivalent of a “director’s cut”. Aside from the slave trade mode missing, it’s an overall MUCH more polished and satisfying game to play all around and certainly a LOT less frustrating.

There is actually a “Retry?” option available for boss battles that lets you replay the fight several times if you lose. You do not instantly lose all of your items and half your money if you continue as you do in the release version. It is baffling as to why this feature was removed as it lets you “scout” out the boss and if you lose you will be able to prepare yourself better to fight him/her the next time around.

The uncut / beta version contains a “Gore” option that can be turned on or off. When turned on, body parts can be hacked off during battle and go flying across the screen. Severed heads can be used as handheld weapons, thrown, or kicked across the ground at opponents. Legs get hacked off and enemies fall down in severe pain. It adds a lot of fun and realism to the gameplay, and of course better portrays the brutal nature of what was gladiator combat. Body parts can also be carried out after a fight and sold to the merchant for a very large amount of money, so much in fact that you can buy any armor you could possibly want and the extra money allows you to upgrade your armors exactly how you want them.

I don’t know quite what happened between the two versions, but so many things were changed around and removed for worse in the release version and I feel the game suffered because of it. It almost seems to me as if the game producers / developers had conflicting concepts of how they wanted the game to be, and the release version we know won in the end.

Thanks a lot to DeusFlux for the info and the video!

Videos:
 

Cold Fear [Beta – XBOX PS2 PC]

Cold Fear is a 3rd person shooter horror title developed for the PS2, Xbox, and PC. Developed by DarkWorks, published by Ubisoft and released in 2005.

Development:

Cold Fear didn’t start as a horror title, based on information and speculation, darkworks was working on several new projects with several publishing and developing houses. In 2003 when DarkWorks was working with Capcom thier project: Lost Mantis/USS  Antarctica was canned. In 2004 DarkWorks worked with Namco U.S. on a new title. The game was Time Crysis Adventure. However the game, much like Lost Mantis, was canned, but not before Ubisoft stepped in and took over the project. TC: Adventure evolved into the game Cold Fear. There are several Concept Art images that remain of Time Crysis: Adventure. You can view the Concept Art below:

Alpha Stage:

Prior to the games release Cold Fear orignally looked more detailed and gritty. The enviroments showcased in these screenshots are different in the final version – similar but different. The main chracter in this build was not from the USCG (United States Coast Guard) but part of the Navy Seals and was involved in the operation that invaded the russian ship at the begining of the game.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE THE SCREENSHOTS)

 

Tom Hansen Background

In the alpha build, Tom Hansen was a 29 year old captain of the navy seals – he wasn’t part of the USCG (United States Coast Guard). It can be assumed that – much like the final version – the navy seals was wiped out. Making Tom Hansen the last survivor on the russian ship. It’s possible that Tom was the leader of that Navy Seal group.

 

Scooty Racers [PS2 XBOX – Cancelled]

Scooty Racers is a cancelled racing game that was in development for the Xbox and Playstation 2. Rapallo (Italy) based publisher and developer Trecision announced in 2001 that it was working on this arcade racer for next generation consoles. In the game, players race agile scooters through large free-roaming environments depicted using a cel-shaded graphical style. For the project Ivan Del Duca from Milestone ( known software house specialized in racing games ) and Rick Gush from Westwood were hired by the italian company. In the later stages the game was adapted to the Popeye license and renamed Popeye: Hush Rush for the Spinach however all the efforts were wasted when Cryo, the french publisher, closed doors in 2002.

Trecision got back the full rights over the game however, the closure of Cryo hit Trecision heavily, as the shareholders decided not to sustain the company anymore. Trecision filed for voluntary liquidation in July 2003.

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