Fear & Respect could be the greatest video game that never reached completion

IT had all the key ingredients: GTA style gameplay, the voice of Snoop Dogg and a script from the man behind Boyz N the Hood.

WHAT do you get when you combine acclaimed Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton and infamous West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg? The greatest video game that never was.

On September 23, 2004, Midway Games announced it was creating Fear & Respect — a video game thatwould explore the life of a young gangster growing up in South Central L.A.

The third-person open-world action-adventure was tipped to be the next big title to rival the highly popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Players interactions with other gang members, personal appearance and overall actions would influence how they were respected or feared on the streets of the notorious neighbourhood, which would ultimately control how the story would play out.

The game was hyped in publications, but this wasn't enough to see it completed. Picture: GameInformer

Snoop Dogg was chosen to voice and offer likeness for the protoganist, which made sense given his connection to the West Coast gangsta rap scene and his affiliation with the Crips — one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the world.

With more than 55,000 members estimated in 2008, Crips have long been involved in murders, robberies and drug dealing, among other crimes, while also having an ongoing and bitter rivalry with another LA street gang known as The Bloods

Hollywood director John Singleton’s involvement in the project was also a wise selection as he had written and directed blockbuster movies like Boyz N the Hood and Baby Boy, which focused around growing up in the gritty neighbourhoods around South Central L.A.

The game’s world was tipped to be a highly realistic rendering of Los Angeles, with gangsters given access to a wide array of weapons including pistols, rifles, and shotguns.

Hype for the game only increased when Paramount Pictures acquired the film rights to the game just one day after it was announced — the movie was also never made.

The game was originally planned for PS2 and Xbox, but was later pushed towards next-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

By February 2006, Fear & Respect appeared to be gaining serious momentum with Midway releasing a set of 13 screenshots and a trailer for the game.

The trailer showed Snoop Dogg’s character “Goldie” riding in a car with a fellow gangmember who had a loaded gun in the back seat.

When rival gangsters block off the vehicle and start shooting, Snoop’s character hits the gas, but crashes the vehicle further down the road. After crawling from the wreckage, the trailer shows a montage of gameplay from the title.

Everything was looking promising, but just one month after the trailer was released, Midway chief executive David Zucker confirmed the game would not be going ahead.

“Fear & Respect is on the back burner. We are still working with Snoop and John Singleton to do a game, but the actual game Fear & Respect is cancelled,” he told GamesSpot.

Midway did not offer a specific reason for the cancellation, but hinted it might be to do with growing competition within the urban-themed video games market.

““I think we’re at a juncture in the video game business. Everyone’s talking about it. How many times are you going to give me the 16th iteration of [X],” he said.

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