Playstation 2 (PS2)

GameCube, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Monster Island [XBOX PS2 GC – Cancelled]

monokoma
06-11-2010
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Monster Island is a game project that was pitched in 2001 by Irrational Games for the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube, described as “Rampage meets Black and White Creatures in a Fully Destructible Environment”. Monster Island was meant to be a fast paced action / strategy game in which the player would had assumed the role of either a giant monster out to eat a city for dinner or the authorities pledged to protect the innocent citizenry.

In october 2010, the studio revealed this cancelled project from their official blog and shared some concept arts and a short document that explains the main features of the game. The pitch promised some 20 monsters, a living city, heavily destructible environments, and a dynamic civil defense network.

The monster’s goal is to cause as much destruction as possible while simultaneously quelling its own hideous appetite with tasty, human morsels. The monster might also receive unique goals in a particular mission, such as climbing a skyscraper, locating an enemy hidden in the city and destroying him, or defeating a rival monster! […]

Monster Island will also let the player take on the role of the good guys, protecting the city from the horrible creature. The player will have control of five key units: the Scientist (who gathers information on the monster to help defeat the behemoth), the Girl (who can lure the monster away from its intended target), the Engineer (who can direct rebuilding of the city), the General (who can direct the forces of the army fighting the monster), and the Hero (who can personally fight the monster when the going gets desperate).

The description sounds interesting, but sadly the game was never green-lighted.

Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!

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Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Stunt Squad (Airblade) [PS2 – Beta]

monokoma
03-11-2010
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Stunt Squad was the original title for AirBlade, a futuristic extreme sports game developed by Criterion Games and published in november 2001 by Namco for the Playstation 2, as a spiritual successor to the Dreamcast game Trickstyle.  Pcloadletter found some beta images from the game in Edge 86 (July 2000), in whic Stunt Squad / Airblade looked a lot different from the final version.

Airblade Beta:


Airblade Final:


Thanks to pcloadletter for the contribution!

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Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Splash Dive [PS2 – Cancelled]

monokoma
08-10-2010
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Splash Dive is a cancelled action adventure game similar to Ecco the Dolphin, that was in development in 1999 by SCEI  for the Playstation 2. The project was meant to be one of the first PS2 launch titles and it was even featured in the early console tech demos but something went wrong during the development and in the end Splash Dive was never released. From IGN we can read an interview with Splash Dive’s producer Kaoru Hagiwara:

HPPS2EX: First of all, what kind of game is Splash Dive?

KH: If you look at the screenshots, I think you’ll understand that its a game about the ocean featuring dolphins. We’re selling it as an action game. Not action-adventure, action. Players control the dolphin and try and make friends with other dolphins. Swimming at full speed, jumping above the water: I think it will have a refreshing sense of action to it. When you talk about games and the sea, adventure and simulations come to mind. There have been lots of games that feature floating or searching for fish, so we thought, “How can we create a new, refreshing kind of action?”

HPPS2EX: I see. The basic objective of the game is to become good friends with other dolphins, but what exactly do you do to accomplish this?

KH:The key will be what the player does, but the excitement of discovering what to do, is something that I would like to keep quiet.

HPPS2EX: In Splash Dive, you will be able to enjoy dolphins and their form of communication, right?

KH: Dolphins, have their own form of communication, which is very different from humans. One type is voice. Kind of like “Dolphinese.” We’re trying to put in all of these into the game as best as we can. We don’t want to have a dolphin specialist look at the game and say “That’s not right!” Therefore, we’re really working on the dolphins’ appearance and the way they sound.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! If you are able to find that old Spash Dive video, let us know!

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GameCube, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony, Xbox

Pterosaur – Dawn of Destruction [GC/XBOX/PS2 – Cancelled]

monokoma
06-10-2010
1 Comment

Pterosaur: Dawn of Destruction is a cancelled platform / action game that was in development at Atomic Planet in 2002, for the GameCube, Playstation 2 and Xbox. In the game the player would had used a Pterosaur (a flying reptile) to lead your fellow dinosaurs to safety, or see them condemned to extinction, while the world was coming to an end.

To do that, you had to learn to recognise the most vulnerable dinosaurs and how they behave, to be able to save them. While bigger dino-predators were searching for the weaker dinos to eat, they could have been lured away or defeated in an open battle.  The scenario could have been explored to find hidden paths, with the help of friendly dinosaurs that cleared the way.

The Pterosaur project was never released for unknow reasons, but we can speculate that the gameplay was not that much fun and Atomic Planet was not able to find any publisher interested in the game. On the 25th of February 2009 Atomic Planet went into administration after a number of redundancies and the offices were closed: maybe a playable demo of Pterosaur: Dawn of Destruction could be leaked sooner or later.

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