Dead to Rights was a fantastic third-person shooter inspired by many Hong Kong and action noir thrillers. The game sold more than 500k copies in its prime and was well-received by critics and players alike. This article takes a trek back to the past, covering some of the changes as seen in the E3 2001 footage.
Some of the changes are the following:
Different running animation
Different combat moves
Different clothes
Different environment
Special finishing moves are absent from the final game
Kill.Switch is a third-person shooter developed by Namco Hometek and published by Namco in 2003 for PC, Xbox, PS2, and the Game Boy Advance. The game revolutionized the TPS genre by introducing several groundbreaking concepts that ultimately influenced high-profile titles like Uncharted, Gears of War, and Rainbow Six Vegas.
Despite its influence, Kill.Switch sadly didn’t receive any nominations or awards. However, its legacy is deeply embedded in the DNA of modern third-person shooters.
Before its release, the game underwent several changes, as seen in E3 and beta footage. One striking difference is the HUD, which was originally green instead of blue. In another clip, Nick Bishop—the game’s protagonist—had a different running animation. Additionally, early concept art reveals plans for a female lead character, though this idea was ultimately scrapped.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much information about Kill.Switch’s pre-release development beyond E3 and demo footage, as well as a few bits of trivia. Fun fact: Kill.Switch was supposed to have a follow-up titled The Adversary: City Under Siege. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled around 2004 and never saw the light of day.
Images:
Videos:
A documentary about the inception of Kill.Switch and the cancelled sequel
Plague of Darkness (also known as The Plague) is a canceled action-adventure game developed by Widescreen Games and published by Namco Hometek for Playstation 2 and Xboxaround 2003-2004.
The game was announced during the ECTS 2003 for a release planned in the summer of 2004 as we can read on Gamezone:
“Gamers Beware: Namco to spread gaming fever next summer with Plague of Darkness title to infect action adventure genre on PlayStation®2 and Xbox®.
Leading video games publisher Namco Hometek Inc. promises intense, nonstop action in its newest thriller, Plague of Darkness (tentative title), announced today. Scheduled for release on the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft, Plague of Darkness will ship in the summer of 2004. Developed by Widescreen Games in Lyon, France, Plague of Darkness will feature Xbox Live functionality, complete with downloadable content, as well as PlayStation®2 online support with exclusive extras.
“Plague of Darkness will raise the bar in the action adventure genre through its haunting original storyline, close combat elements, stunning graphics and intense action,” said Jon Kromrey, Producer at Namco Hometek Inc.
“We think gamers will be infected with its immersive and addictive gameplay.”
In Plague of Darkness, Namco transports players to ravaged Medieval Europe during the time of the Black Death. Eight brooding environments with 58 sub-locations will put players to the test, each containing new objectives, enemies and obstacles. A linear storyline with deadly puzzles, fascinating characters and chilling discoveries allow players to experience unique game play mechanics and participate in over-the-top fantasy combat. In a time where advanced weaponry doesn’t yet exist, players have a multitude of basic weapons, special tools and magic at their disposal. Over five weapons are featured in the game, including a variety of swords, crossbows, daggers and the ability to cast magic spells. The game’s outstanding cinematic effects set an additional ambient tone for Plague of Darkness, immersing players deep into the dark world environments.
The game’s story features a Knight of the Order, Douran, who sets out on a mission to bring down a terrible demon. The demon has been haunting the land of the living by feasting on the black souls of the dead, in order to bring about its own resurrection. During the course of his adventure, Douran encounters other characters that may hold answers to the mystery behind the demonic plague, but can he trust them? In the course of the story, the hero fights the omnipresent evil demon by using the game’s sacred relic in a quest to spread peace throughout Europe.”
In December of the same year, Gamekult revealed a little more about the game:
“In a medieval Europe ravaged by the Black Plague (1348), the young knight Douran sets sail for the island of St. Angui, to join Jacques de Villemort, the head of the Order, and his father, whom he has seen attacked by an evil spirit in a recent nightmare. Offshore, Douran sees a thick dark fog with a Death’s face, which quickly takes the form of a claw to trap the ship and capsize it. At the back of his cabin, our hero hears the horrified laments of the members of the crew, before seeing the strange tablecloth rush under his door … Small peculiarity, the combat system will propose to assign tarot cards to get special spells. Equipped with an online function on Xbox as on PS2 to obtain new equipment, Plague of Darkness is scheduled for next June in the United States.”
In April 2004, Sliced Gaming Australia shared a bit more about the game design:
“As you progress through Plague of Darkness you’ll be able to upgrade Douran’s weapons, magic and armour Role-Playing Game-style. As the game has an emphasis on action and combat, Douran will have more combat-based moves than simply attacking; he’ll also be able to block enemies’ attacks and even grab them to execute throw moves. Twenty-five enemies will be featured in the game, some with non-magical attacks and some with magical attacks.”
However, Plague of Darkness quietly vanished without a trace after this. We can speculate that something went wrong during it’s development process and Namco decided to pull the plug. Oddly enough, a partnership between Widescreen Games and Namco will eventually come to fruition with the making of Dead to Rights 2, released in the end of the 2005 year, after a troubled development.
Wonder Momo 2 (ワンダーモモ2) is a cancelled sequel to Namco’s 1987 cult classic beat ‘em up, that was in early development by the company around 1993. It seems this time players would have been able to choose between 2 super heroes / magical girls protagonists, and possibly a multiplayer coop mode could have been available.
As far as we know the game was never officially announced, but as noticed by VGDensetsu former Namco artist Tatsuya Ishikawa shared his Wonder Momo 2 some details and concept art on Twitter:
“In 1993, there was a time when we proposed a project called Wonder Momo 2 and proceeded to the p1 prototype, but at that time many VS development personnel were introduced to Tekken and it became a phantom project due to various circumstances.”
“One of the reasons for the Wonder Momo 2 project was that after the development of Newman was completed, there was a talk about whether to do Newman with Tekken’s polygon technology, but he refused to make girls cute with Poly at that time.”
Nandemo!? Taihoman (なんでも!? タイホマン) is a cancelled action platformer that was in development by Namco around 1995, planned to be released on the Super Famicom / SNES. A short preview of the game was also published in EGM (April 1995 issue), but in the end the game was never released in any region. It seems gameplay would have been similar to Kirby and MegaMan, with the robotic protagonist (Taihoman) being able to absorb abilities / fuse with other objects to gain new skills.
“The robot cop from a popular manga bounces into side-scrolling action! Taihoman is an unbelivably advanced mech who has been designed to combat an inept criminal syndicate. He can fuse with many devices to gain powers, line a fan to fly, a lighter to spew flames, a battery to zap foes and even a pop machine to bombard enemies with cans of cola!”
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