WWE Titans: Parts Unknown is a cancelled wrestling game, which was in development at Next Level Games (best known for Super Mario Strikers and Punch-Out for Wii) during 2004. It was planned for release on the Playstation 2 and Xbox. This 1 vs. 1 fighter was cancelled for unknown reasons by its publisher, THQ.
It appears the game never fully entered development and was subject to cancellation fairly early on. It’s possible a prototype for it was created at one point, although no media of one has ever been recovered. It seems that Next Level developed a proposal to take WWE games in a very different direction, but the pitch was shot down by THQ. A variety of concept images from the planned game have since been unearthed from the blogs of former Next Level Games artists.
The logo lined up for the project.
Titans attempted to add a bold, new spin on the formula of previous WWE games. Its art style was very different from the norm of the series, featuring exaggerated character designs and more cinematic locales for its stages.
The level settings of WWE Titans were varied and diverse, in comparison to other wrestling games. They ranged from urban environments, like the rooftops of a sprawling city, to the top of an old castle in a desolate, snowy wilderness. It appears that some of the individual wrestlers had arenas dedicated to them, as one of the concepts is labelled “Cena Stage”.
Alongside a number of established wrestlers, the team also experimented with its own original cast members made for the game. In one of the drawings created for the project, we can see they played around with the idea of adding anthropomorphic warriors, based upon animals like crocodiles and bears; in addition to sorcerer characters.
Original character ideas created for the game, including anthropomorphs.
Aside from the stylised look of Titans, there remains little information available on its planned gameplay mechanics. One big feature we have been able to ascertain is destructible environments, which appear to have been one of the title’s key focuses. Work made by one of Next Level’s artists detailed how players would have been able to destroy the walls around the castle arena.
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