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Sam & Max: Freelance Police [PC – Cancelled]

Sam & Max: Freelance Police was a graphic adventure computer game developed by LucasArts as a sequel to the 1993 title Sam & Max Hit the Road. The final game in the company’s adventure game era, Freelance Police was originally intended to be released for Windows in early 2004.

Freelance Police was first announced in August 2002, and was later fully unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo convention in 2003.The development of the project was lead by Michael Stemmle, one of the original designers for Sam & Max Hit the Road, while Steve Purcell assisted in developing the game’s plot and artistic direction.

Although the game’s development appeared to be proceeding towards completion without difficulty, LucasArts abruptly cancelled production of Freelance Police in March 2004, citing “current market place realities and underlying economic conditions” in its press release. The cancellation of the game was received very poorly by fans of the series, Steve Purcell and the video game industry’s media, many of the latter seeing this move as the culmination of the decline of the adventure game genre.

LucasArts later terminated its adventure game development, and many of the Freelance Police design team left to create Telltale Games and continue development of such adventure games. Steve Purcell moved the Sam & Max franchise to Telltale Games in 2005, where it was developed into an episodic series of games. Entitled Sam & Max: Season One, the new series debuted in October 2006. [Infos from Wikipedia]

Grazie a www.lucasdelirium.it per le immagini! Presto alcuni articoli in loro collaborazione! :)

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Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels [XBOX/PS2/PC – Cancelled]

Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels is the cancelled FT “sequel” that was announced in mid 2002 by LucasArts, for Windows and, for the first time in the series, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game was to be an action-adventure, with more emphasis on action and fighting than adventure. Sean Clark was named the project lead of Hell on Wheels and the development progressed smoothly until late 2003, when it was abruptly canceled.

Just months prior to that, at E3 2003, a playable demo was shown and a teaser trailer was released by LucasArts. Simon Jeffery (then president of LucasArts) said that “We do not want to disappoint the many fans of Full Throttle, and hope everyone can understand how committed we are to delivering the best-quality gaming experience that we possibly can” in the official press release. Critics cited poor graphics compared to other 3D action adventures of the time and Tim Schafer’s lack of involvement in the project as possible reasons for its cancellation. Additionally, Roy Conrad, the original voice actor for Ben, died in 2002.

Hell on Wheels would have been set in El Nada, Ben’s “old stomping ground”, whose roads have been mysteriously destroyed. Ben believes that one of the new gangs introduced in the game, the Hound Dogs, are behind this but soon discovers a more sinister and murderous plot. Together with Father Torque and Maureen, he would have thwarted the (unnamed) villain’s plan and protected “the freedom of the open road”. [Info from Wikipedia]

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Stargate SG-1: The Alliance [XBOX PS2 PC – Cancelled]

Stargate SG-1: The Alliance is a cancelled FPS based on the Stargate TV series. The project was never released, but a playable PC version was found by The Gaming Liberty  and they started to share as much as they can from this lost game. This version seems almost finished and as we can read from their preview, it could have been a great game especially for Stargate fans. Thanks to Denis from The Gaming Liberty for the contribution!

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Powerslide FX [SNES / 3DO – Unreleased]

Power Slide is a cancelled game for the SNES and 3DO that had an “amazing” graphic for its time. The Super Nintendo version was going to be one of the few games to make use of the FX chip. It was being developed by Elite. Another racing game by the name Powerslide was eventually released for PC but it doesn’t seem to be connected to this game in any way.

The car handling physics in Powerslide were very advanced for the time, as were the visuals. Frame rate was less impressive unfortunately.

A playable demo of Powerslide SNES does exist and it was leaked thanks to Eludevisibility! The in-game screens dont look anywhere as nice as the original tech demo tough. The game would have probably been like Dirt Racer, the other SNES racing game by Elite, released in 1994.

Powerslide was basically a rally game, with real rally cars, Dirt Racer was a more arcade style game. The 3DO and PC versions of Powerslide were being developed by Maelstrom Games for Elite.

Thanks to SNES Central, MathUser, Celine and Lee for these images and info!

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Saboteur [PSX/PC – Cancelled]

Saboteur is a cancelled action game that was in development in 1998 / 1999 by Tigon Software for the Playstation and PC. You can read the original press release below:

Saboteur is a fast paced combat adventure game, which fuses genres and gameplay styles. It is a game that embraces new concepts and new production values whilst holding onto solid game-play values of older classic titles. It is not a fighting game, nor is it only an adventure game.

Saboteur will be the first arcade adventure game to feature a full on 3D fighting system (complete with high/low defending and grapples). It embraces the complexity of 3D fighting games and adds multiple opponents.

You play the part of Shin Ienaga, trying to avenge the death of your grandfather and rescue your sister from the clutches of the evil G.E.N.E Corporation. The action is viewed from a third person perspective and involves a variety of combat, puzzle solving and exploration. It matches a strong story line to proven genres (action adventure and 3D combat) and adds its own spin of magic, ninja style.

Saboteur’s most unique feature is the introduction of a second character on the player’s side. Shin is joined in his quest by Shiro, his faithful hound, who follows him wherever he goes. Shin is able to command Shiro to either attack enemies or give assistance in tricky areas of the game, by retrieving objects or helping to solve puzzles. Due to his advanced senses Shiro is able to give advance warning of approaching or hidden danger, however there is a price to pay if you don’t look after him.

Features:

  • Strong story line and plot development with emphasis on Ninja main character.
  • Refined Combat System within third person perspective. When in combat Shin operates on a different plane and automatically locks-on to the nearest attackeCombat includes: hand-to-hand, swordplay, and weapons (throwing knives, guns and clubs).
  • Use of second character on player’s side – a largely computer controlled dog Shiro. Shiro is a powerful weapon in a fight and also a useful navigation tool in the game world.
  • Wide range of characters (30+) each with their own set of unique moves.
  • Sophisticated enemy AI, enemies learn your fighting style and adapt their defences to it.
  • Variety of locations with over 20 levels spread across five huge game worlds.
  • High technology – motion capture, single skinned objects, true object dynamics.

Thanks to Andrea Cogoni for some of these images!

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