After viewing Jim Sterling's post regarding Turtle Rock Studios' Left 4 Dead, I got an odd sense of déjà vu. What was this nostalgia-inspiring game?

It was:



Dead Rush
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Consoles: Playstation 2
Supposed Release Date: 2005

Dead Rush takes place in the fictional city of Eastport. Racked by terrible earthquakes and blanketed in a mysterious cloud of fog, the city has seen better days. The government has quarantined Eastport, disabling all bridges leading in and out of the city. The surviving population faces the threat of the shambling undead, resurrected by the fog.



Meet Jake, the protagonist. Suffering from amnesia, Jake must not only fight for his life against the newly dead population of Eastport, but discover his own forgotten past.



Simply put, Dead Rush is the hybrid child of any PS2-era Grand Theft Auto title and Resident Evil 2. With an open sandbox environment, the player is left to explore the town either on foot or in a vehicle. The big catch of the game was the emphasis on using cars as four-wheeled, two ton weapons. While zombies could easily be dispatched through firearms, larger enemies like "Leapers" are best dispatched with a good old-fashioned bumper to the face.

The game also took pride in it's load times. Treyarch claimed that once the game was started, no in-game pauses would ever occur.



Why was the game cancelled? Who knows? While the game looks decidedly dated, even for the last gen systems is was planned for, the promise of little to no load times has great appeal. Based on the few trailers that were released, the game seems like good fun. The zombie-filled sandbox environment is instant win for me.

Trailer: R.I.P. Tasha Roberts.

What do you guys think? Promising title, or worthy of its cancellation?