Games That Never Were: Fear and Respect (Xbox 360, Playstation 3)

What do you get when you mix Midway, ‘hood film director John Singleton, Snoop Dogg, and Max Payne? Fear and Respect, the third-person action title that was originally revealed for the Playstation 2 and Xbox in 2004 and then was being re-tooled for the next generation of consoles. However, Midway put this title to rest over two years ago due to a crowded market of urban-themed action games.

This title starred Snoop Dogg and was set in South Los Angeles. John Singleton (of Boyz ‘n the Hood fame) added his talents to this release in terms of direction, and the game play was supposed to be similar to the Max Payne titles.

Beyond starring one of the most successful gangsta rap artists of all time and having a big-time director underneath its belt, Fear and Respect appeared as if it had little to offer compared to the other numerous urban third-person action titles released through the years. No matter how good an album Doggystyle was, I still can’t find myself excited to play as Snoop in a videogame (whether it was in the original True Crime as an unlockable character or in this).

Past entries in this series:

#1 - Capcom Fighting All-Stars
#2 - Frame City Killer
#3 - Vectorman

Games That Never Were #3: Vectorman (PS2)

Back in 2003 Sega had plans to resurrect the fan-favorite Vectorman series onto a new generation. Only this entry wasn't produced by the original developers and was a first-person shooter, a departure from the side-scrolling action Genesis classics.

Although the early screen shots looked decent enough, the game had a poor reception at E3 2003. Here's what popular gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) had to say about the new-gen Vectorman during this time period:

"It's still early, but ol' V-man isn't looking so hot. The visuals were dull and lackluster, and the gameplay felt like a garbled mix of Ratchet & Clank and Red Faction."

Ouch. Possibly not wanting to harm the series's otherwise sound reputation, Sega quietly canned the project a few months later.

Source

Past entries in this series:

#1 - Capcom Fighting All-Stars
#2 - Frame City Killer

Games That Never Were #2: Frame City Killer (Xbox 360)

Frame City Killer was a Namco published/developed Xbox 360 title announced even before the launch of the console itself. Originally predicted to hit Microsoft's (then) brand new console in early 2006, it was quietly scrapped by the company after a poor reception at a past E3 and because of major development issues.

An action game in the spirit of Max Payne, Frame City Killer should have been technologically sound because it supported the Unreal Engine 3. However, according to many sources, it had severe frame rate issues and graphical glitches that kept it from seeing an actual release. Take a peek at this in-game screen shot:




Did the world really have room for another generic third-person shooter anyway? Despite the numerous quality issues already mentioned, perhaps a crowded market for this genre was another reason Namco decided to can this game rather than to spend time to fix its problems.

Source

Past entries in this series:
Games That Never Were #1: Capcom Fighting All-Stars