Ranking the summer games showcases – from Nintendo Direct to Summer Game Fest

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – one of the biggest reveals of the season (Nintendo)

GameCentral looks back at the not-E3 season of video game preview events and gives a scored review for each one.

If this was pre-Covid then it would have been E3 last week, the biggest video game trade show in the world, around which was organised several additional showcases from major publishers. E3 is no more but the showcases have remained, even if they’re now slightly more spread out and there are less from non-console makers.

In theory, that means that the whole process of revealing new games, and the first footage of those previously only mentioned by name, should still be the same. But it really isn’t.

The strange malaise that has taken over gaming in the last two years, as companies awkwardly react to the rising cost of making games and the declining growth in console sales, has led to increasingly disappointing showcases, where the number of new reveals has decreased and the lack of excitement and energy has become genuinely depressing.

That doesn’t mean that all showcases now are duds though, just that they’re far more variable in quality than they used to be.

So, we’ve taken a look at the five events from the last few weeks, given them a score and ordered them in terms of worst to best. Let us know if you agree and if this summer’s showcases have made you more or less optimistic for the future…

5. State of Play – May 30

You knew Sony’s summer event was going to be a disappointment the moment they referred to it as a normal State of Play, rather than a larger showcase. It barely lasted 30 minutes and the only real points of interest were Concord at the beginning and Astro Bot at the end. Astro Bot did look very good, and exactly the sort of fun and imaginative game that the PlayStation 5 needs right now. Concord, however, was deeply underwhelming in its generic presentation and gameplay. And especially because it’s the first in an apparently long line of new live service titles, from Sony’s first party studios.

Even with Astro Bot, the whole presentation reeked of something Sony didn’t really want to do but felt they were obligated to. It’s hard to imagine that they were surprised when Concord’s trailer was downvoted so much and for once it’s not hard to sympathise with the fan dissatisfaction. Viewed out of context the event wasn’t that bad but as the main summer reveal event from the best-selling console of the generation it was pitiful stuff.

Score: 3/10

4. Summer Game Fest – June 7

The most concerted attempt to fill the vacuum left by E3 is this two hour long showcase by the creator of The Game Awards. It follows a very similar format, with endless trailers interspersed with brief on-stage appearances by developers. To its credit, it was the only event that attempted to address the current crisis in gaming, and the endless job losses, even if it didn’t linger on the subject.  Unfortunately, the showcase itself was largely unexciting, although it’s hard to know who to really blame for that.

There were a lot of promising looking indie titles but they’re not the sort of games that are well suited to these types of events. But there also weren’t many blockbusters either, just things like a second look at Monster Hunter Wilds and reveals of Lego Horizon Adventures and Civilization 7 – both of which were spoiled by leaks.

The debut of the new Blumhouse Games label was perhaps the most interesting announcement but while considerable time was spent on the console version of Valorant, and DLC for Alan Wake 2, neither created the sort of buzz that E3 events of old were normally expected to provide.

Score: 4/10

3. Ubisoft Forward – June 10

Although it didn’t necessarily happen every year, many third party publishers used to host their own events at E3 time, including EA, Square Enix, and Capcom. This year the only one that did was Ubisoft and that was only because they’d just announced Assassin’s Creed Shadows and were keen to show off its gameplay for the first time, as well as that of the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws.

The visuals in Outlaws were exceptional, but other than that it was all exactly what you’d expect, with Shadows looking like every recent Assassin’s Creed combined with every possible cliché of samurai-themed video games. It was all perfectly fine, and there was a certain amount of time dedicated to other franchises, such as Prince Of Persia, but once again the event itself was hard to get excited about. Although at least it didn’t go on forever.

Score: 5/10

2. Nintendo Direct – June 18

It’s ironic that the only showcase that would’ve been given a free pass, on account of the Switch being in its final months, was one of only two this year that was actually worth your time. It was also the one with the most surprises, with the new Mario & Luigi game never having been leaked beforehand. There were hints of Super Mario Party Jamboree and Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom (starring Zelda herself) beforehand but the final reveals still managed to be more interesting than expected.

The event ended with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which may or may not having been running on Switch 2 hardware. Although if it wasn’t, it’s clearly going to end up as one of the best-looking Switch games ever. Nintendo has had busier showcases before but you never would’ve guessed this one was the last before the introduction of a new console, which is the most welcome surprise of all.

Score: 8/10

1. Xbox Games Showcase – June 9

Back when E3 was still going, Microsoft never used to be very good at showcases, in part because they didn’t have enough interesting games and in part because their presenters loved the sound of their own voice too much. In the last two years though they’ve managed redress the balance on both issues, and this was an even better showcase than last year.

They even managed to make the 30 minutes dedicated to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 relatively interesting but the real standouts were Doom: The Dark Ages, South Of Midnight, Fable, Perfect Dark, and Gears Of War: E-Day. There was even time for some notable third party reveals, including a gameplay trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta and the unveiling of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure.

The only flaw with the event was that almost everything had been leaked out beforehand, multiple times, but then Microsoft never has been very good at keeping secrets. They are, however, now very good at preview showcases and despite basically copying the format from Sony they’re now providing exactly what PlayStation refuses to do, in terms of a sizeable roadmap of future first party titles to look forward to.

Score: 9/10

Thankful Xbox’s Phil Spencer didn’t talk much (YouTube)

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