Travicity
01-21-2011, 05:13 PM
Video Games You Will Never, Ever Play
I realize it's ridiculous to complain about not having enough games to play, but our hearts are still broken at the cancellation of these eleven games.
11
Metroid Dread
Okay, so we're all in agreement that Metroid: Other M was pretty disappointing, right? For all of Team Ninja's expertise at making hot chicks kick ass, they kind of dropped the ball with Samus Aran. And that just makes me nostalgic for a Metroid project that seems cursed to never see the light of day - Metroid Dread.
While the Metroid Prime series brought the franchise into 3D very well on the Gamecube, Nintendo also stuck to the traditional 2D games on its home systems. The DS bucked that trend and got a mediocre 3D game - Metroid Prime: Hunters. But it was also supposed to get a new 2D installment, Metroid Dread. Only a few rumored screenshots of the project exist, but in Metroid Prime: Corruption there is a secret message that states it is "nearing completion." Unfortunately, nothing has been seen or heard of the game since then, leading me to believe that it's gone for good.
10
Sadness
Probably the biggest complaint about the Nintendo Wii is how few and far between games for actual adult gamers are on the release schedule. Sure, if you want 400 Bratz games you're in luck, but if you actually enjoy deep and immersive gameplay experiences it's a rough console to own. It wasn't always that way - when the hardware was first announced (under the codename Revolution), there were tons of cool-looking games on the roster.
One of them was Sadness, a stylish black & white survival horror adventure developed by Polish studio Nibris. You played an aristocrat who survives a train crash in the Ukraine in the 1900s and must get both yourself and your blind son to safety. The developers promised intense psychological horror, something completely different from the Resident Evil-alikes that defined the genre.
Unfortunately, development took longer and longer and the game was cancelled in 2010, leaving nothing but tantalizing snippets of what could have been a strong title.
9
Dirty Harry
Normally a licensed game wouldn't make us froth at the mouth - 99% of them are lazy, shallow cash-ins. But The Collective's Dirty Harry was promising to be different. It took place in between the first two movies and put Harry back on the trail of Scorpio. Clint Eastwood was signed up to consult and voice act. It looked like it was going to be great.
And then, something happened. Reports vary as to why the game was canceled - some blame internal problems at The Collective, who would go on to see their next game canceled as well. Some say that the license was never really acquired, and the company was working on spec to show Warner how good the game would be if they got it. Whatever the reason, Dirty Harry will never drop. Fans and lucky-feeling punks will have to be satisfied with the 1990 NES game.
8
Redwood Falls
All we knew about Redwood Falls was a six-minute gameplay trailer from the PLAY 2006 show. The game, developed by Kuju, put a pretty weird new spin on the zombie-shooting concept. With insanely realistic damage modeling, you could blow chunks of flesh and organs off your foes - but, in a sick twist, they would grow back before your eyes.
It's fair to say that the developer took some of these ideas for the rail shooter House Of The Dead: Overkill, but the atmosphere and presentation on display in this video, even though it's obviously unfinished, makes me long for what could have been.
7
StarCraft: Ghost
Okay, the official status of StarCraft: Ghost is "suspended," but if you think this game is ever going to come out, you're going to wind up sad. First announced in 2002, the game - a third-person shooter with stealth elements - has been ping-ponged around a number of developers, none of which ever managed to get the game near playable.
However, in a kind of sad note towards Blizzard's priorities, they put 25 people on the cinematics for the game, so the freaking cutscenes are done. I think I speak for pretty much every gamer in the world when I say we would have been more than happy to have the game without the cutscenes, not vice versa.
6
Star Fox 2
Star Fox was a huge hit for the Super Nintendo, breathing new life into the aging system with its fast-paced 3D gameplay. Sure, it was low-poly, but it had that classic Nintendo attention to detail and it's still a blast to play today. Unsurprisingly, developer Argonaut started working on a sequel right away.
Unfortunately, Nintendo was already working on something - the Nintendo 64. With a new console coming out (and a new fully 3D Star Fox game for it), they didn't see a reason to release Star Fox 2, despite the fact that the game was virtually done. Leaked beta versions show that the gameplay was implemented with tons of new features and characters. This game not being released is a virtual crime against humanity.
5
Full Throttle: Hell On Wheels
Here's another sequel that was cut down in its prime. Tim Schafer's adventure games are some of the best the medium has ever seen - clever, diabolical and stuffed to the brim with unforgettable characters, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle still hold up today. After the success of the latter, a wild tale of a hard-boiled biker in a dystopian future, LucasArts started work on a sequel, which would abandon the SCUMM engine and put the game in a fully 3D world.
And then, something went wrong. LucasArts showed not only a teaser trailer but a playable build of the game at E3 in 2003, and the fans loved it. Mere weeks later, however, the game was cancelled. The reasons for it were unknown - Schafer had left the company by then, and some thought that the 3D graphics were inferior to competing titles, but the world will never have a real answer. Or a real sequel.
4
Shenmue III
So there was a time, back in the day, when Sega meant interesting, experimental, innovative and challenging games like nothing else on the market. The Dreamcast might have died an ignoble death, but some of the system's games were years ahead of their time. One such was Shenmue, Yu Suzuki's incredibly ambitious sandbox adventure game.
A sequel was released for the Xbox which further polished and refined the game's mechanics before ending with a serious cliffhanger. And then... nothing. Sega's management changed towards the conservative, the sales of the games weren't enough to justify their staggering development costs, and Suzuki fell from favor in the company. The story is all written, the fans still want it, but it doesn't look like Shenmue 3 is ever going to happen.
3
Fear And Respect
I'm not alone in preferring GTA: San Andreas to some of the games that followed - the sprawling nature of CJ's faux Los Angeles and the gang war and turf capturing options added an awesome layer of strategic complexity to the game, giving you more to do in between missions (which are always the worst part of the Grand Theft Auto games). A title that looked to grab that concept and run with it, Fear And Respect, was being developed by Midway with Snoop Dogg attached in 2005.
The script was by legendary hood director John Singleton. It was poised to hit the Xbox 360 and PS3. And then - gone. Midway pulled development and left the project hanging, with only hype to sustain it. It looks like it was better than Saint's Row at the very least.
2
Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
Another casualty of the casual crush here - Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was announced before the console's launch with both screens and video showing off a burly protagonist wielding an enormous hammer just to smash the living crap out of enemies. The visceral appeal of smashing domes with motion control seemed like an easy choice, but bad things happened at dev studio NST after the Wii hit the shelves.
Nintendo was so overwhelmed by the non-gamer response to the console and titles like Wii Sports that they called for a massive rollback on anything not casual-friendly, and Project H.A.M.M.E.R. fit that bill. After the exciting initial announcement, it vanished into the ether.
1
LMNO
When the news dropped that Steven Spielberg was teaming up with Electronic Arts to bring his visions to the world of video games, we were all pretty psyched. And then we got Boom Blox for the Wii as the first fruit of that collaboration - and while that was a fun, highly polished puzzle game, it wasn't very Spielberg if you know what I'm saying.
Froth recommenced with the project that was codenamed LMNO, an incredibly realistic, immersive adventure game that had the player breaking an alien woman named Eve out of a government installation and beginning a massive chase across the country, with both first-person parkour-inspired action as well as quieter segments where you built a relationship with her. This relationship was a major part of the game's focus, with Eve behaving differently based on your actions.
The game was insanely ambitious and highly promising, but sometimes hard business decisions need to be made and LMNO was canned, although EA says some of the work done will be used for another project. I just hope it's not Boom Blox 3.
UGO
I realize it's ridiculous to complain about not having enough games to play, but our hearts are still broken at the cancellation of these eleven games.
11
Metroid Dread
Okay, so we're all in agreement that Metroid: Other M was pretty disappointing, right? For all of Team Ninja's expertise at making hot chicks kick ass, they kind of dropped the ball with Samus Aran. And that just makes me nostalgic for a Metroid project that seems cursed to never see the light of day - Metroid Dread.
While the Metroid Prime series brought the franchise into 3D very well on the Gamecube, Nintendo also stuck to the traditional 2D games on its home systems. The DS bucked that trend and got a mediocre 3D game - Metroid Prime: Hunters. But it was also supposed to get a new 2D installment, Metroid Dread. Only a few rumored screenshots of the project exist, but in Metroid Prime: Corruption there is a secret message that states it is "nearing completion." Unfortunately, nothing has been seen or heard of the game since then, leading me to believe that it's gone for good.
10
Sadness
Probably the biggest complaint about the Nintendo Wii is how few and far between games for actual adult gamers are on the release schedule. Sure, if you want 400 Bratz games you're in luck, but if you actually enjoy deep and immersive gameplay experiences it's a rough console to own. It wasn't always that way - when the hardware was first announced (under the codename Revolution), there were tons of cool-looking games on the roster.
One of them was Sadness, a stylish black & white survival horror adventure developed by Polish studio Nibris. You played an aristocrat who survives a train crash in the Ukraine in the 1900s and must get both yourself and your blind son to safety. The developers promised intense psychological horror, something completely different from the Resident Evil-alikes that defined the genre.
Unfortunately, development took longer and longer and the game was cancelled in 2010, leaving nothing but tantalizing snippets of what could have been a strong title.
9
Dirty Harry
Normally a licensed game wouldn't make us froth at the mouth - 99% of them are lazy, shallow cash-ins. But The Collective's Dirty Harry was promising to be different. It took place in between the first two movies and put Harry back on the trail of Scorpio. Clint Eastwood was signed up to consult and voice act. It looked like it was going to be great.
And then, something happened. Reports vary as to why the game was canceled - some blame internal problems at The Collective, who would go on to see their next game canceled as well. Some say that the license was never really acquired, and the company was working on spec to show Warner how good the game would be if they got it. Whatever the reason, Dirty Harry will never drop. Fans and lucky-feeling punks will have to be satisfied with the 1990 NES game.
8
Redwood Falls
All we knew about Redwood Falls was a six-minute gameplay trailer from the PLAY 2006 show. The game, developed by Kuju, put a pretty weird new spin on the zombie-shooting concept. With insanely realistic damage modeling, you could blow chunks of flesh and organs off your foes - but, in a sick twist, they would grow back before your eyes.
It's fair to say that the developer took some of these ideas for the rail shooter House Of The Dead: Overkill, but the atmosphere and presentation on display in this video, even though it's obviously unfinished, makes me long for what could have been.
7
StarCraft: Ghost
Okay, the official status of StarCraft: Ghost is "suspended," but if you think this game is ever going to come out, you're going to wind up sad. First announced in 2002, the game - a third-person shooter with stealth elements - has been ping-ponged around a number of developers, none of which ever managed to get the game near playable.
However, in a kind of sad note towards Blizzard's priorities, they put 25 people on the cinematics for the game, so the freaking cutscenes are done. I think I speak for pretty much every gamer in the world when I say we would have been more than happy to have the game without the cutscenes, not vice versa.
6
Star Fox 2
Star Fox was a huge hit for the Super Nintendo, breathing new life into the aging system with its fast-paced 3D gameplay. Sure, it was low-poly, but it had that classic Nintendo attention to detail and it's still a blast to play today. Unsurprisingly, developer Argonaut started working on a sequel right away.
Unfortunately, Nintendo was already working on something - the Nintendo 64. With a new console coming out (and a new fully 3D Star Fox game for it), they didn't see a reason to release Star Fox 2, despite the fact that the game was virtually done. Leaked beta versions show that the gameplay was implemented with tons of new features and characters. This game not being released is a virtual crime against humanity.
5
Full Throttle: Hell On Wheels
Here's another sequel that was cut down in its prime. Tim Schafer's adventure games are some of the best the medium has ever seen - clever, diabolical and stuffed to the brim with unforgettable characters, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle still hold up today. After the success of the latter, a wild tale of a hard-boiled biker in a dystopian future, LucasArts started work on a sequel, which would abandon the SCUMM engine and put the game in a fully 3D world.
And then, something went wrong. LucasArts showed not only a teaser trailer but a playable build of the game at E3 in 2003, and the fans loved it. Mere weeks later, however, the game was cancelled. The reasons for it were unknown - Schafer had left the company by then, and some thought that the 3D graphics were inferior to competing titles, but the world will never have a real answer. Or a real sequel.
4
Shenmue III
So there was a time, back in the day, when Sega meant interesting, experimental, innovative and challenging games like nothing else on the market. The Dreamcast might have died an ignoble death, but some of the system's games were years ahead of their time. One such was Shenmue, Yu Suzuki's incredibly ambitious sandbox adventure game.
A sequel was released for the Xbox which further polished and refined the game's mechanics before ending with a serious cliffhanger. And then... nothing. Sega's management changed towards the conservative, the sales of the games weren't enough to justify their staggering development costs, and Suzuki fell from favor in the company. The story is all written, the fans still want it, but it doesn't look like Shenmue 3 is ever going to happen.
3
Fear And Respect
I'm not alone in preferring GTA: San Andreas to some of the games that followed - the sprawling nature of CJ's faux Los Angeles and the gang war and turf capturing options added an awesome layer of strategic complexity to the game, giving you more to do in between missions (which are always the worst part of the Grand Theft Auto games). A title that looked to grab that concept and run with it, Fear And Respect, was being developed by Midway with Snoop Dogg attached in 2005.
The script was by legendary hood director John Singleton. It was poised to hit the Xbox 360 and PS3. And then - gone. Midway pulled development and left the project hanging, with only hype to sustain it. It looks like it was better than Saint's Row at the very least.
2
Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
Another casualty of the casual crush here - Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was announced before the console's launch with both screens and video showing off a burly protagonist wielding an enormous hammer just to smash the living crap out of enemies. The visceral appeal of smashing domes with motion control seemed like an easy choice, but bad things happened at dev studio NST after the Wii hit the shelves.
Nintendo was so overwhelmed by the non-gamer response to the console and titles like Wii Sports that they called for a massive rollback on anything not casual-friendly, and Project H.A.M.M.E.R. fit that bill. After the exciting initial announcement, it vanished into the ether.
1
LMNO
When the news dropped that Steven Spielberg was teaming up with Electronic Arts to bring his visions to the world of video games, we were all pretty psyched. And then we got Boom Blox for the Wii as the first fruit of that collaboration - and while that was a fun, highly polished puzzle game, it wasn't very Spielberg if you know what I'm saying.
Froth recommenced with the project that was codenamed LMNO, an incredibly realistic, immersive adventure game that had the player breaking an alien woman named Eve out of a government installation and beginning a massive chase across the country, with both first-person parkour-inspired action as well as quieter segments where you built a relationship with her. This relationship was a major part of the game's focus, with Eve behaving differently based on your actions.
The game was insanely ambitious and highly promising, but sometimes hard business decisions need to be made and LMNO was canned, although EA says some of the work done will be used for another project. I just hope it's not Boom Blox 3.
UGO