The Metallica Game We Never Got (But Maybe Should Have)

Around 2003, Black Rock Studio (which is sadly now no more) was working on something fairly unique: a Metallica game that didn’t involve plastic instruments.

It instead was a “post-apocalyptic driving/adventure game”, in which the band’s members were badass, gun-toting characters.

Destined for the PS2, nothing ever came of the title. It was never even publicly announced by Black Rock, so really all we’ve got to show for it at this stage is some concept art showing the studio’s vision for the game, and the knowledge it would of course feature the music of the band.

But what a vision it is. These pieces were all done by British artist Calum Alexander Watt, who isn’t just one of my favourite gaming artists, he’s one of my favourite artists in general.

There’s a Borderlands-meets-Akira look to the drawings, which look great in their own right; As a fresh take on a way to put famous musicians into a video game, they looked awesome.

Interestingly, some of the pics were tagged as “Damage Inc”, showing at least the artist knew which of the many incarnations of Metallicas to look to for inspiration.

Since we’ll never get to see this game, the least we can do is look at its art. And if you’d like to see more of Watt’s stuff, you should check out his personal site, which has great pictures of robots.

Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists.


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