Beta + Cancelled FPS Video Games - Page 41 of 68

007 The World Is Not Enough is a FPS based on the James Bond film of the same name, developed by Eurocom and published by Electronic Arts for the Nintendo 64 in 2000 (a Playstation version was released the same year, developed by Black Ops). An unused beta level was found hidden in the game and thanks to some GameShark cheats codes created by Goldenboy, it’s possible to explore it to see how it could have been played. A video of this beta “Subterranea” level can be seen below, from SubDrag’s YT Channel.

This is the code to activate the beta level:

D00E0779 0008
813B002C 3FF0
80102EDF 0011
811FFFD8 C300
811FFFE8 C300
811FFFEC C300
D00E0779 0030
80102EEF 0001
800E0931 0000
800E0933 0000
50002610 0000
803B0164 0001
While at ANY menu (preferably the first) press L and R at the same time, the load screen will appear twice. Press C^ to rise (or moonjump) then gently tap it to get down in the pit.

Thanks to DCodes 7 we preserved some beta screenshots and videos in the gallery below. For some reason some images bond is wearing a black camouflage suit, which makes bond blend into the night. Also the HUD is different.

In the second screen you can see a bullet-proof glass door / metal detector that isn’t used in this level in the final game. In the same image a MI6 civilian employee is standing near the doorway, in front of the black door. The civilian seen in this image (dark pants, white shirt, dark tie) isn’t in the final build. He is replaced with scientists in white lab overcoats. The black tie civilian model was retextured with different shades of grey and used in another mission of the final game.

The 7th screen shows the top floor of MI6, near the starting position: behind the beta metal detector you can also see a table and a computer terminal down the hallway, not present in the final game. Then we have the security guard standing next to Bond. He is much different from the final. In the beta the security guard is wearing a suit with a hat to match, but in the final he wears a bright colored shirt with a blue body armor.

A PC and a Playstation 2 versions of The World Is Not Enough were planned too, but then cancelled.

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Unseen Articles, Unseen Features

Perfect Dark Beta Analysis: Beta Missions

In 1997 RARE made their first appearance in American stores with a FPS that revolutionized multiplayer on consoles. 007 Goldeneye, released for the Nintendo 64, made use of the 4 controller ports to let gamers to waste hours and hours of their free time in front of a TV screen, playing the addicting multiplayer mode. It was probably the first time that it felt so much fun to play a multiplayer FPS on a console.

When RARE decided to work on a sequel, having lost the rights to make another James Bond game, they had to create a new character and a brand new scenario from scratch: the end result was Perfect Dark, still one of the best multiplayer games ever.

Perfect Dark had a long development cycle and it changed a lot before being finally released in 2000. Nobody, except Rare of course, really know how the game evolved, but thanks to all the early images released online, we can try to get an idea of what has changed over PD’s development. In each of these beta screens we can notice what has been changed, added or cut.

Original article written in italian by monokoma in December 2001, english translation by DCodes7 in 2010. Please let us know if you notice some english errors!

Beta Missions

This first image is very strange. The color of the walls are different from what we know today, but looking carefully, it may be from the “Air Base: Espionage” mission. The corridor that we can see in in this screen remained the same in the final game, but the walls of the room were initially of a “greeny” color. Also there are 2 computer screens (one at the top and a second on the left of the picture), which if I’m not mistaken are not in there in the final version.

Leaked, Others, PC / MAC

Alone [PC – Alpha / Proto]

monokoma

17-02-2010

1 Comment

Alone is a cancelled horror FPS that was in development by Red Paperclip Games for about a year. After they completed an alpha build, new funding caused Alone to go from the Game Maker Engine to the CryEngine2 Engine, but sadly after about three months work stopped abruptly.

Today Alone no longer exists and there is very little reference to it on the Red Paperclip Games website, but thanks to Archive.org it’s still possible to read an old page on the project:

ALONE was first going to be a test game to say that I could complete a game. Well through some thinking I came to like ALONE. At first I had no name so I came up with ALONE to describe your state. ALONE started to attach to me more until I put time and effort into the game. Now I am always working on ALONE wherever I go. I also managed to pick up a few people on the way.
Dr. Rick Hauss has performed biological test to create a new enhancement for the U.S. armed forces. The new enhancement is known as the HGE or Human Genetic Enhancement. In the process of making it, Dr. Hauss accidentaly created a new virus. This new virus was known as the Z Virus. This virus would take over dead cells and bring back their living properties. The effects on brain cells allowed the virus to control the body. Before Dr. Hauss realized it, he had already tested on five subjects. The first four died and were brought back from the virus.
The final experiment survived. After the four experiments killed everyone but Dr. Hauss in Bio Labs, they spread out to take over the Norton Military base. The effects of the HGE causes increase in strength, agility and intelligence. Although the subject also obtains permanent amnesia. The final experiment is Seth Thomas. His body has a natural immunity from the virus.
The player will play as Seth Thomas through the game ALONE as he uncovers the truth behind the HGE.

A very early Alpha of Alone was somehow leaked online: in this build there are many bugs and everything is a place holder texture: not much of the first area is in this, but it is all that is left. An interesting view on the early development of a lost game.

Hidden in the Alpha code it’s possible to find 6 levels:

Livello 1 = environment test
Livello 2 = vehicle test
Livello 3 = enemy test (same as lv 2)
Livello 4 = full level test (same as lv 2)
Livello 5 = secret boss (empty lv)
Livello 6 = cutscene test

LucaPM was able to patch this Alpha to run it better! Also, all the patches includes a GM8 total rewrite,so this ensures compatibility with Windows Vista/7. Download (via Megaupload):

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Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega

Nuclear Rush [Sega VR – Unreleased]

monokoma

09-02-2010

9 Comments

Nuclear Rush is an unreleased shooter that was in development in 1993 for the Sega VR, the canned “virtual reality” accessory planned for the Mega Drive / Genesis. Four games were apparently developed for the system, each using 16 Mb cartridges that were to be bundled with the headset. One of these was Nuclear Rush, in which the players were able to fly with an hovercraft to fight in a futuristic war.

Thanks to Sega Forever we can read the original Sega VR press release that was published in Sega Visions magazine, August/September 1993:

From the moment you strap on the headset, you know that your gaming life will never be the same again. The world you see through the twin eye-pieces of the virtual reality (VR) headset responds as if it were another world, one you can explore by moving around without leaving your chair. […]
You are playing Nuclear Rush, the game that will be bundled with Sega VR, Sega’s new virtual reality headset. […]
Welcome to the year 2032. Get ready for a cataclysmic trek into a post-nuclear gold rush, where low-level nuclear waste is bartered as an energy source. You are posing as a nuclear pirate, piloting a hovercraft through radioactive wastelands guarded by heavily armed robots and drones.

As Iron Hammer, it’s possible that Nuclear Rush was playable even without the VR accessory. From an interview with Kevin McGrath at Sega 1 6, it seems that Nuclear Rush was completed before the Sega VR was cancelled:

My first project, called Nuclear Rush was to design and code one of the games that was going to be released with the SEGA VR Headset. It was a simple 3D shoot-em-up kind of game, but with the VR Headset it became an intriguing experience. We had concerns about creating nausea for the player, which could happen if the graphics are just slightly out of sync with the actual movement of the players head. Anyway, I spent a year on this project, and although SEGA paid us in full and we completed everything, the hardware never made it past prototype stage.

Thanks to Celine for the scan! (found in GamePower #21). You can also see Nuclear Rush in motion from the video below (thanks to Grooveraider YT channel!).

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Microsoft, Xbox 360

GoldenEye 007 Remake [Xbox 360 – Cancelled]

monokoma

07-02-2010

6 Comments

A remake of GoldenEye 007 (codenamed “Project Bean”) for Xbox Live Arcade was in development at Rare Ltd. during 2007 and 2008. Goldeneye 007 was a critically acclaimed FPS for the Nintendo 64, originally published by Nintendo in 1997 and still loved by many fans. Although Microsoft, Activision (current owners of the game rights to the James Bond franchise)and Nintendo were said to have agreed upon a licensing deal for the title initially, Nintendo Japan allegedly refused to grant their permission at last minute. Therefore the remake had to be canned only months before completion.

Much like the original Goldeneye for the N64, the developers who were involved in the making of this XBLA remake had their faces scanned and implemented into the game (as enemies / civilians / scientists / naval officers). In the game we would have been able to change the HD converted graphics to N64 graphics, an online multiplayer mode was planned, along with the traditional split screen mode. Goldeneye XBLA would had over 200 point’s worth of achievements and a time trial leader boards.

Some more info can be found at Mundo Rare:

[…] the game was developed in just one year by just 8 people; Dam, Depot and Frigate levels are selectable as multiplayer arenas (even the fabled Citadel was considered just “for the fan reaction”) and the N64 version isn’t technically a port, but a rather smart graphic filter use that makes the new game look the old-fashioned way.

It’s possible that the engine used for this Goldeneye remake was later reused for the Perfect Dark XBLA Remake. Some images in the gallery below are from XBOX Magazine. In August 2016 Rare Thief uploaded on Youtube more than 30 minutes of footage from this lost game, you can see the video below! Some more details were also shared on their website:

Throughout the video the player uses the rumored feature of switching the game’s graphics between the original Nintendo 64 textures and the remake textures on the fly. The switch between the two appears to take zero effort or time, and can be done whenever without having to pause the game.[…] After the tour of some select missions, the video presents a few of the multiplayer options. On top of the expected multiplayer levels are three news ones including Dam, Frigate and Depot. Something even more interesting than that is the option to set all character heights to be equal, meaning Jaws and Oddjob would no longer have their advantages.

Thanks to DCodes7 for the contribution!

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