100 Bullets (partially lost builds of cancelled games based on comic book; 2000s)

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100bulletsscreen.png

Title screen for Acclaim's attempt at creating the game.

Status: Found (Acclaim Entertainment builds)
Lost (D3 Publisher's version)

Date found: 17 May 2019 (Acclaim Entertainment builds)

Found by: Hidden Palace (Acclaim Entertainment builds)

The DC comic book series 100 Bullets had one hundred issues and ran from 1999 to 2009. It follows an agent named Agent Graves who gives people who have been wronged by others the chance to get revenge by giving them a gun, one hundred bullets (hence the name of the series), and info about the person who had wronged the victim. The series has been acclaimed by critics.

There have been two attempts at making a video game based on the series and neither have been released.

Acclaim Entertainment

A screenshot of the game, from an IGN post on the game.

Acclaim's version of the game was first hinted to exist when they acquired the rights to create a game based on the comic book in June 2003.[1][2] The main character was not Agent Graves, but Cole Burns, another prominent character in the comics. A new character (created by the creator of the comic books, Brian Azzarello) was introduced as well, named Snow Falls. GameSpot described it as "your typical third-person shooter game".

There was a large selection of weapons, such as a rifle, a shotgun, and a grenade launcher. There was also a feature called the "rage meter" that would go up while the player kills enemies. When it reached the top, the player would automatically kill every enemy on the screen. Another feature was also planned where an auto-aim system would make the player's crosshair stick to an enemy for a limited amount of time. The longer they held it, the more vulnerable the enemies would be. Enemies could also be used as human shields by the player.[3][1]

The game was intended to be released in October of 2004 on Xbox and PlayStation 2 and was shown at E3 2004.[3]

Cancellation

On September 1st, 2004, Acclaim Entertainment went out of business and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Its assets were liquidated.[4] This also meant 100 Bullets was cancelled.[5] No playable demo of the game has surfaced, though multiple screenshots and videos showing footage from the game have surfaced.[6]

Leaked Builds

On January 31st, 2016, YouTube user PToPOnline uploaded gameplay footage of the Xbox version of 100 Bullets, with most of the gameplay running at 60 frames per second. A year later, on January 23rd, PToPOnline uploaded a video showing footage from the PS2 version running on a PS3, locked at 30 frames per second.

On May 17th, 2019, Hidden Palace users Cut Into Fourteen Pieces and CVLT OF OSIRIS uploaded onto the website three different builds of Acclaim Entertainment's version of 100 Bullets, all of which are dated a couple of months before its intended release window:

  • April 22nd, 2004 Prototype: a build of the Xbox version of the game, extracted from a DVD-R. In this version, the rage meter uses the earlier name "ballistic meter".[7]
  • June 30th, 2004 Prototype: a build of the PlayStation 2 version of the game, also extracted from a DVD-R. The Select button gives access to a debug menu and this version includes two levels that were playable in the E3 2004 demo;[8]
  • August 6th, 2004 Prototype: a more recent build of the Xbox version, dated just less than a month before Acclaim's filing for bankruptcy. Unlike the builds above, this one was found within a hard drive disc of an Xbox Development Kit. In this build, like the PS2 version, pressing the Back button in the Xbox controller gives access to a debug menu;[9]

D3 Publisher of America

In May 2006, almost two years after the Acclaim Entertainment version of the game got the axe, Warner Bros. and D3 Publisher of America made a deal to create a game based on the comic for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, and the Wii.[6]

After this announcement, nothing of the game was heard for years. D3 does not have their game listed on their list of games on their website.[10]

In a 2009 interview, Brian Azzarello called the game "dead".[11] However, at the time, he still expressed excitement on creating another game in the future.[12] But, in 2013, he stated that he did not think the game could be made anymore, as he thought it was "a little too intense to get off the ground".[13]

Videos

PlayStation 2 footage of the game, uploaded by IGN.

A video uploaded by Unseen64 showing footage of the game.

Gameplay footage of Acclaim's 100 Bullets, running on the Xbox.

Gameplay footage of the PlayStation 2 version of Acclaim's game.

References