Xbox 360

Too Human [X360 – Beta]

Too Human is an Action RPG developed by Silicon Knights and published in 2008 by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The project is of particular interest to prototype video game enthusiasts. Development lasted more than a decade, and it was planned for three different consoles (Playstation, GameCube and Xbox 360). Silicon Knights promised a game of a grand scope and daring design. It was to be a game that changed genre depending on how the player would customize his character.

On the PlayStation, it was estimated to be 80 hours long and spanned four discs. IGN stated the following as the original story and game play:

Far into the future, when earth has become a mega-civilization of androids, robots, cyborgs and Big Brother companies, players take on the role of cop whose partner was killed by a cyborg. Angered by this death and moved to seek vengeance, the main character will take a job as a security operative in this monolithic chip corporation to find out just what happened.

In this futuristic world, people are part human, part machine, and your character’s limbs, neck, head, and just about everything else except his organs can be replaced by chips and machinery. The player will have the option of enhancing his body with cybernetic enhancements at the start of missions, and will be able to customize the character in line with the way they choose to play the game

For example, a player who prefers the Metal Gear Solid approach may wish to enhance leg strength to be able to move more quickly and stealthily through the game, whereas another player might wish to increase arm and torso strength to be able to carry more deadly implements of destruction. The choices made by the player will have a direct bearing on the gameplay in this manner.

Ancient legends did not have an impact on this version of the game. Briefly mentioned was that Japanese history was used in a small amount, but not for the whole game. The first name they gave the protagonist was John Franks, his name on the final is Baldur.

Multiple endings were planned but axed. Although the basic premise of the game did not change, the game was overhauled when it jumped on the Xbox 360. The final game uses Norse mythology as reference material. You take control of Baldur, one of the cybernetics enhanced soldiers revered as gods. For ages man has been in a war with bloodthirsty machines. To make matters worse, the god Loki has betrayed those he once served.

The Too Human that one can go to a store and buy is a strict action RPG that has a loot drop system. Four distinct classes are available and a “skill tree” gives astonishing customization options. The player may only change body armor and weapons but not body parts.

Even after arriving on the Xbox 360, certain features were altered. Dyack claimed that the game was too big and had to be split into a trilogy.  It’s possible that the 2nd and 3rd Too Human chapters could never see the light of the day, as the first game received low scores and did not sell many copies. In earlier Xbox 360 builds the game had strict control of the camera. Although IGN boasted the game did a great job with the camera views, camera control was ultimately relinquished to the player. Silicon Knights had attempted to omit a HUD from the game.

Four player cooperation was slated for the game as well, but only two players may play together in the final.

In the gallery below we can notice many beta screens, with scenes that were not in the final game or changed before the final version (as the Thor design). There is even a different loading screen. If you can notice more specific differences, please let us know!

For more info on the development of the game and its original unseen concepts, check our article: Too Human, the game that will never be. Also, take a look at our archive for images and videos for Too Human on the Playstation and Too Human on the GameCube!

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BioShock 2 [Beta – PC Xbox 360 PS3]

BioShock 2 is a FPS developed by 2K Marin and Irrational Games, released in february 2010 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Users at 2K Forums noticed many beta differences in the early trailers of the game, especially in the “Hunting the Big Sister” demo:

  • It would have been possible to explore areas from the 1st game (some of them underwater)
  • Tenenbaum was going to be the player’s guide
  • Splicers ran away in fear from the player
  • Textures looked more like the original Bioshock
  • You were able to carry more health packs and eve hypos
  • The whole demo is set up differently. It starts as the normal game would, but the path and events are fairly different, including the final scene of the demo, that location, Fontaine Futuristics, is towards the end of the game.
  • Looks like the drill recharges when it’s not used. In the final game you had to find drill fuel.

Also, as we can read on Wikipedia, the original story and gameplay elements related to the plot were changed / removed from the final game:

The story received major changes over the course of development, with two of the most important relating to the player’s character and the Big Sister. Initially there was only going to be one Big Sister who would continually hunt the player down throughout the course of the game and then retreat once she was defeated.

This Big Sister was written as a Little Sister who, as she grew up on the surface, could not leave the memory of Rapture behind and eventually returned. The reason for the change, as explained by Zak McClendon, Lead Designer for 2K Marin, “If you have a single character that the player knows they can’t kill because they’re so important to the story you’re completely removing the triumph of overcoming that encounter with them.”

Jordan Thomas explains however, “The soul of the original Big Sister character still exists, but in the form of somebody you get to know over the course of the game.” The other major change is that the player’s character, Subject Delta, is no longer the first Big Daddy, but rather the fourth prototype. He is, however, the first to be successfully ‘pair-bonded’ to a single Little Sister.

Also, according to Rockpapershotgun’s BS2 review the special edition’s art book shows lots of unused designs

I’ve already completed Bioshock 2. None of these things were in there – the Big Daddy with arms like tortured tentacles, another which looked like a spaceship on legs, the Splicer whose grotesquely mutated face had become a fleshy whirlpool, a hideous sea-beast halfway between a merman and giant phallus, a frail, frock-wearing Big Sister who carries her hulking oxygen tank around on a rickety hand cart… Where are they? What happened?

Thanks to Robert Seddon, Robert and Dr. Swank for the contributions! If you can find more differences in the early Bioshock 2 screens and videos, please let us know!

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2 Finger Heroes (Natal) [X360 – Cancelled]

2 Finger Heroes is a canceled beat ’em up  made by Arkedo studios that was supposed to be played with the Natal, the Xbox 360 “play without a joypad” add-on.  From the concept arts, we can see that the characters were controlled using the fingers o with some basic gestures, like folding your arms.

An interesting  project, which like the other Arkedo games also displayed an original graphic style (as seen in the concept arts below) and  a twisted story.

Unfortunately in the end the game got shelved because of development issues. As we can read on NeoGAF:

“One of the designs flaws of this, apart from the fact that it demanded some very precise pattern recognition from the Natal system, is that it would have been HELL to localize. Yup, what can be understood as the victory sign in France, could be a terrible insult in the UK, for instance. And we are not even talking about Italian. Oh, the possibilities..”

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Hei$t (Heist) [X360/PS3/PC – Cancelled]

Heist (HEI$T) is a cancelled action game that was in development by inXile Entertainment and would have been published by Codemasters for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The game was to be set in San Francisco, California, circa 1969, where the players would have been able to control a group of criminals as they perform various thefts. In January 2010 Codemasters announced that the game had been officially cancelled, as we can read on CVG:

“After a much extended development period, Heist has been terminated as a project and removed from our release schedule,” a Codemasters spokesperson told CVG.

“Codemasters is focusing its future portfolio on high quality titles that will, in the majority, be developed and produced by our internal studios.”

Some more info on Heist’s gameplay can be found in the original press release:

In addition to knocking off banks, each with their own set security precautions, throughout the city, players will be highly motivated to pull off further jobs. These include raiding bars, restaurants, strip clubs, armoured cars, and more in order to acquire the bigger and better tools needed to penetrate the increasingly more difficult banks.

Thanks to Robert Seddon and Landlock for the contribution!

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GoldenEye 007 Remake [Xbox 360 – Cancelled]

A remake of GoldenEye 007 (codenamed “Project Bean”) for Xbox Live Arcade was in development at Rare Ltd. during 2007 and 2008. Goldeneye 007 was a critically acclaimed FPS for the Nintendo 64, originally published by Nintendo in 1997 and still loved by many fans. Although Microsoft, Activision (current owners of the game rights to the James Bond franchise)and Nintendo were said to have agreed upon a licensing deal for the title initially, Nintendo Japan allegedly refused to grant their permission at last minute. Therefore the remake had to be canned only months before completion.

Much like the original Goldeneye for the N64, the developers who were involved in the making of this XBLA remake had their faces scanned and implemented into the game (as enemies / civilians / scientists / naval officers). In the game we would have been able to change the HD converted graphics to N64 graphics, an online multiplayer mode was planned, along with the traditional split screen mode. Goldeneye XBLA would had over 200 point’s worth of achievements and a time trial leader boards.

Some more info can be found at Mundo Rare:

[…] the game was developed in just one year by just 8 people; Dam, Depot and Frigate levels are selectable as multiplayer arenas (even the fabled Citadel was considered just “for the fan reaction”) and the N64 version isn’t technically a port, but a rather smart graphic filter use that makes the new game look the old-fashioned way.

It’s possible that the engine used for this Goldeneye remake was later reused for the Perfect Dark XBLA Remake. Some images in the gallery below are from XBOX Magazine. In August 2016 Rare Thief uploaded on Youtube more than 30 minutes of footage from this lost game, you can see the video below! Some more details were also shared on their website:

Throughout the video the player uses the rumored feature of switching the game’s graphics between the original Nintendo 64 textures and the remake textures on the fly. The switch between the two appears to take zero effort or time, and can be done whenever without having to pause the game.[…] After the tour of some select missions, the video presents a few of the multiplayer options. On top of the expected multiplayer levels are three news ones including Dam, Frigate and Depot. Something even more interesting than that is the option to set all character heights to be equal, meaning Jaws and Oddjob would no longer have their advantages.

Thanks to DCodes7 for the contribution!

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