Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick is one of the few instalments to land on home consoles, and among the many forgotten games based on a popular IP. Little is known about early beta footage of the Evil Dead games on PS2, but thanks to a rare video, we can see a glimpse of the early changes prior to the game’s release.
Rogue Ops is a stealth-based action/adventure game developed by Bits Studios and published by Kemco for the Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2 in 2003. In the game, the player assumes the role of Nikki Connors. In the beta version, Nikki had a different character design, which included dark brown hair (she is blonde in the final release), and the HUD was also different, along with an alternate voice actor. Rogue Ops’s development is quite interesting, as the roots of this project trace back to Thieves World.
Whiplash was a fun 3D platformer developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive in 2003. One of the main protagonists in the game, Spanx, originally appeared in another CD game titled Mad Dash Racing. Whiplash early in development went by various codenames: Bust It Up, Spanx & Redmond and others. Even more interesting was the game’s birth, as it all happened after Gex 4 was mysteriously cancelled.
Below, we can observe a few beta changes before the game was released. The images below date back to a late 2002 beta build of the game that, as of the time of writing this article, remains inaccessible…. Unfortunately. If you know anything more about the game, do not be shy to share!
Note: the beta footage shown here is from the Chain Gang build. The game had four names prior to its final name, and Chain Gang was one of them. The first codename was Spanxx, then Spanxx and Redmond. Chain Gang and finally Bust it Up!.
Images:
Differences:
Different HUD (cool DNA design)
Different idle animation
Slightly different attack animation (kinda slower)
Some guards in the game are wearing different uniforms (?)
Battlantis was a fun, although hard, Arcade game originally developed and published by Konami in 1987. The game was a marriage of Space Invaders and Galaga, where the player had to shoot down on-screen targets to progress further. While the game is long forgotten nowadays, it appears that there were plans for a sequel back in 1992 for the Super Famicom, though there’s no way to confirm this, as information online is scarce. What remains are a couple of pre-production sketches that you can look at.
From the sketches, we can pretty much deduce that the game was going to take an entirely different art direction, featuring a cute cast of characters to meet standards of yore. Other than this, it’s unknown how far the game progressed beyond these early sketches.
Starhawk was a darn good sequel to the beloved Warhawk. This third-person shooter didn’t try to recycle formulas from other games—it stood out by blending real-time strategy (RTS) with fast-paced gunplay. One moment you’re blasting enemies, and with a quick button press, you’re calling down a turret from orbit. The way battles unfolded—and the overall feel—was fantastic.
But before Starhawk reached its final form, this 2009 prototype build told a different story. Below is an in-depth comparison of the game’s early version versus the one we ultimately played.
Video:
Different character
Different movement animation
Different HUD
Different gun sounds
Different pickup designs
Different deployable Rifts
Different map design
Different main menu
Different main logo
Different bike
Different weapon icons
Different energy pick up
Different aim HUD
Different gameplay system (you use money instead of energy to build)
Images:
The Main Character
Original Character
Final Character -Emmett Graves
The Enemies
Early enemies
Early enemies
Final enemies – The Outcasts
Final enemies – The Outcasts
Main Logo
Early logo
Final logo
In addition, Starhawk was originally planned to be released sometime in 2011 but was pushed back to 2012. With all of the changes shown from the prototype and final, the core idea of the game remained the same.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience, by continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to the use of cookies. Find out more about cookies.Hide
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
