Adam Smith

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Oct 19, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

That I love the game even with a Virtual Boy palette is testament to how lovely it is. Very lovely. And very smart.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Sep 22, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

I wish there were more, particularly relating to team management and the persistency of the world, but this will do. It's not as clean and clever as fellow fictional ball-handler Frozen Cortex, but the messiness and violence really do add something. There's nothing quite like recognising that you're not going to score in the last turn of a half and concentrating all of your efforts toward obliterating the opponent team instead. Especially when they're High Elves.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Sep 21, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

While it is an enormously satisfying and well-crafted game, SOMA never managed to convince me that its themes and plot were in tune with its more traditional first-person frights. It scared me and it gave me cause to think about some of the issues raised, but now that I'm done, I doubt it'll stay long in my mind, or plucking at my nerves.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Sep 15, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

It's entirely possible that you'll respond much more kindly to Dropsy than I have. I wish it had been easier, with a second layer of clues accessible beneath the basic pictograph conversations perhaps. I also wish I'd felt more of a connection with Dropsy himself and I have no doubt that some people will.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Sep 4, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Fran Bow made me smile more than any other game I've played this year. That might come as a surprise if all you've seen of the game is a couple of screenshots feauring gore and dead kids. Fran Bow opens with a gory murder scene and then traps its young protagonist in a creepy institution for (criminally?) insane children. But that initial setting and the dark tone are just a small slice of a story that spans worlds and perfectly captures the beautiful, delightful nonsense of Alice's Adventures, an inspiration that is imprinted on the game.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Aug 28, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

At its best, Satellite Reign has more in common with Commandos than Syndicate. It's a splendid construct, built to endure and to sustain repeated playthroughs in various styles, but I can't shake the feeling that, minute by minute, a little more chaos and unpredictability would go a long way.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Jul 29, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Smart, subtle and sinister, Cradle is a wonderful work of science fiction that doesn't quite fit inside the space Flying Cafe have designed for it.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Jul 29, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

The Swindle is a minor diversion at best, without the comic timing or cunning to turn anyone to a life of crime. A weekend of crime, perhaps, at most.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Jul 22, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Sorcerer King deserves plaudits for being something altogether different rather than yet another iteration of a game we've been playing for decades.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Jun 22, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

When all was said and done, I felt that my curiosity had been rewarded rather than rebuked. Her Story recognises that we have a habit of slowing down and craning our necks when we pass an accident, but it also trusts us to temper that urge with empathy. Maybe if we were separated from these events by a window and a motorway lane rather than a screen and impassable years, we'd slow down enough to pull someone out of harm's way.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·May 20, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

It's one idea done well, consistent and compact. As Bunnylord might say – Not A Hero might not be cooking with floppin' sexy gas on all cylinders but it's a facemurdering good time nonetheless.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Apr 13, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Whatever time was wasted traipsing across the same screens repeatedly, I sure as hell don't regret the twenty-odd perfect shots that happened along the way. The beauty of Titan Souls is that if you enjoy the demo, you'll find more of the same in the full game, with consistently inventive enemy designs.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Mar 31, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Etherium [official site] is fast-paced and energetic but it won't leave you suffering from a sugar crash. It can pack a…

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Mar 24, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Dreamfall Chapters sheds some of the baggage associated with a traditional point and click adventure, but when I found myself in a miniature stealth section combining inventory items around an interactive but almost invisible hotspot on the floor, I wished it were travelling even lighter.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Adam Smith·Mar 18, 2015

Critic—

Agreement—

Apart from the splendid graphics, there's nothing particularly outstanding about White Night, but it's a decent horror-mystery game. It'd fit beautifully under the Alone in the Dark banner and seems like a much more obvious successor than…well…