As gamers we often long for franchises that stop producing games before we were happy to let them go. Whether it be because the story simply came to an end like in the case of Time Splitters, or because the series was no longer considered financially viable, resulting in some truly phenomenal game series having their flame blown out far too soon (such as Heavenly Sword or War of The Monsters). We mourn for these old loves of ours, desperately clinging to the hope that they may one day return despite knowing in our hearts that it will never happen. If youve somehow got this far in life without having a series abandoned or, even worse, revamped into something offensively rubbish (*cough* Dead Space 3 *cough*), I envy you. This is an industry where the ground-breaking get thrown on the rubbish heap and the undeserving reap in millions, so its safe to say most of you reading this have experienced at least once the bitter disappointment of a product you enjoyed being cut-short because of funds or changed to appeal to a wider audience. However, it is far more tragic when a great game gets cancelled before even being released, especially when the reasoning for the cancellation is so damn frivolous. Thrill Kill is one such game that suffered this fate. Originally in development for the PS1, Thrill Kill was the 3D fighter offspring of Mortal Kombat and Silent Hill, providing an atmosphere more macabre and disturbing than the wet dreams of Lars Von Trier. Set in purgatory (a location far too few games incorporate) players were allowed to pick from ten starting characters, each more grotesque than the last, and then placed into a series of 4-way death matches against each other to prove their worth to a demon, with the final victor being granted the reward of reincarnation. Its difficult to explain the exact nature of how the levels worked to those that never experienced them, but the online multiplayer in God of War Ascension is probably a fairly accurate comparison. Four characters would be placed in a small 3D area, often modelled around some traumatic part of one of the characters pasts (e.g. a padded mental asylum cell or a dilapidated public lavatory), and then proceeded to fight to the death. This game never did anything ordinarily though, so instead of a health bar each character would have a kill meter that would get slowly fuller every time they hit someone else which, once full, would put the character in thrill kill mode, where theyd be granted the power to kill one of the other lost souls. To do this all theyd have to do is approach one of the other characters and press x, square, triangle, or circle, all of which would pull off a different fatality style finisher. Of course this was difficult if you happened to pick one of the more lumbering characters as it made catching anyone ridiculously onerous, resulting in your meter emptying back to zero and the fight recommencing. No other game has incorporated this idea, yet it is a system far more fair than any implemented in recent years. Kill steals were made impossible. You couldnt get the last hit in a fight after someone else had taken down most of their health because there werent any health bars, so cheating and trolling (although the term trolling wasnt really around at this point) werent things that could really occur. The balanced combat mechanics and lack of 2D battle also meant spamming the same high powered attacks wasnt a viable strategy, so it was necessary to play the game with skill if you wanted to succeed. Saying that, the game wasnt overtly difficult. The last two fights in the campaign (the only one-on-one battles, incidentally) were hard, yet even they never got so arduous as to be unenjoyable. Besides, it was more a game youd play socially anyway, so despite a great campaign it wouldnt have been an issue if the game was purely a multiplayer experience (referring to the old meaning of multiplayer of course, which meant everyone had to be in the same room). So why, I hear you ask, was it never released? Well, heres the thing: even by todays standards the game would be a little extreme, with the levels of blood and violence going way above and beyond that youd see in MK, which is the franchise Thrill Kill was originally developed to compete against. The characters were all brilliant, yet taken out of context they were grotesque mockeries of individuals or too close to real life madmen, with the example of the redneck cannibal whod beat his opponents to death with a severed leg jumping straight to mind (hed take a bite out of said leg before each match, which is the thing that upset most people). What needs to be understood though is that these characters, whether it be the the dominatrix with the electrified whip or the scalpel wielding surgeon with Jaws like teeth (the bond villain, not the shark), all appeared in such a gruesome manner because they were physical embodiments of their mental states on Earth. This title was an extremely dark, charismatic, and well developed game that remains even one of my favourites even to this day, being far superior to any other fighter that has been produced since. Bootleg versions of the finished game were released online after its cancellation, allowing certain individuals to burn it onto discs and give to their loving children. This is how I experienced the game, and despite an inability to save my progress (resulting in me only ever getting to experience one of the unlockable characters) and certain missing features it still blew my impressionable little mind, forming one of the most gripping and beautifully creepy gaming experiences Ive ever had. Thrill Kill deserved to be released, it deserved sequels, it deserved to be critically acclaimed and to be remembered by every gamer in the world. Instead its publishers, who happen to be the winners of this years Worst Company in America Award, cancelled it before release because it was senselessly violent, clearly not understanding the premise of the game being set in a form of Hell and fearing it wouldnt appeal to a broad audience. Im not going to turn this article into an attack against EA, at this point it would be like trying to find another group of people Hitler didnt like to prove he was a bad guy, its a battle that has already been won. This article probably wont get many hits, but that in itself demonstrates my point. Thrill Kill deserves more than it got and we, as consumers, deserved its release. Unfortunately I cant boycott EAs products more than I already am, but I can urge you to go online and try and download Thrill Kill immediately if youve never experienced it. It is the franchise that couldve been, and knowing it will never get the praise it deserves makes me cry a little inside. Have you played Thrill Kill? Share your thoughts below.