Torus Games

Ashen 2 (Torus Games) [Cancelled – N-Gage]

Ashen 2 is the cancelled sequel to N-Gage’s obscure FPS, in development by Torus Games around 2004 / 2005. It seems the game was officially announced by Nokia, but there is not much information about it online, just some 3D models shared by a former developer. We can assume Ashen 2 would have been similar to the first game, with big maze-levels to explore, full of demons and other enemies to shoot down.

Possibly because of the N-Gage failure on the market, Nokia and Torus Games canned the project and Ashen 2 was never completed.

Thanks to Michael for the contribution!

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Legion (Torus Games) [PSP – Cancelled]

Legion is a cancelled action adventure that was pitched by Torus Games for PSP around 2004. The team created this tech demo to show their ideas to potential publishers, but it seems they never found one interested in funding the project. The game was never officially announced and canned early in its development, so there are no details about how it would have been played. By looking at the only screenshots preserved, we may assume it would have been some kind of horror – Gothic adventure: for sure it looked great for a PSP game!

In the end the only released games by Torus on PSP were Monster Jam: Urban Assault and Shrek Smash n’ Crash Racing. Their other PSP projects such as Full Metal Alchemist and Parkour were never completed.

Thanks to Josuke for the contribution!

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Full Metal Alchemist [PSP – Tech Demo]

In 2006 Torus Games worked on a small PSP tech demo for a game based on the Full Metal Alchemist manga / anime, probably to pitch a full project. FMA is an ongoing Japanese series, set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques. In 2006 Funimation licensed the franchise to create a new series of Fullmetal Alchemist related video games to be published by Destineer Publishing in the United States. [Info from Wikipedia]

It’s possible that Torus’ tech demo was shown to Destineer, but for some reasons it never evolved into a real game.  A FMA game for the PlayStation Portable titled “Fullmetal Alchemist: Senka wo Takuseshi Mono” was later developed by Namco Bandai and released in Japan on October 2009.

Thanks to Josuke for the contribution!

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Ice Nine [PS2 – Cancelled]

Ice Nine is a cancelled FPS with tactical elements (inspired by the film “The Recruit”)  that was in development by Torus Games in 2002 / 2003 for the Playstation 2. The project would have been published by BAM! Entertainment, but for unknown reasons they never released it. During the missions the player would have been able to make choices that would have ultimately impact the multiple endings of the game. A GBA version of Ice Nine was released, but it was obviusly a different game from this one.

Over at Gaming Target we can read an old interview with one of the developers, that has some more info on the game:

AH: The enemies have an ‘awareness cone’ which is visible on the HD, showing you when they’ll spot you. The cone is not static however, and is affected by player actions. Knock an enemy out and grab a disguise and the enemies relax, meaning their cone will shrink. If you start shooting wildly, the enemies will go on alert and their cone will grow.

The system is designed to make the game feel more dynamic than most shooters – we wanted it to have more depth than just running and shooting, and allow the player to work through each level in their own way, making sure they got feedback from the enemies for each of their actions.

AH: There are twelve playable levels, each of which has at least two different art styles and three to five load sections. Each level is unique – we were very keen to make certain that there was a lot of variety through the game. We have forests, mines, submarines, office buildings and more.

Thanks to Userdante for the contribution!

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Parkour [PSP – Prototype]

Parkour is a prototype for a platform / action game that was created by Torus Games to pitch some publisher for a full game. It was loosely based on the  extreme sport with the same name, in which people run and jump from city roofs and buildings, to moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible. In the game we would have been able to jump around the city to arrive to the final gateway and fight a boss to complete the level. Sadly it seems that they never found a publisher interested in the project, so Parkour was cancelled.

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