John Walker

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Apr 20, 2016

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It definitely makes me very interested to see what developers Lemonsucker do next.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Apr 5, 2016

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This is the genre done right, although with an upbeat, uncruel approach that feels atmospherically more reminiscent of Rogue Legacy than, say, Nuclear Throne. It's very silly in presentation, but very serious in pixel-perfect controls. Goodness knows if it's good deeper in, but I'm having a brilliant time not finding out.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Mar 24, 2016

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Samorost 3 is so bursting with life, so lovingly crafted, that it’s impossible not to adore. I cannot think of a game whose soundtrack comes close to this, and few that are so pretty. Gnome’s yelps of delight, or enthusiastic dances, or the way he sometimes says, “Hop!” when he jumps, are idiotically adorable. It’s so alive, so intricate, and so graceful. I wonder if the difficulty will see it be a less celebrated game than the last two, but it really is a thing of beauty.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Mar 21, 2016

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I still adore this game. It’s still the smartest, most elegant, most entertaining adventure game ever made. And now, if you want, it looks new and sounds amazing.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Mar 9, 2016

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Just how many fist-bumps you're willing to sit through may determine your longevity with its achingly desperate attempts to be millennial and street (the loading tips are a confusion of Twitter and WhatsApp or whatever it is the kidz are into these days), but perfecting your drift by practise and tweaking is an extremely rewarding – if ridiculously arcadey – fun time.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Mar 8, 2016

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A rushed ending is really the game’s only let-down. A larger conspiracy, or more surprising reveal, might have given it a heftier punch. And it certainly needed a few more puzzles in the later stages, a bit more to do. But these are minor niggles in a really splendid adventure game of the sort we see too rarely. Grown up, well written, carefully paced, and genuinely interesting to explore.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Mar 3, 2016

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Clearly the Deponia series is loved by enough people for them to keep making more of them, so I’m sure this will be as gleefully received as the rest. But it’s a nasty, stupid, and most damningly of all, badly constructed adventure game.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Feb 25, 2016

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It steps on The Stanley Parable's toes a little too often, and doesn't have the chops to withstand that comparison – it would have been a lot more sensible to have avoided the seemingly deliberate comparisons altogether. But it remains wonderful just to look at, the rest a bonus treat.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Feb 8, 2016

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Firewatch is a rare and beautiful creation, that expands the possibilities for how a narrative game can be presented, without bombast or gimmick. It's delicate, lovely, melancholy and wistful. And very, very funny. A masterful and entrancing experience.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Feb 2, 2016

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I've admittedly not gotten an enormous way into the game, because good gravy, no one would want to. But it's been a tortuous, buggy, and most of all, deeply uninteresting slog. If a sudden delight were to arrive around the next corner, it wouldn't have been worth the effort of getting there.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Feb 1, 2016

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There's loads to do in Lego Marvel Avengers, but only when you've found it. And of course the animation is well done, the ridiculous amount to collect relatively compelling, and if your kid 100%ed Marvel Super Heroes, then this will likely give them a new fix. But it's a despondent entry in a series that perhaps TT are finally beginning to grow tired of making.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Jan 25, 2016

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In fact, if you've looked at the screenshots, read this, and thought, "Goodness me, John's an idiot," then this is the game for you! I can't tell you where it goes in the later puzzles (there are 60 in total), as they unlock one at a time.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Jan 20, 2016

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There are so many smart ideas in here, and the concept is neat, even if obviously derivative. But the execution doesn't hold it together, with disappointing responses to extremes, and a strangely anticlimactic progression. I feel like if this were given another six months, the game could be as interesting to play as it is in ambition. But as it is, it's not there.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Jan 5, 2016

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[T]rust me, pick this one up.

Rock Paper Shotgun

John Walker·Dec 23, 2015

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What's such a shame about the puzzles, beyond those which are simply bad (not very many, but gosh, they're bad), is that what it doesn't do is let you move around the world. And that's even more strange when the transitions between puzzles are the camera swooping down streets and through doors between one and the next, so there was definitely a world built in which one could have moved about.