Beta + Cancelled FPS Video Games - Page 38 of 68

Warhammer: Dark Crusaders is a cancelled FPS that was in development for PC by Mindscape in 1995 / 1996. This project is not related to the RTS “Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade” expansion pack that was released in 2006. The 1996 Dark Crusaders was going to be one of the few first person shooters based on the Warhammer world, but the gameplay was not that much fun and in the end Mindscape decided to never publish the game, even though it was almost complete.

PC Gamer Online even reviewed a review-copy, with a 65% score:

Initially, the gameplay bears a strong resemblance to another squad-based shooter — Terra Nova — but unlike the sleek, efficient commands and diverse missions in TN, Dark Crusaders doesn’t let you make the most of your squad, and the missions don’t really require you to either.
During each of the 15 missions, which range from kill-’em-all scenarios to more specific reconnaissance missions, there are commands to order your troops to explore, follow, and teleport to and fro. But regardless of which command you choose, the results seem to be the same as if you left your brethren at home.
When ordered to explore, troops merely bump around walls shooting any enemies they encounter, then bump around some more often getting stuck in tight passages or wandering about aimlessly, leaving any and all mission-related work for you.
The weak command interface is so disappointing that during most missions it hardly seems worth the effort to even add units to the roster, since you’ll end up doing all the work yourself.

It seems that the FMV sequences used in Warhammer: Dark Crusaders were later recycled for Warhammer: Final Liberation, a turn-based tactics game published for PCs in 1997.

Derboo found a screenshot of the game in an old Korean magazine, if someone has saved more images or videos from old magazines or websites, please let us know!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections! Thanks to Michal Fridrich and Tragos2d for the scans!

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Dreamcast, Others, PC / MAC, Sega

Alien Breed: Conflict [PC / Dreamcast – Cancelled]

monokoma

22-04-2010

2 Comments

Alien Breed: Conflict (aka Alien Breed Action, ABC, or ABA) is a cancelled FPS in the Alien Breed series that was in development by Team17 in 1999 / 2000 for PC and Dreamcast. It was meant to be a follow-up to Alien Breed 3D II: The Killing Grounds, published in 1996 by Ocean Software. Sadly the development was cancelled as the size of the project was a bit overwhelming at the time.

We can read a short preview of Alien Breed Conflict on Computer And Videogames, but sadly only few screens are available:

ABC is a darkly futuristic, real-time 3-D strategy game. The player takes control of a small band of special operations soldiers as they fight for the freedom of their people. These guerrillas carry out dangerous missions behind enemy lines using guile, cunning, stealth and strategic abilities. Missions, including assassinations, strategic destruction, information retrieval and prisoner rescue, will be attempted by the player as he develops his skills of tactical combat.
You’ll get to develop your own characters with the skills you desire, deploy your units with predefined orders, command multiple groups, define your own tactics and select your weapons of choice.
The singleplayer missions in the game are said to be vast. Team17 will also focus strongly on multiplay and will run dedicated servers to save player stats and rankings.

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Cold Winter [PS2 – Beta]

monokoma

18-04-2010

No Comments

Cold Winter is a FPS developed by Swordfish Studios and published by Vivendi Universal Games in 2005 for the Playstation 2. The game uses the Karma physics engine, allowing for interactivity with items in the game world and for ragdoll effects. Using a small inventory menu, some weapons and tools can be constructed, such as Molotov cocktails and lock picks. Originally the item creation system was more complex, but they had to scale it down for time and development issues. A previously announced Xbox version was later cancelled. [Info from Wikipedia]

Destructor1890 noticed some differences in the early 2003 screenshots:

Kim’s 3D model was changed
Andrew’s 3D model was changed
The HUD was different
Some scenes were not used in the final game

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega

Zero Tolerance [Beta – Mega Drive / Genesis]

monokoma

16-04-2010

1 Comment

Zero Tolerance is a FPS developed in 1993 / 1994 by Technopop and published by Accolade in 1994 for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis. Zero Tolerance was a unique game in that there weren’t many FPS console games back then. Just like other Accolade games, Zero Tolerance came in a unique Accolade game cartridge. Zero Tolerance also supports a link cable where two Genesis systems can connect and play in the same game.

Let’s begin with a look at this image:

Here we have two beta / prototype cartridges, and a final copy of Zero Tolerance. I’ve gone through the early prototype and compiled as much beta material as I could find.

Differences between the final and beta / prototype versions are:

-There’s no music in the prototype. Sound effects are still present.
-Nearly all the logo’s at startup have been slightly changed.
-The options menu in the prototype has significantly less options.
-The characters between games are completely different.
-In the proto, you do not start with a weapon.
-There’s no text at the top of the screen when the map is displayed.
-The counter on the left, which tells you how many enemies remain on the level, is not functioning in the prototype.
-The name of each weapon and it’s number of bullets remaining, have swaped places.
-Some of the text on the wall is a different colour.
-The image on some doors is different.
-The robots on the High Rise Roof make a different sound.
-In the proto, when picking up a weapon it just says “WEAPON COLLECTED…” instead of the weapons name.

Technopop has released Zero Tolerance as freeware. This means you can download the Zero Tolerance Genesis rom legally and for free. A sequel, Beyond Zero Tolerance (or Zero Tolerance 2) was also in development by Technopop, but it was never finished.

Article, video and images by Cheaterdragon!

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Megalol noticed that in Sega Power magazine from september 1994 the screenshots in the game’s review are actually from a beta version. Infact, you can notice a couple of small differences in the HUD (name of the weapons in different place, ID card) and Level textures.

Beta Version:

Final Version:

Beta Version:

Final Version:

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M2 / 3DO, Others, Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Allegiance (Team 17) [Cancelled – Playstation, Saturn, 3DO]

monokoma

14-04-2010

5 Comments

Allegiance is a cancelled FPS / action game that was in development by Team17 in 1995 / 1996, rumored to be planned for the Playstation, Saturn and 3DO. According to Spong, it seems that the game was to feature a female lead character, Kay Brogan. Despite several level meshes being completed the game was canned due to the failure of the 3D engine to be developed in time.

In the aftermath of Tomb Raider some Team 17 staff tried to convert Allegiance into a Tomb Raider style game, but as the team had a reputation of original games, they decided not to follow this derivative route.

Thanks to Dream17 we can read a comment about Allegiance that Martyn Brown (Team17 co-founder) posted on his blog on March 30th, 2007.

A spy thriller that got not much further than some crackers budget FMV when again the company was knee deep in Worms focus elsewhere. I shudder to think how it all happened, really. The idea was sound, it just suffered from a total disregard of planning, design and implementation.

Celine was able to find a screenshot of this game in Cd Consoles magazine issue #7, and another scan is from Play Magazine issue #2. Thanks to Unclejun for the help with the video! Thanks to Andrew for the other scans Play Issue #1 (UK magazine)!

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