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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and as much as we love video games, there are more than a few we're
00:13happy never saw a full release.
00:20Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
00:24about our latest videos.
00:29Spider-Man The Great Web
00:40With the impending release of Spider-Man 2, rumors began swirling that the game would
00:44offer some sort of co-op support for the two Spider-Men in the game, which Insomniac immediately
00:50squashed.
00:51However, it would seem there was a multiplayer Spider-Man game being designed by Insomniac
00:56before ultimately being canceled without ever formally being confirmed.
01:01Along with numerous leaks during the studio's notorious hack, a concept pitch trailer was
01:06released online.
01:07And while the prospect of fighting through a multiverse with a multitude of Spider-Men
01:11and women does sound interesting, we're honestly happy this one never got past the conceptual
01:16stage.
01:17The Great Web was seemingly pitched as yet another live-service game in a genre drowning
01:23in them.
01:24This endeavor would have undoubtedly tied up valuable resources for many teams within
01:28Insomniac that otherwise could have been working on far more successful projects.
01:33This is a similar reasoning Naughty Dog had in canceling The Last of Us Online.
01:51Taxi Driver The Game Some ideas are so ridiculous, you wonder how
01:56they ever got past the conceptual stage.
01:59A prime example of this is Taxi Driver The Game, in which developer Papaya Studio looked
02:05to develop a direct sequel, story-wise, to Martin Scorsese's dark and gritty film noir
02:11in the vein of Grand Theft Auto.
02:14This concept alone tells us the developers completely misunderstood the film's complex
02:19narrative and character development.
02:21Instead, looking to, as many outlets rightfully called out, gamify the film's violence and
02:27extremely dark material to simply capitalize on the trend of adapting beloved classic films
02:32a la Rockstars the Warriors.
02:34Thankfully, pressure from Scorsese himself, as well as publisher Majesco's financial problems,
02:40meant the game was cancelled and never saw the light of day.
02:43Even though, shockingly, Robert De Niro was on board to reprise his role as Travis Bickle.
02:50Batman The Dark Knight After the success of Christopher Nolan's
02:54revival of the Batman film series, Pandemic was tasked with creating a video game adaptation
02:59of his upcoming sequel, The Dark Knight.
03:02Pandemic's big plans for this adaptation sought to create an open world for The Dark Knight
03:07to explore.
03:08However, their ambitions outpaced their abilities at the time, and the game was ultimately cancelled.
03:14Reverting the Batman license back to Warner Bros., which led to arguably some of the greatest
03:18Super Hero video games of all time with the highly influential Arkham series.
03:24Surprisingly, the recently leaked footage looks very impressive and eerily reminiscent
03:29of what Rocksteady would eventually go on to create to widespread acclaim.
03:33Who knows what could have been, but this is one of the only games that we're happy didn't
03:37see release, not because it would have been bad, but because of what we would have lost
03:42had it been completed.
03:44Radical Heights Cliff Bleszinski is rightfully known as a rock
03:55star in the gaming industry, having been instrumental in the development of the Unreal Engine and
04:00the creator of the Gears of War series.
04:03After briefly leaving the industry behind, his grand return lawbreakers from his newly
04:08founded studio Boss Key Productions failed to find an audience despite the solid gameplay
04:13and reception.
04:14In a last ditch effort to save the studio, the team hastily threw together Radical Heights
04:20purely to capitalize on the Battle Royale trend.
04:23The game was described to be in an extremely early access state, and this was immediately
04:29evident to anyone who played the game.
04:31With all the copycat Battle Royale games released in the wake of Fortnite and PUBG's success,
04:37it's a shame to see such a prominent creator merely chasing trends, and unfortunately the
04:41reception of Radical Heights not only led to the cancellation of the game, but the closure
04:46of Boss Key.
04:54The Avengers Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics' Marvel's
05:03Avengers game almost wasn't the first AAA misstep for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
05:08That dubious honor goes to THQ's Avengers game, which was planned to release alongside
05:13the MCU film of the same name.
05:16The game would have had no ties to the MCU or the film itself, instead adapting the critically
05:22acclaimed Secret Invasion storyline.
05:24And yet somehow, that's not even the strangest decision this game made.
05:29No, that comes from the gameplay itself, which allowed players to step into the under-roos
05:34of their favorite superheroes quite literally.
05:37Developed as a first-person brawler alongside co-op, each member of the Avengers team would
05:42have their own special sets of powers and abilities, which could be used in tandem with
05:46the other heroes for assist attacks.
05:49Cancelled due to financial struggles, many of the title's ideas were repurposed for the
05:53game Marvel's Avengers Battle for Earth, whose reception was lukewarm at best.
06:09Aliens Crucible
06:18Aliens Crucible looked to introduce a unique approach to the Alien universe by adding more
06:23traditional RPG elements to the mix.
06:26Players would have needed to manage their resources as well as their relationships with
06:29other survivors, who could even be permanently killed or lost due to player actions or lack
06:35of supplies.
06:36Obsidian described the game as horror Mass Effect, and players would need to decide how
06:41to deal with characters infected by facehuggers, whether that meant mercy kill, freezing them,
06:46or allowing the chestburster to emerge.
06:49While an interesting premise, executives did see the appeal, and most likely given
06:54Obsidian's track record at the time, the game likely wouldn't have been given the time or
06:58support it needed to reach the studio's ambitions.
07:01Despite offering something entirely unique to the Alien universe, it is better for the
07:06game to never be released at all than risk the studio's future.
07:14Fable Legends
07:23Fable is a series that is very near and dear to a lot of fans' hearts, even despite never
07:29quite reaching creator Peter Molyneux's lofty ambitions.
07:32The first three entries allowed players to craft their own hero or villain story, and
07:37the various interactions and minigames were a major highlight with fans.
07:41What the series was not was an asymmetric multiplayer experience.
07:45Fable Legends left the franchise's trademark single-player offerings behind, and instead
07:50gave one player control over the entire path the heroes follow, laying traps and enemies
07:56in their path as they go.
07:57Although Legends still took place within the original Fable universe, much of the series'
08:02identity was lost besides some familiar locations and basic mythology.
08:07Legends tested well, and eventually even entered a beta release before ultimately being
08:11cancelled.
08:12Hopefully, the upcoming Fable from Playground Games will be a return to form for the once
08:17beloved series.
08:25Doom 4
08:26The Doom series was going through something of an identity crisis after the mixed response
08:31to Doom 3.
08:32Instead of focusing on the speed of the series' trademark run-and-gun gameplay, Doom 3's
08:38amped up the horror to mixed results.
08:40With a planned fourth entry, Doom could have once again deviated even further from the
08:45franchise's roots, and instead would have begun chasing Call of Duty and Battlefield's
08:50coattails.
08:51Rightfully nicknamed Call of Doom, Doom 4 would have seen the demons return to Earth
08:56a la Doom 2, but instead of the Doom Slayer being an all-powerful demon-killing machine,
09:01the gameplay skewed more towards the traditional Call of Duty formula, leading to the aforementioned
09:08Thankfully, the studio corrected itself, and led to arguably one of the greatest revivals
09:12of a classic franchise of all time, and re-established Doom as the ultimate first-person shooter
09:18series.
09:26Legacy of Kain, Dead Son
09:27Fans have been desperate for a new entry in the Legacy of Kain series for almost two decades,
09:46but they nearly had a follow-up that almost certainly wouldn't have pleased anyone.
09:51Developed by Climax Studios instead of series creators Crystal Dynamics, Dead Son looked
09:55to take the series open-world and without the titular Kain or fan-favorite protagonist
10:00Raziel.
10:01Instead, Dead Son would take place centuries after the events of Kain and Raziel, but would
10:07maintain the realm-shifting abilities of the past games to solve puzzles as well as other
10:12familiar mechanics.
10:13While the released footage was appropriately dark and violent, Dead Son lost much of the
10:18series' gothic feel and architecture, and lost the legacy of Kain identity.
10:24The developers' comments that the game would also reboot or retcon the series' lore and
10:29mythology did not fill longtime fans with any confidence that Dead Son would have done
10:34the franchise justice.
10:45TimeSplitters Next
10:46In 2021, fans of TimeSplitters finally had hope when Deep Silver announced a brand new
10:52game in the series created by some of the original developers themselves.
10:56Well, be careful what you wish for, because after fans got their first look at what the
11:01new Free Radical was creating, they immediately wished it was undone.
11:05A Fortnite clone in every sense from its gameplay to design and even the on-screen icons were
11:12all ripped almost directly from Epic Games' mega-hit Battle Royale game.
11:17We can understand developers chasing trends, but this?
11:21This was damn near plagiarism.
11:23Understandably, the fan reaction was incredibly negative, and the announcement of Free Radical's
11:28shutting down received no pushback from fans.
11:31Thankfully, all three of the original TimeSplitters games, the good ones, have recently been ported
11:36to modern consoles, so we can continue to relive the best parts of our nostalgia without
11:41any Fortniteification.
11:44What video game are you happy never saw the light of day?
11:47Let us know your picks in the comments.
11:49Did you enjoy this video?
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