Screamer (MS-DOS) box art with different car model

[dark]

This isn't really the find of the century, but I just noticed that the screenshots on the back of my big box pc game "Screamer" show a different 3d model and skin used for the corvette car than is actually used in the game.

As you can see in the pic below, the box art shows the corvette having a wing or spoiler of some kind, whereas in the final game, the car does not have one. The skin applied to the rear bumper beneath the taillights appears to be different as well.

There are also a few other minor differences: The font/color of the text used for the countdown timer in the top middle of the screen appears to be slightly different. The HUD on the top left and top right corners in the final game doesn't seem to be in the box screenshot, and the sky and reflection of the sky look a little different, but I think that might be saturation from taking screenshots and printing them on a cardboard box in the 1990s.

 

[Johnny]

It's probably from an earlier build of the game, prototype perharps?

On mobygames, there's more promo screenshots of the game with the different HUD and also the same picture of the US Box art you mentioned.

Screamer (1995) promotional art - MobyGames

Concept art, wallpaper, official screenshots, and other promotional art for Screamer.

www.mobygames.com

The UK version of the game (the one i own) also has screenshots with this different HUD on the back as well.

 

[dark]

I'm sure its from an earlier build. I had a demo of the game back in the day from a magazine disc (PC Gamer) and I'm pretty sure it had the different font for the timer and maybe the alternate HUD as well. Interesting pictures on MobyGames, the Czech magazine photos show some alternate skins for cars that I don't think made it into the final game.