Adam Smith
This author account hasn't been claimed yet. To claim this account, please contact the outlet owner to request access.
Writing For
Rock Paper ShotgunLatest Reviews
Soma
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,...
Dropsy
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...
Satellite Reign
Like its interface and design, Satellite Reign's city is a far cleaner and more controlled place than it first seems. Efficiency rules over emergent accident and emergency, and the game is tight and well-crafted. My favourite moments involved tense tactical infiltrations, using every agent's skillset to temporarily disable cameras and...
The Swindle
Right at the top, I said that The Swindle should feel comfortable in the shadows. Its design, both in the short-term of each level and the long-term of the countdown structure, places it in the shadow of two games that it can't comfortably live with or escape. Even judged in...
Sylvio
I almost walked away during the opening moments, when Sylvio seems like yet another cobbled together mess of repetitive graphical assets. I figured I'd play until the first jump scare and then quit. Instead, I found a game that uses its limited resources to find clever ways to scare the...
Not a Hero
If the game's origins as a Clickteam prototype are sometimes evident, that's not necessarily a bad thing. 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...
Dreamfall Chapters
Most importantly, the story still has intricacies and a powerful emotional core, and after a decade and a half, I'm still happy to wait for an ending, even if this one was a little abrupt. Whatever levity and controversy occurs between now and then, I don't expect a dry eye...
Alien: Isolation
Isolation is the best Alien game I've ever played, I'm in no doubt about that. Even in its awkward moments it is doing something interesting with the license, exploring the edges of what is possible in its world, quietly and discreetly. I expect the debate about certain design choices to...
Wasteland 2
** Companions are available to join the original party of four. An early recruit is almost indispensable, which is peculiar considering she can be entirely bypassed if you don't search a dead-end in the starting area. I often felt like I should be digging up every loose patch of dirt...
Among the Sleep
The novelty of controlling a child - particularly in a horror game - was lost for me almost as soon as the environments became unreal. Anybody would be discombobulated and afraid in those places, chased by those things, and I felt like my character had become 'anybody'. There's plenty to...