Area 51 is a cancelled action / shooter game planned for Playstation 2 and Xbox that was in development by Midway Games West in 2000/2001. It was meant to be a direct successor to Atari’s 1995 light gun shooter which saw a re-release on PlayStation, PC and Saturn in the same year.
Sadly in 2003 Midway Games West closed down and only in 2005 Midway Studios Austin released a loose remake of the 1995 game and in 2007 another sequel called Blacksite: Area 51. We can assume that Area 51 2005 is a completely different project than the 2000 / 2001 one, as the development teams were different.
It’s interesting to notice that in 1998 / 1999 Midway Games West also worked on Area 51: Grey Dawn, an unreleased arcade brawler that could have been re-used as a base to create the concept for their cancelled Area 51 for Xbox and PS2. The only video preserved from the 2000 / 2001 project looks infact a mix between a shooter and a traditional beat ‘em up. If you have more info on this lost game, please let us know!
Video:
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U64 is an archive with articles, screens and videos for cancelled, beta & unseen videogames. Every change & cut creates a different gaming experience: we would like to save some documents about this evolution for curiosity, historic and artistic preservation.
9 Responses to Area 51 [PS2 XBOX - Cancelled]
Shifty
August 2nd, 2010 at 6:15 am
Damn, that was lame.
Brad Moore
August 2nd, 2010 at 6:32 pm
I think it should be noted that an Area 51 game was released by Midway on the Playstation 2 and Xbox.
Zonnic
August 20th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
i think i have a demo of this game
Earthworm Jim
August 24th, 2010 at 7:16 am
Is the demo of this version, or Blacksite: Area 51?
ForWhomTheBellTolls
August 24th, 2010 at 8:43 am
@Earthworm Jim:
I am pretty sure it is it’s own game, but judging from the protagonist’s look in the trailer, they may have modeled the Blacksite: Area 51 soldiers after him. But… I have also never played Blacksite past the demo so I wouldn’t know. Just saying my observations.
cameron rogers
August 27th, 2010 at 2:55 am
i played and have the full version. sorry it was released. got it from gamestop. http://www.gamestop.com/browse/search.aspx?N=0&Ntk=TitleKeyword&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntt=area%2051
ForWhomTheBellTolls
August 27th, 2010 at 3:21 am
@cameron rogers
The one that was released was not the same 100%. The graphics in the video above were nowhere close to the same as the main game. Also, the main character and gameplay looked different. If anything, it would be a prototype or a beta of the game. So it does deserve to have a page, just change the canceled to beta.
Witch Malhound
November 7th, 2010 at 9:17 am
There had been a unrelated sequel named BlackSite: Area 51.
Anonymous
November 12th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
this game looked awesome