Sony

Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Saboteur [PSX/PC – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-04-2008
4 Comments

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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Playstation, Sony

Thrill Kill [PSX – Unreleased]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-04-2008
5 Comments

Thrill Kill is a cancelled 1998 fighting game for the Sony PlayStation, which even today is still widely available despite being officially unpublished. Thrill Kill was considered a technical feat for the PlayStation for allowing four players to fight simultaneously in the same room, although this technical feat was overshadowed by the brutality and controversy surrounding the game.

Set in an urban version of Hell, the characters were all damned souls fighting for another chance in the mortal world, watched over by Marukka the Goddess of Secrets, who has organized the infernal tournament and promised the winner reincarnation on Earth. Other content included revealing BDSM and fetishistic costumes, characters with amputated limbs and other handicaps and violent and sexual moves with names such as “Bitch Slap”, “Swallow This”, and “Head Muncher”.

Thrill Kill was developed in the late 1990s for the Sony PlayStation by Paradox Development, now Midway Studios – Los Angeles. There was much hype surrounding the game, billed as the new Mortal Kombat, and expectations were high in the gaming community. The original publisher was to be Virgin Interactive, before Virgin Interactive was acquired by Electronic Arts Pacific for £122,500,000 in the late summer of 1998.

By this point Thrill Kill had already finished development in entirety, and a Californian-based industrial metal band, Contagion, had even recorded numerous songs and an entire score for the game. A few weeks before shipping, the game was cancelled by EA because they didn’t want to “publish such a senselessly violent game”, as they felt that it would harm their image. They also stated that they deemed the game so offensive that they would not even attempt to sell the game to be released by another publisher either.

Later, former employees that had worked on the game released the full game onto the internet, along with various beta versions, and bootlegs of the game flooded the market and were still seen by a large share of its original intended audience nevertheless. All files are still widely available through filesharing, and playable through emulators.

Gameplay consisted of a closed 3D room where up to four opponents would fight to the death, and proceed to finish each other off with Thrill Kills, much like the fatalities of Mortal Kombat. However the characters, because they are already dead, cannot be physically injured, although they audibly feel the pain of attacks, and blood is still present.

Every attack made will result in a character’s bloodlust to rise. Instead of the usual life bar, characters build up a “kill meter”. Once this meter was full, and therefore bloodlust at its strongest, a player’s character would be electrocuted to give them superhuman strength enabling a Thrill Kill move to brutally slay an opponent, depending on what button was pressed upon grabbing someone.

The game was later reworked and released by another publisher as Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style

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If you want to download the game.

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Playstation, Sony

Alien Resurrection (Third Person) [Beta – Playstation]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-04-2008
7 Comments

ENG: This entry in the archive doesn’t have a description yet. If you want to add some info about the beta / cancelled stuff that you see in these images, just write a comment or send us an email! We’ll add your info in this page and your name in the contributors list. Thanks a lot for your help! :)

Alien: Resurrection is a playstation 3D first-person shooter based on the film of the same name. Originally it was a third person action game, but this version was cancelled. – [info from Wikipedia]

Thanks to Piotr for the contribution!

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Playstation, Sony

Æon Flux [PSX – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
11-04-2008
4 Comments

A game based much closer to the original animated series was announced on April 9, 1996 for the PlayStation and Windows 95. The game, which was loosely based on “The Demiurge” episode, was being developed by Cryo Interactive and published by Viacom New Media. The game first made an appearance at E3 that same year, and commercial advertising was even included in the 1996 VHS release of the animated series.

Viacom New Media would merge with Virgin Interactive midway through the game’s development. The merger would ultimately lead to the cancellation of Viacom’s in-development games and subsequently leave Cryo without the rights to use the Æon Flux property. The game’s assets weren’t lost however, but were reworked into the 1997 title Pax Corpus, having been stripped of all copyrighted association with Æon Flux. Pax Corpus does retain many obvious similarities to the original animated series. Specifically in plot to “The Demiurge” and also in many design details, which bear a striking resemblance to examples found in the show. For instance, the female protagonist of the game wears a purple and black outfit not unlike Æon’s. – [info from Wikipedia]

 

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Others, PC / MAC, Playstation, Sony

Athanor [PSX PC – Cancelled]

monokoma
11-04-2008
2 Comments

Athanor (sometimes referred to as “Athenor”) is a cancelled adventure game  that was in development by In Vivo for Psygnosis for the original Playstation and PC. The game was set in a virtual world created by a futuristic society, populated with classic Greek mythological creatures. We dont know much more about the story or the gameplay, but we can assume that something went wrong in that virtual world and the player had to resolve puzzles and to combat against demons and other mythological enemies.

Celine was able to find a screenshot in CD Consoles magazine issue #19, some other images are from Console Mania #53.

It seems that Athanor had some connection with Mutatis, another cancelled PSX game by Psygnosis (could they have been the same project under different names?).

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