Tag Archive

An Extended Look At The Cancelled Doom 4


Posted on August 2, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Last year’s Doom reboot was both a critical and commercial success that build upon the gruesome nature of the franchise’s past while introducing new mechanics like weapons with secondary modes and dismemberment. Before the “back to basics” reboot of “Doom” there was a numbered sequel in development at id that would see multiple iterations and reboots in the midst of a buyout by Zenimax (owners of Bethesda).

Detailed in an excellent piece by Kotaku’s Jason Schreir in 2013: The project then known as “Doom 4” entered development sometime in 2007 and continued until ZeniMax acquired id Software in 2011. At one point in development, Doom 4 was internally jokingly referred to as “Call of Doom” – featuring more realistic weapons and scripted hallway sections akin to Activision’s Call of Duty titles.

Quoting a source in Jason’s article:

“There were jokes like, ‘Oh, it’s Call of Doom.’ They referenced it because of the amount it was scripted—there were a lot of scripted set pieces. There was kind of the recognition that in order to be a big shooter these days, you have to have some amount of the big, bombastic movie experience that people get pulled through.”

We haven’t seen much of the 2007 – 2011 “Hell on Earth” version of Doom 4, showing what would happen around the world if the Demonic forces made it through the dimensional vortex onto the soil of a futuristic earth, rather than the red sands of the Moon Base.  A new video posted by YouTuber Alternative Gaming Channel shows us a blurry demo reel of weapon animations, finishing moves and crowds of (presumably) rebellion NPCS taken from this cancelled version of the storied shooter.

What do you think? Despite the five years of development hell and the clashing tones of a set piece driven gameplay style and shotgun fueled mayhem – would you have played this version of Doom? It didn’t make it past various prototype builds from the sounds of things but I’m hopeful that if Doom (2016) gets a sequel we at least revisit the idea of humanity’s response to the demonic horde. Following the older 90s Doom cannon that is where things should go, and being on Mars for the second time wouldn’t be all that different from the first game.

Update:  

After publishing this article I was reminded of the NoClip documentary that was released just after Doom (2016)’s release last year. In the documentary, the team speaks with developers who have been with id since the Quake III and Doom III days.  They go through what the 2007 Doom 4 project was – confirming it made its way development to the point of being one of three fully formed teams at id. Eventually, the ax came down when management and Zenimax were dissatisfied with the direction of Doom 4. This decision wouldn’t just cost them Doom 4 but also an in-production sequel to 2011’s RAGE as the three teams were merged together into a single whole in order to complete the DOOM that we eventually got.


0

Footage of LucasArts’ Cancelled Darth Maul Game Leaked


Posted on April 9, 2014 by Rae Michelle Richards

The recently shuttered LucasArts had a last generation title in production centered around Darth Maul – the Sith lord who will ever been linked with one of the few awesome fight scenes in the prequel trilogy and of course double bladed light sabers. Footage from an unfinished build has made its way on to YouTube, alongside details in the May issue of Game Informer.Read More


0

May The 4th Be With You: BattleFront III Livestream


Posted on May 4, 2013 by Rae Michelle Richards

Celebrate Star Wars Day with over an hour of footage from the defunct Star Wars: Battlefront III. Twitch TV channel, Past to Present (P to P) decided to celebrate the popular sci-fi staple by live streaming over an hour of new content from a pre-alpha build of the cancelled combat game. What a better way to celebrate a storied franchise than to get an in-depth glimpse into of the most requested Star Wars titles ever.

Originally developed by the now closed Free Radical Studioes, Battlefront III was a current generation combat game set in the Star Wars Universe. The first two titles allowed players to battle it out using the series’ famous vehicles, weapons and combat roles, as well as play as fan favorites like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bobba Fett. Battlefront III was slated to allow PS3/Xbox players to begin their battles in space, above key planets, and seamlessly travel to land battles on the planets surface. Call it ambitious, but the whole thing sounds awesome.

Given the more recent closure of Lucas Arts and the cancellation of Star Wars 1313, it is nice to get such a long look at such an ill-fated project as Battlefront III. Their stream ended about an hour prior to the writing of this article, so we’ve embedded it after the jump.Read More


0

EA Sidelines Medal of Honor Franchise


Posted on February 4, 2013 by Rae Michelle Richards

I hope you don’t have your hopes up for a third modern Medal of Honor game. During last week’s investor’s call EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore announced that the publisher will be moving in a different direction in regards to their annual FPS release. Surely it had something to do with poor sales or an absolutely devastating meta critic score.

While on the call Mr.Moore explained that Medal of Honor will be removed from Electronic Art’s bi-annual rotation, although he did not offer specifics as to what will replace it. Considering that Crytek, developer of the ever impressive Crysis series, just purchased the HomeFront IP after the demise of THQ, EA will partner them to thwart another North Korean invasion.

Did you enjoy Medal of Honor Warfighter? Speak out in the comments section, because as fellow Broken Joysticks Founder Eric will tell you, he quite enjoyed the game.

We’ve got a quote from the call after the jump.

Read More


0

Get the latest articles and news from BrokenJoysticks and a selection of excellent articles from other sources.

Simply fill out the form below and you’ll be on your way to getting our upcoming newsletter.