Others

Zoiks! (Pandemonium) [PC – Cancelled]

Zoiks! (aka Pandemonium) is a cancelled point and click adventure that was in development by Ocean Software’s Tribe team, featuring a cast of classic Hanna Barbera cartoon characters,  including Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred Flintstone, Penelope Pitstop, Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss.

As we can read from the ECTS 1997 press release, in the game’s story Dick Dastardly used a sound machine to rob the Hanna Barbera world of the sounds that bring it alive. Through cunning detection techniques, Fred Flintstone had to trace the devilish Dastardly and put a stop to his mischief.

Tribe, Ocean’s in-house development team, have successfully combined traditional animation techniques with the latest video and graphic technology to bring the world of Hanna Barbera to life. The beautiful animations in Zoiks! allow for maximum interaction and are works of art in themselves. Add to this a stunning ‘surround sound’ soundtrack and speech recorded by the original cartoon cast and the result is a cartoon experience that you can truly interact with.

Zoiks! uses sound in a way no other game has before. Players learn by trial and error how certain sounds affect certain objects and characters, giving them clues to help them track down Dastardly. This format allows younger players to learn intuitively as they play without patronising more experienced gamers.

The game was meant to be published by Infogrames in 1997, but something went wrong during the development and Zoiks! was never released in the end. A little article on the game was published in Edge issue 32.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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Deathtrap Dungeon [PSX PC – Beta]

Deathtrap Dungeon is an action game developed by Eidos in 1998 and released for the PlayStation and PC.  Although originally previewed for the gaming press alongside Eidos’ own original Tomb Raider game, Deathtrap Dungeon sat through several years of delays before finally seeing release. [Info from Wikipedia]

Derboo found some early images of the game in a Korean gaming magazine (Gamepia 8/96): in these screens we can notice a character model in red armor which could be an early version of the female player character, an unknown character model and a still from a FMV described as a machine for making humans into monsters, which seems to have been removed from final game.

The female character was changed with a thong leather bikini in the beta, but due to ratings concerns, Eidos gave her some “proper” armor before the game went gold. In some other beta screens, we can see that the game  still looked incomplete, with placeholder models and different rooms layout. If someone could find more info about these or more beta shots, please let us know!

Thanks to Derboo for the contribution!

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Hitman: Blood Money [PS2 XBOX X360 – Beta]

Hitman: Blood Money is an action / stealth game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive in 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and PC. Vicente noticed various differences in the beta screenshot that you can see in the gallery below:

Less persons and guards in the level “You better watch out”

Agen 47 disguised as a bartender in the same level (does not happen in the final?)

Beta 3D model for Lorne de Havilland (sitting near the fireplace)

Different concept design for Lorne de Havilland

Different concept design for Anthony Martinez

An unknown enemy

Agent 47 had a slightly different face

Beta Flatline level (different layout?)

Beta model of the optional target called “?” with a tattoo on her back.

Vinnie’s wife in the pool, in the level “A new life”

Thanks to Vicente for the contribution!

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Voodoo Islands [PC/PS2 – Cancelled]

Voodoo Islands is a cancelled open world action adventure that was in development in 2002 / 2004 by Spirit / 10TACLE Studios for the Playstation 2 and PC. Gamers were able to play in three different modes in both online and offline play, following the life of a pirate, attacking ships, searching hidden treasures and so on.

As we can read in the IGN preview:

Taking the role of a pirate captain, you set forth on the high seas, fighting against evil cannibals, hostile pirates and the omnipresent Conquistadors. Your aim is to control the Caribbean Sea … but these are not calm waters. This is a treacherous sea full of bloodthirsty enemy Pirates, dangerous Voodoo spells and mysterious magical artifacts.

Sadly the game was canned for unknown reasons. In the gallery below you can see various screens from the project: it’s interesting to notice that the early images released were from target renders, that did not look like the “final” game.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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Conan [Jaguar – Cancelled]

Conan is a cancelled beat ’em up similar to Golden Axe that was in development by Arcade Zone for the Atari Jaguar. The french studio was closed down after Sony decided to not publish their latest Super Nintendo game, as the original Playstation arrived in Europe. Without another publisher they had to give up on releasing Nightmare Busters SNES and Arcade Zone had to shut down. Conan Jaguar vanished with their closure and it’s unknown how much of the game was finished before the cancellation.

At 1Up Games can read an interview with former Arcade Zone’s developers, in which they mention this unreleased beat ’em up:

Lyes Belaidouni: We even made an attempt on the Atari Jaguar, the stillborn console for which we developed (without bragging) the most beautiful beat’em up with huge sprites and monumental backgrounds ! But this, alas, no one has seen it…

Celine was able to find some screenshots of the game in magazines CD Consoles #2, #5 and GF #95

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