In The Games that Weren’t, our writers take a look at their favorite stories behind video gaming’s canceled projects.
I’m an unashamed die-hard sci-fi fan. My favorite sci-fi franchise is Stargate, and my favorite entry in the series is SG-1. The SG-1 license was enough to make me interested in an MMO (the also-canceled Stargate Worlds), and if my PC had been capable of running it I would have lost many nights fighting with the SGC in Stargate Resistance (the only SG-1 game that actually came out). As it was, I had both a PS2 and an Xbox, and after watching the Season 8 episode “Avatar,” I was all sorts of excited to play through an all-new adventure dealing with new and old enemies. READ MORE
Pinball fans finally have a great game to play regardless of console. Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball are available on a wide array of devices, and it is clear that the folks over at Zen are fans of the game. The difference in quality between something like Pinball Heroes on the PSP and Pinball FX 2 is astounding. READ MORE
I love Law & Order. Dick Wolf was right on the money to make two 30-minute shows, tie them together, and stick them in a one-hour time slot. I’m rooting for the cops to find the bad guy, and then ten minutes later I’m pulling for the prosecution to put him away. Telltale has proven the episodic adventure gaming can work, and they’ve proven that licensed games don’t have to be bad. Legacies isn’t their finest work, but despite the flaws I was just as engrossed in it as a rerun of L&O on TNT. READ MORE
I’m not typically a fan of fighting games, because I’m always the worst person in the house at them (a difficult feat considering that four out of the six people in my house are under the age of two). The systems always feel over-complicated to me, and then somebody who has never played comes by and whoops me at it. Fortune Summoners manages to control like a fighting game without making me frustrated, because there is no second player. The enemy A.I. is good, but with time and practice you can figure out what you’re doing wrong and get past it. READ MORE
I’m a big fan of tower defense. Whether towers are upgradeable (Defense Grid: The Awakening), the player participates in the battles (Sanctum, Orcs Must Die), or the game can be played for 15 minutes on a break at work (too many to mention thanks to Internet game sites), I love the genre. Unstoppable Gorg is no exception. The presentation is good, the spin on the typical formula is fun and there’s no shortage of unit types to play with. READ MORE
