Awesome cancelled games

[SuperShouden]

1. True Crime Hong Kong - Sad that it was cancelled, looked awesome. Stupid that it was cancelled 'cause the developer admitted that it was pretty much done. If it were me, I would have let them finish it and release it if it was that far into development. Stupid Activision! Quit ruining our gaming lives! And they're working with Bungie now...let's home Activision doesn't do something else stupid with them.

2. Monster Truck Madness 3 - Bill Gates mentioned it. MS had paid to have an Xbox liveried Bigfoot. But, the game...never materialized. Which is sad 'cause the Monster Jam series kinda sucks.

3. Rallisport Challenge 3 - Was in development...until DICE left MS Game Studios. Someone wrote into DICE about it and DICE said MS owns the rights to the series, so the balls in their court. But, DICE wouldn't be part of the development. Obviously, since they're owned by EA, now. But, a 360 version of Rallisport Challenge would be awesome, in my opinion. Give Dirt some competition.

4. Blood Wake 2 - Stormfront started working on it, got really far into development and then the floor fell out from underneath them and Stormfront sank to the bottom of the ocean along with the sequel to the best boat combat game ever. The sequel sounded awesome, too as it had multi-level water, hinting at subs.

5. Midtown Madness 3 for the PC and MM4 - For some unknown reason the PC version of MM3 got scrapped which sucks 'cause it would have been cool to see all the add-on content people would develop for it. But, again, MM3 was a DICE game and MM4 would have been too...but DICE left MS. The first two games were made my Rainbow Studios which is owned by THQ. And MS doesn't like to work with third party developers to develop first party games...unlike Sony.

6. Blur DLC - Bizarre Creations mentioned SEVERAL pieces of DLC were in the works for Blur and then Activision said "By the way, BC, we're shutting you guys down." And Bizarre halted and scrapped the development of all that lovely DLC content. Stupid Activision.

7. Starcraft Ghost - I don't know if this would have been awesome or not, but it was essentially a third person shooter based in the starcraft world with, of course, a hot chick as the lead role. It got cancelled due to lack of support and the fact that everyone wanted a actual sequel to Starcraft and not a Third person shooter/RPG

8. 4x4 Evolution 3 - Terminal Reality made an awesome truck racing series with licensed trucks. And just when we all thought they had a franchise...BloodRayne came and sucked out all of our fun. The good news is, someone is already working on a mod for 4x4 Evo 2 that would essentially turn it into 4x4 Evo 3...and there's always Off Road Drive.

9. Halo Chronicles and Halo MMO - Peter Jackson's Halo Chronicles probably would have sucked noodles anyway, but it would have been interesting to see. And a Halo MMO...would have been kinda cool, but it'd probably get rid of all those pesky 10 year olds cussin you out in the middle of the night.

10. Powerslide: Slipstream - The first game was pretty sweet, actually. Probably my favorite Ratbag game, really. But, Ratbag couldn't find a publisher and then the studio itself got cancelled, so, whatcha gonna do?

What are some other cancelled games you wish were still in development?

 

[Robin]

Eight Days - Hyped to the hilt even before the PS3 was unveiled it was meant to be a major exclusive launch title and featured seemless transition gameplay beween cutscenes, quicktime events and FPS action (something with Heavy Rain later made a reality). The graphics from the screenshots and trailer were amazing at the time and it was a massive suprise when the game got shelved by Sony. Years later they said that the game hadnt been cancelled just mothballed but its still never seen the light of day.



Getaway - The slick titled (if they kept that title) 3rd installment to the the getaway series which was another PS3 exclusive. A tech demo was run showing Piccadilly Circus in London and then I think a year later a teaser trailer was released showing the game being partially set in Amsterdam. Would have been amazing to see GTA style London and Europe in next gen graphics. It got canned because Studio London was forced by powers above to focus on Singstar and Eye Pet! shame...



True Crime Hong Kong - Something like 90% complete with Activision pulled the plug, probably because if it hasnt got Call of Duty in the title they don't wana know! The concept was good but the execution was pretty poor and it was clear to the high up's that was not going to be a AAA title which could hold its own the Rockstar's offerings. The graphics were not 2011 stellar and it looked like a remake of Stranglehold. Also the developers took a series which was known for GPS accurate locations chose to make Hong Kong look nothing like the real place! It was one of those games which I wanted but was dissapointed that it wasnt polished enough. It may someday see the light of day with another publisher.




Star Trek Online - Yes this game was released but it was terrible and what I miss was Perpetual Entertainment's original vision of the game which was nothing like what Crypic did with it. Thus continuing the tradition that most Star Trek games in history have been bad. This was Perpetual's realitisic version...



Pursuit Force Extreme Justice PS2 Version - I really wanted this port to come out! They even released screen's and boxart but it was already a year after the PS3 had released and they dropped it like the stone... and we never even saw a 3rd installment on PSP or PS3.

http://uk.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/pursuitforceextremejustice/images.html

Star Wars Battlefront 3 - Under development by Free Radical it suffered the axe after the disaster which was Haze. It looked pretty impressive and would have a neat surface to space gameplay so you could take off and fly all the way up to the battles above! Its rumoured to still been under development somewhere!



Robin.

 

[Northstar]

Would love Battlefront 3, I loved the first 2. Nothing beat setting the soldier number to the max and having a half hour long battle.

Hopefully it's like Twisted Metal where all of a sudden they show up with gameplay footage.

 

[gogatrs]

Would love Battlefront 3, I loved the first 2. Nothing beat setting the soldier number to the max and having a half hour long battle.

Hopefully it's like Twisted Metal where all of a sudden they show up with gameplay footage.

I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but the battlefront series were some of the best PS2 games to exist.
Topped only by Ace of Combat 5 and GT4.

A PS3 version with updated features would be supercool!

 

[shepzki]

Resident Evil 1.5



Edit - And Thrill Kill

 

[nizmo_bro]

Damn, I had no idea they canceled True Crime Hong Kong. That game looked pretty awesome, and I got pretty excited when I first saw the trailers.

With some of the games that make it out today, I wonder why they would have canceled a game that seemed pretty promising.

 

[nk4e]

Resident Evil 4.5

 

[SuperShouden]

Damn, I had no idea they canceled True Crime Hong Kong. That game looked pretty awesome, and I got pretty excited when I first saw the trailers.

With some of the games that make it out today, I wonder why they would have canceled a game that seemed pretty promising.

Yeah, it was Activision being stupid again. The developers were pissed 'cause they were like 95% done with it. Essentially, all it need to do was do some touch ups and be shipped.

Let's hope they don't pull something like that with Bungie. 'Cause Bungie will walk, take the game license and find someone else.


I forgot one:

Mercenaries 3 - Although Mercenaries 2 bombed (unless you had a PS2, then it was alright), Mercenaries 3 looked awesome. It would have been the first in the series to include multiplayer playlists including co-op and battling you friends online. However, developer Pandemic is no longer with us, so sadly, Mercenaries 3 is probably dead...unless Lucas Arts can find another developer.

 

[Alltidxx]

Company of Heros Online. Probably the greatest game I have ever played. And then, one day, they just turned around and and closed it down. The coh forums were raging. It's like "oh I found pure gold, what to do with it, lets throw it in the water".

 

[Ibonibo]

I was so hyped for "8 days", it looked incredible and with the few PS3 launch titles this would have come in handy

It was not the only one if i remember correctly. There are still some "launch" Ps3 titles missing

Resident Evil 1.5



Edit - And Thrill Kill

Thrill Kill was never published but it came out (sort of, rumors are that the devs themself leaked 4 different versions on the web, i had it back in high school, dates back some 13 years or so). Still have the CD somewhere but no psone

 

[SuperShouden]

Flatout 3. No. Not Ultimate Carnage. That was just a rehashed version of Flatout 2. No, I mean an actual sequel to Flatout 2. Flatout was set to become a really awesome series. published by now defunct (yeah, you know where this is going) Empire Interactive and developed by Bugbear Entertainment. And, while developing UC, they announced that they were working on a third game that would be released on the 360, PC and PS3. Unfortunately, shortly after making Flatout UC, Empire folded. The rights to the franchise suddenly got tossed to budget game developer, Team 6, which produced a crappy version of it for the Wii.

Kinda wish Bugbear would have kept the rights to the series and pumped out at least one more game to the series, but, oh well.

 

[Sonygamer455]

So I was going to make a thread like this, but upon searching, I realized this already existed. So while it may be pretty old now, I don't see anything wrong with bringing it back instead. Anyways, my choice would be:

Star Wars Battlefront III.
Played Pandemic's Battlefront 1 and 2 a lot as a kid and loved them to death and still do to this day. In fact, Battlefront 2 is worthy of being on my top 5 best games I ever played period, and still has relevance to me nearly 15 years later. That said, given my huge obsession for those 2 games, it's no surprise I'd be excited about the sequel. I can remember my cousin telling me about it a long time ago and I have wondered about it ever since. I eventually saw trailers for it and although it may not have been made by Pandemic, it was still a game I was looking forward to playing. The gameplay looks promising, especially knowing space to ground battles were going to be a thing was certainly an exciting feature to have.

Unfortunately however, I later learned it was canceled and that's sad because from what I read, it was nearly done and just needed some bug fixes. Of course, an unfinished build of the game did surface in recent years, but from what I have seen, it is very buggy. Frontwire Studios did attempt to do something with it, but it sadly was shut down. I heard some things from the game were adapted to Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron on PSP, but I have yet to play it. Some things from the unfinished build have made their way in the PC version of Battlefront 2 as mods and they look fantastic!

While this is all well and good, I still to this day wish the game could have been completed, and being a huge fan of the first 2, I think it would have great had it happened. If I had to pick one canceled game to be finished and released, it'd be this one!

 

[Tornado]

Also for what it's worth since the posts in this topic predate it, True Crime Hong Kong eventually came out pretty much as intended. Squeenix/Bamco published it as Sleeping Dogs.

 

[Liquid]

About a decade ago Rockstar made a big deal about a game called Agent which piqued my interest. I don't think it was exactly the same as LA Noire, developed by a third-party, but I was quite interested in a Rockstar game playing a law enforcement officer.

 

[PletdeKoe]

Thrill Kill. I had a buddy who had the disc and we played it to death. Not nearly as controversial as they made it out to be. The fighting was really fun.

 

[Nexus]

Although it was released with the same title, Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) ended up being a completely different game at launch compared to the original vision.

The original plan seemed to make a direct sequel to Most Wanted (2005), the end result was a scrapped story (and weapons too, it seems) and basically Burnout Paradise with licenced cars. More videos in this thread.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Easy answer: Blur 2.

 

[ctdc67]

Race Room console edition

 

[SPhilli911]

Prey 2. And I am not talking about a sequel to the 2017 game Prey (an amazing game on it's own) which had little to nothing in common with Prey from 2006. It was well into development before being canceled because the studio didn't know what to do, it was already many years after the original game and the IP was sold off so it's no wonder it faded out.

Shame, too, the original 2006 Prey is an underrated, FPS, gem if you ask me.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Probably the Wii U/Nintendo NX (Switch) port of Project CARS 1.

I can understand why the Wii U port was cancelled. The console just wasn't capable enough, but the NX (now the Switch) could handle Project CARS 1 with decent results. It’s a shame we most likely won’t ever get a simulation type game on the go like that. Grid Autosport remains the sole good realistic-ish racing game on Nintendo platforms.

 

[Wolfe]

Probably the Wii U/Nintendo NX (Switch) port of Project CARS 1.

I can understand why the Wii U port was cancelled. The console just wasn't capable enough, but the NX (now the Switch) could handle Project CARS 1 with decent results. It’s a shame we most likely won’t ever get a simulation type game on the go like that. Grid Autosport remains the sole good realistic-ish racing game on Nintendo platforms.

Frankly, I don't think the first PCARS benefited enough from the extra horsepower of the PS4/XBone to definitively warrant its cancellation on even the Wii U. It always seemed to me that it was more of a rendering problem than a physics/simulation problem.

Now, the Switch is absolutely powerful enough for an intuitive simulator. I mean, the PS2 handled Enthusia. Sixteen years later, we can do better on the Switch than what it offers in terms of sims.

 

[sesselpupser]

Two games that come to mind when discussing cancelled games that could've been great are Star Wars 1313 and the unfortunately-titled Whore of the Orient (this being a historical nickname for Shanghai), the spiritual sequel to L.A. Noire.

I think a lot of 1313 ended up in Jedi: Fallen Order, I mean 1313 was previewed as being "What if Uncharted but Star Wars?" and Fallen Order's tutorial sequence borrowed heavily from Uncharted 2's opening and train sequence, the rest of the game had a similar feel to Uncharted's platforming too. It was also pretty great, in my opinion, so maybe 1313 would've been superfluous.

As for Whore of the Orient, it was always going to be risky as an L.A. Noire successor (with all the grim, inhumane stuff you saw and did, the racial stereotypes and generally all the unpleasantness) but this time set in China, developed by a non-Chinese studio - that's just asking for trouble in my opinion, all it would take is one poorly conceived line of dialogue or plot point and the gaming media would be awash with accusations of racism.

 

[inCloud]

True Crime Hong Kong

It was released as Sleeping dogs, afaik

ended up being a completely different game at launch compared to the original vision

Dont think so. In core its the same game, just retuned into more Burnoutish nonsense.

Blur 2.

This

Prey 2

This, hype train was real for this

Starcraft Ghost

and for this


It has fully playable campaign but was canceled in last moment because of IP rights.


Should be full Diablo-like in FP, but was canceled and WIP assets were released as DLC for Dying Light

 

[GTvsForza]

Midnight Club will live forever!

 

[SuperSportX]

The cancelled Xbox Lamborghini game no doubt would've been pretty sick assumming the physics were decent:

It had very rare and one-off Lamborghini models such as the JGTC Countach and the SV-R that haven't been in any game since. Would love for this game to somehow still exist and pop up for sale somewhere.

Also this game, Racer X also for Xbox. I remember seeing the trailer for this game on youtube years ago.

The car models remind me of an early Project Gotham game: