The Fast and the Furious was a cancelled racing game based on the film franchise of the same name. It was planned to be developed by Genki, a developer who developed the Shutokou Battle/Tokyo Xtreme Racer series of games, and would be published by Universal Interactive, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Games. It was planned for release on the PlayStation 2 within a November 2003 release window, and for the Xbox in Early 2004. On the E3 2003 event, a great deal of actual gameplay of the game was shown, and a trailer for the title was included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of 2 Fast 2 Furious. Despite this, the game would never be mentioned again, with Universal Interactive being shut down the following year. Very little information about the game exists beyond the E3 coverage and the trailers. After the cancellation of the game, Namco picked-up Eutechnyx's Street Racing Syndicate from 3DO and re-tooled with assets from the cancelled game into the final version released in August 2004. After the success of Street Racing Syndicate, Namco gains rights to Universal to release a game that tied to the 2006 film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In October 2008, Rockstar (of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead fame) released Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
Plot/Goal[]
Based around the movies, the player, as a street racer, must take part in a series of 80 mission-based street racing events to be classified as one of the top ten racers of all time.
Gameplay[]
German add for the game on the back of the manual of HULK (Xbox)
The game would feature quite a lot of licensed brands, car manufacturers, and car customization options in a racing game. Each manufacturer would have 28 cars in all. The manufacturers shown in the trailer were Toyota, Mitsubishi Motors, Lexus, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Dodge, and others. The customization was solid and very decent for a racing game. Players could customize their car, as well as put performance parts on their cars. They could also paint and put vinyl layers on their cars as well. Players also get to drive popular heroic cars from the first two films, such as Brian's Supra, Skyline, Lancer Evo, Eclipse, Dom's Charger, and other cars. The game would take place in Los Angeles and Miami, which both splits into several streets. It appears that the game include free roaming, a feature which many racing games around that time did not have, and also will have police chases. There was also drag racing events which players could do impressive wheelies. These drag events in some racing games like Need For Speed: Underground made the cars show no such motion. There was possibly more events, such as standard street racing events (Circuits, Sprints, etc....), as well some missions which players could do (like one mission where players must pick-up parts scattered around the streets and delivers to a important location). Also, it appears that there would be also a reputation system in which when one completed events, their reputation status would increase, probably unlocking making the customization, performance, more cars to available to buy as well as unlocking missions and race events to complete. If the reputation system is of any indication, it seems that one's reputation status in the game likely needed to increase in order for one to progress through the game. The interface that shows this reputation system can be seen on the E3 2003 trailer as well as 2 Fast 2 Furious' trailer for the game.
Why It Was Cancelled[]
- Genki couldn't release Xbox games following the negative reception of Kabuki Warriors and stick to only being released on the PlayStation 2.
- In 2004, Universal Interactive was consolidated under its parent company Vivendi Universal Games, and the label was discontinued. It remained as a copyright holder for existing properties, but all titles were published under either Vivendi Universal Games or Sierra.
Results[]
- The trailer for The Fast and Furious game from E3 2003, as well as from the disc from 2 Fast 2 Furious was later leaked on to YouTube. It was also a bonus feature for 2 Fast 2 Furious.
- Despite the game being cancelled, an arcade game based on the first film was released the following year by Raw Thrills (The company that also known for Target: Terror and Big Buck Hunter). The game was viewed as a spiritual successor to the Cruis'n franchise by Midway and Nintendo, as they contain many similar elements and were both designed by Eugene Jarvis. It would later be followed by a sequel called The Fast and the Furious: Drift, released in 2007. The game would have a few cars return from the first arcade game as well as new ones. Tracks from the previous game also appear, but the game also has tracks from Japan. Another game called The Fast and the Furious: Super Bikes was also released the same year, but the game would focus more on high-performance bikes than cars with a few new tracks. In 2011, a game called Fast & Furious: Super Cars was released, this time with more newer cars and tracks. A sequel to The Fast and the Furious: Super Bikes, also released in the same year, but with newer tracks and motorcycles in addition to the original ones before Raw Thrills lost the license in April 2012. A reboot game called Fast and Furious Arcade was released in 2022.
- There's also box art for the cancelled 2003 The Fast and the Furious game, however, the box art is said by many to be fan made.
- Another TFatF game, The Fast and the Furious is this time a tie-in game to the 2006 film Tokyo Drift, was developed by Eutechnyx and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PS2, and the PSP consoles. The game received mixed reception, with reviewers criticizing the long loading times, but praising the customization features as well as good car models.
- IGN also did a review on the cancelled 2003 TFatF game, criticizing the game for lackluster graphics, but praised the sense of speed and motion blur when using NOS, as well as the vast amount of customization features.
- Five years later in 2008, Rockstar Games released Midnight Club: Los Angeles for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October, which was similar to this cancelled game with the same gameplay and setting, but the engine was reworked using Rockstar's RAGE that was also used in the critically-acclaimed Grand Theft Auto IV in the same year. There was also a sequel planned called Midnight Club: Road Trip which would be similar to the 2011 game, Need for Speed: The Run but was cancelled on October 2010 as Rockstar San Diego was going over budget and feared declaring bankruptcy.
- On May 21, 2013, Fast & Furious: Showdown was released, a cooperative racing video game developed by Firebrand Games. It was published by Activision for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Microsoft Windows. The game is based on Fast & Furious series, and bridges the story between the movies Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. Fast & Furious: Showdown received generally negative reviews from critics. IGN editor Marty Sliva said that the game "seemed to actively try to persuade me to stop playing before I reached the finish line." Alex V from New Game Network was less hard on the game and said that "Fast and Furious: Showdown should only be of interest to the casual gamers who enjoy the films."
- On 25 February 2015, Microsoft announced Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, a standalone expansion to promote the release of Furious 7. The expansion was released on 27 March 2015. The expansion added music from Furious 7, composed by Brian Tyler, exclusively for the Showcase events.
- In 2019, an upcoming game based on the films called Fast & Furious: Crossroads was announced, published by Bandai Namco and Slightly Mad Studios. It would have an original storyline with elements of street racing and heists from the films. Also, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Tyrese Gibson would reprise their roles from the films. It was originally supposed to be released in May 2020, but it was almost complete and has since been delayed due to logistical problems caused by the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic. It was released on August 7, 2020 by Bandai Namco to negative reviews from critics for its story, graphics, gameplay, and multiplayer.