Weekly Gaming Report: 17/05/2020

Welcome to the weekly gaming report for the 17th of May 2020. This was a bit of a slow week in terms of gaming news but we did get some interesting game announcements and even a brief glimpse at what the next console generation might look like. So let's get started. Today of the Weekly Gaming Report, Tony Hawk returns, Ghost of Tsushima gets a gameplay reveal, Unreal tech demo's and more.

The EVO Online Lineup

Two Weeks ago it was announced that EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament, would not be held this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In it's place the would instead host an online event and just this week we learned what games will be hosted. Most of the original line up is being kept with the exception Super Smash Bros Ultimate due to it's infamously bad net code. In addition, EVO will also be hosting 4 open online tournaments for Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath, Skull Girls, Killer Instinct and Them's Fighting Herds, which is an indie game that started out as a My Little Pony fan game, the fuck? It's an interesting line-up to say the least and I'm curious if this will lead to more Japanese developers being more open to roll-back netcode. Should be a fun EVO this year regardless.

An Unreal Tech Demo

So after the Xbox “gameplay” reveal went down like a fart in an elevator it was up to the guy's at Epic Games to showcase what the next generation will actually look like with a spazzy new tech demo for Unreal engine 5. Running on PlayStation 5 hardware, though it is going to be available on all devices, Unreal engine 5 looks impressive though it isn't a huge technological leap. The most substantial improvements appear to be the load times and the lighting though not being a game developer I can't say much about what this tech actually means. That's the thing, for as impressive as this tech demo is, it's still a tech demo. Until I see actual games using the engine it's hard for me to give my opinion on it. I just find it funny that this tech demo technically had more gameplay than the entire Xbox “gameplay” reveal event.

Pro Skater Returns

After completely shitting the bed with the abysmal fifth entry, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series looks set to regain some of it's former repute with a full on remake of the first two Pro Skater games. I never grew up with these games but long time fans should be excited as every classic game mode will be returning with brand new online modes and even the iconic soundtracks are returning. With a distinct lack of skate boarding games this generation, Pro Skater 1+2 could fill that void. It will be releasing in September though sadly not on the Nintendo Switch.

Ghost of Tsushima Gameplay

So after going ghost, I make no apologies for that pun, after it's initial reveal trailer, Sucker Punch finally gave us a full gameplay rundown of Ghost of Tsushima and, well it looks like a Sony exclusive all right. I don't mean to be cynical here but a lot of Ghost of Tsushima looks like the standard Sony exclusive template, the stealth gameplay doesn't look too different, it's open world doesn't look too different, if you've played any Sony exclusive over the past 5 years than a lot of it will look familiar. That's not to say it looks bad because it really doesn't. While I don't think the open world will be that ground-breaking the more immersive elements do look impressive. Let's be honest, in most open world games your attention is mostly focused on the mini map when navigating to the next destination so to see Ghost completely remove that and instead relying on environmental contextualisation's to guide the player is nice to see. Now I can actually take in the world while exploring. Plus it's just nice to have a full on samurai game. You don't see a lot those, we have tons of ninja games but not a lot of samurai games. Granted ghost of Tsushima does have some ninja elements but it looks like you can go full honourable samurai warrior if you want. The combat looks great, visceral and quick, I'm glad it's more about parrying and quick kills than combos, makes it feel more like how a samurai fights. Ghost of Tsushima looks very good overall and I would have picked it up on day one, however...

Paper Mario Origami edition

Well this came completely out of nowhere. On the same day of the Ghost of Tsushima reveal, Nintendo just drops a trailer for the new Paper Mario game, Paper Mario and The Origami King. This was exciting for me because the Paper Mario series is one of my favourites, The Thousand Year Door is my favourite game of all time, but I won't deny that I was nervous going in because the last two Paper Mario games were, bad. From what we've seen so far though, it looks like Origami King is taking steps in the right direction. Granted we don't know much about how combat will go but it does look like normal attacks are not disposable items and partners are returning but the capacity of which we're unsure about. I do love the premise though, just for the fact that Bowser isn't the main villain. Bowser is at his best when he's a side villain or a main character, that's when he's at his funniest and I hope Origami King brings him back to that. I mean he's a paper wallet in this game which is hilarious on it's own. I'm cautiously optimistic about Origami King but I want to know more about the combat because the ring system they've come up with looks interesting. Paper Mario is set for release on July 17th, the same day as Ghost of Tsushima. Yeah, sorry Ghost but Paper Mario takes priority for me. I'll get to Ghost of Tsushima later.

So that's it for the Weekly Gaming Report. As I said, slow week for gaming news but we did get some decent announcements. Until next time, remember to stay safe and have fun.