New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

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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Enclave 2 [XBOX/PS2 – Cancelled]

Enclave 2 is a cancelled action game that was in development by Starbreeze Studios. The sequel’s story takes place after the last great war between the outlanders and the enclavers, a period in which magic is no longer present in the land. However, The Light Book, which speaks of a land filled with magic, falls into the hands of an evil sorceress named Callia, who attempts to seize the magic for herself. Fortunately, a young sorcerer apprentice named Erlendur is sent to stop her.

Enclave II would of featured 10 playable characters, 28 maps, and a revamped combat system. An official release date was never announced.

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Crank the Weasel [Cancelled – GameCube, XBOX, PS2]

Crank the Weasel is a mature cancelled platform / adventure game that was in development by Midway Games in 2002, for the Playstation 2 and Xbox.  The goal of Crank was to create chaos in the game’s world, with lies, cheats and stealing loot from the other characters, to be able to get enough Big-Ticket-Items to fly to Pleasure Island. The game’s look and feel were inspired by 1920’s cartoon art style and authentic big band swing music, but with a humorous / mature twist, similar to  Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

In the website of Brian Silva, Co-creator and Lead Designer of Crank the Weasel, we can read many interesting info about the concepts behind the Crank project:

At the beginning of a game, each NPC possesses a preliminary set of “ideal” characteristics, meaning that they will go about their business, acting and functioning in an initially “composed” manner appropriate for their personality type. However, depending upon Weasel’s player-controlled actions (as well as the independent actions of the NPCs), these “ideal” characteristics will soon begin to alter as they are manipulated in a vast variety of ways that can either benefit or work against the player, and often provide surprising results. NPCs, while going about their business, will even change their own behavior to suit their immediate needs even if Weasel does not interact with them, resulting in amusing and varied gameplay. Basically, each playfield would naturally evolve on it’s own, Weasel just happens to throw a huge wrench into the equation.

An example of the weird scenarios that the player would have been able to explore in the game, is the Hell level:

While floating along the River Styx, Weasel can hear the merry tune of Jingle Bells echoing throughout the fiery pits of hell, snow is drifting, trees are decorated, lights are hung, and all the little devils want to wish Weasel a “Merry Christmas!” Gnarled and twisting tree roots wrap and wind from above and all throughout this town of torment. Little demons drive their little demon cars, walk their demon dogs, and mow their demon lawns in front of their little demon houses. Elevators transport a nonstop supply of unrighteous heathens to the hoary underworld to suffer an abundance of dreadful eternities. Weasel will be glad to know that there are hundreds of take out restaurants in hell… unfortunately they’re all Chinese take out, and the only available places of business are either the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Internal Revenue Service, Hellth Food stores, Social Security Departments, jury duty registration, or fabric stores. But on the bright side, there’s plenty of flashy advertising for products and places that these sinners will never have a chance to enjoy.

Sadly Crank the Weasel was  officially cancelled in 2003, as we can read at IGN Xbox:

“That game will never come out,” said our source from the innards at Midway. “It just never seemed to take off and all I can tell you is that you’re not going to see it again.”

A playable prototype was leaked online in late 2017 thanks to a former Midway developer!

Thanks to GreenReaper for the contribution!

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Skratch: a Magical Tale [XBOX/PS2 – Cancelled?]

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! :)

ITA: Questa pagina dell’archivio non ha ancora una descrizione. Se vuoi aggiungere delle informazioni riguardo le differenze della beta o la descrizione di un gioco cancellato, lasciaci un commento o mandaci una email! Inseriremo le tue informazioni nella pagina ed il tuo nome nella lista dei collaboratori. Grazie per il tuo aiuto! :)

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Kid Ninja: Spirit of the Dragon [XBOX PS2 – Cancelled]

Kid Ninja is a cancelled platform/action game that was originally meant to be released for the GameCube, Xbox and Playstation 2 in 2003, but the project was later canceled by Asylum Entertainment. A Wii version was later planned too, but it seems that it was never released neither.

Thanks to News for the contribution!

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