As documented by Games That Weren't, The Last Job (also known as The Heist) was in development at Acclaim Cheltenham, with a team of around 40 people involved. Intended for release on the PS2 (an Xbox version was mooted but apparently abandoned), it was shown off behind closed doors at E3 2004 and offered a unique premise.
You controlled a team tasked with raiding several locations and getting out with as much money as possible. The twist here was that you got to control all the members of your crew in tandem, and your performance in each phase of the operation would have a direct impact on the others.
For example, if your muscle doesn't do a good enough job of dealing with police, guards or even SWAT team members, then when you move onto the later phases of the operation, there will be more threats for the rest of your crew to contend with.
The game reached the 40% completion point and was apparently progressing well when Acclaim went bust, and it's only now – thanks to Stuart Maine, who worked as a level designer on the cancelled project –that we're hearing about it again.
The really exciting thing is that Maine has donated a prototype of The Last Job to Games That Weren't, and you can download it now. It's not complete, of course, but it is playable – so you can at least get a small taste of what the team at Acclaim Cheltenham was aiming for.
Head over to Games That Weren't for a more detailed breakdown of the prototype, as well as artwork and concept imagery.
