Edward Smith


45 games reviewed
64.0 average score
70 median score
34.9% of games recommended
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May 28, 2014

A clever, tightly constructed shooter which unfortunately struggles with franchise baggage. Someone should give MachineGames a real World War game to build.

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Although it feels like more than a mere movie tie-in, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark still isn't a good enough game to stand on its own. Those who buy it will likely be most interested in seeing giant robots doing battle with other giant robots, and though it will deliver on this it won't do so with sufficient fun to make it particularly interesting. Add to that the lacklustre nature of its other elements, and it is barely worth investing the six or seven hours required to complete it.

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8 / 10.0 - Destiny
Sep 10, 2014

Ambitious, polished and clearly pored over by hundreds of people, Destiny is an incredible creative undertaking. It doesn't all click, but it's a huge achievement.

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7 / 10.0 - The Sims 4
Sep 21, 2014

Every game in The Sims series has been followed by a spate of expansion packs which add items and features, but The Sims 4 seems to have been designed solely for the sake of its expansions. It begs to have things added to it, and many people will be left feeling rightfully aggrieved to have paid full asking price for it. The gameplay is as fun and addictive as ever, but while added features breathe plenty of new life into the old formula, they aren't enough to keep The Sims 4 from feeling like half a game. It isn't a complete misstep, but it's certainly a long way from the heights intended for it.

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7 / 10.0 - Forza Horizon 2
Sep 25, 2014

A colourful, energetic driving game which suffers from an uneven tone and an abundance of ideas

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6 / 10.0 - Driveclub
Oct 13, 2014

A solid, well-meaning driving game. DriveClub shares it problems with various other contemporary racers. Speaking more broadly, it's the product of a current, misguided trend towards "social" play.

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9 / 10.0 - The Evil Within
Oct 14, 2014

An intelligent, authored, and consistently entertaining game which combines loving references to the horror genre with the distinctive personality of its director.

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Nov 4, 2014

If you missed it the first time around, Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition is well worth picking up. It plays beautifully, has a great story, and will introduce you to a world you never knew you wanted to explore. There's also no doubting that it's better than the original release. It has been improved in many ways; the graphics, presentation and gameplay have been tweaked and there is some additional content, even if not a great deal. It's just a shame that it hasn't been improved enough to make it feel at home on the new generation of consoles. It's a superb game, but not one worth upgrading your hardware for.

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Nov 4, 2014

Games are better than this now. Call of Duty is becoming a relic.

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Nov 12, 2014

There are few redemptive qualities to The Legend of Korra. Decent gameplay could have been made excellent if only there were more enemy types and, perhaps more importantly, the environments weren't so uninteresting. The story is shallow, the characters are shallow, and the world is shallow. It's bewilderingly underdone; there's very little content and it doesn't really engage with its source material. It doesn't even feature subtitles, so deaf people won't be able to follow it. You might be able to waste a few hours with it, but after that, it'll only be good for gathering dust.

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Nov 18, 2014

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is a great action game, full of high tension moments and brilliant gameplay. It refreshes the old formula sufficiently to keep it interesting - but doesn't do enough to become something special in its own right. It's a lot of fun to play, but with a short campaign, uneven story, and by playing things a little too safe, it's not quite as advanced as it claims to be.

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Jan 12, 2015

Ultimately, LittleBigPlanet 3 is a pretty decent effort which lamentably hamstrings itself. It's charming, aesthetically pleasing, and a lot of fun when it works - but various bugs and glitches, long load times, and a lacklustre story mode really drag it down. Fortunately, the level creation and sharing features save it from being mundane, and provide a boatload of additional content to make it worth the money. It might not be as good as the first two games in the series, but LittleBigPlanet 3 still has enough going for it to make it an enjoyable - albeit sometimes shaky - platform game for all ages.

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Jan 29, 2015

The result is a largely enjoyable but far too shallow experience. With plenty of laughs a minute, a fun battle system, and oodles of old-school charm, Citizens of Earth will delight you for a while - and then simply tire you out. There are too many frustrating hours spent wandering around, too many little bits and pieces that haven't been sorted out properly. With no further depth to it than pure satire, it can be difficult to force yourself through these awkward sections and seek what lies on the other side of them. A little refinement could have gone a long way for Citizens of Earth, but without that extra touch, it's not so much EarthBound as it is grounded.

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Feb 12, 2015

Ultimately, Resident Evil is let down by its awkward combat and somewhat barebones plot. If the story were fleshed out a little more, and if it were possible to fight zombies a little less clumsily, it would still be able to hold its own against the very best of this day and age. Thirteen years is a long time in gaming, though, and the game does show its age a bit. The combat and some other elements, of course, hail from even further back in the 1996 original. As it is, it is merely a great horror game brought to the screen in high definition for the first time, and an absolute must for fans of the genre. Most importantly, it still has the power to inspire fear - and that alone makes it worth the price of admission.

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Mar 1, 2015

The fall of empires has largely been consigned to expansion packs in the Total War series - as in Barbarian Invasion for the original Rome, and Fall of the Samurai for Shogun 2 - so it's a new look for a main instalment to concern itself with the topic. Nevertheless, it is largely successful in its ambitions, and is probably one of the most epic experiences you'll find in the tactical-strategy genre. Despite all the tweaks and improvements, however, it's held back by the lingering problems of the series: in short, long wait times and nonsensical diplomacy. With a little more focus to its early stages, these might have been forgiven; as it is, as fine a game as Attila might be, it stands more as a refinement than a revolution for the series.

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7 / 10.0 - Helldivers
Mar 12, 2015

Despite all this, with the raucous chaos of multiplayer mode, Helldivers is still capable of being engrossing for long periods. This is aided by a simple levelling system, which allows you to upgrade your weapons and stratagems, and the ability to limitedly customise your character's appearance - both of which allow you to invest in the game. With a little more care given to the mission design and the story, Helldivers might well have been an exceptional game, but it falls far too short on both counts to make single-player interesting for any decent stretch of time. It's a game of two halves, engrossing in co-op but disappointing when played solo, immensely fun at its best but rather average when not.

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7 / 10.0 - A Pixel Story
Apr 24, 2015

If there's one thing that�s not in doubt, it�s that A Pixel Story is immensely good fun and will leave you with a smile on your face. It�s bright and colourful, beautifully presented, with great gameplay and so many nods to old films and video games that you�ll be left wondering how it keeps itself from bursting at the seams. What it�s really lacking is a true spark of individuality, a single unique element to make it explode off the screen and grab your attention. It ends up relying too much on nostalgia to tug at your heart strings, rather than trying do it itself. There�s a very good chance that you�ll love A Pixel Story as much as we did, but don�t be surprised if you find yourself wishing it was slightly more than it is.

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5 / 10.0 - Infinity Runner
Apr 28, 2015

Infinity Runner is far from the worst way to pass the time, but it won't occupy you for long as it takes a mere couple of hours to complete. An arcade mode is designed to add some content, but in all honesty, the gameplay isn't strong enough that you'll want to delve into it. You won't even want to read the lore which is unlocked by obtaining collectables, again thanks to the poor grammar and asinine logic plaguing it. Infinity Runner has some good concepts and plays okay enough that you won't hate it, but it simply doesn't cohere sufficiently to enamour you of it either.

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8 / 10.0 - Tropico 5
May 25, 2015

With great gameplay and a funky aesthetic, Tropico 5 manages to turn its dubious subject matter into something enjoyable. It's a pity that it doesn't quite sit comfortably on the PlayStation 4, but it's an engrossing experience nonetheless.

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Jun 28, 2015

Farming Simulator 15 is only likely to please a narrow spectrum of people who love tractors and ploughing the fields.

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