Review and Evaluate - Concrete Genie

Concrete Genie is exclusive to the upcoming PlayStation 4 but you've never heard of it unlike other titles like The Last of Us 2 or Death Stranding.

However, pixelopus studio developed to offer a world and charming graphics as well as touching on an important social theme, which made it one of the quiet games that take us away from the box of traditional games that we are used to, but it is not great and may have achieved more possibilities if it took Other ways.

I was very enthusiastic about the Concrete Genie experience, especially when I watched the launch date unveiling.

From that time I was talking about the game with my friends because the style of art and graphics used was fascinating and that's what I saw from the first moments.

During your concrete genie adventure, you'll take control of The Character of Ash, the quiet, sensitive boy who spends most of his time drawing on his favorite notebook when the town's teenagers who always bully him are not exposed.

The story takes place in the coastal city of Denska, which certainly had better days, where it was a thriving area but was damaged by an environmental disaster that led to the dark invasion of its streets.

Ash must fight these corrupt forces and bring the city back to its former glory and the only way to do it is by drawing magic drawings on the wall of every building he can reach, but he must always avoid the group of bullies because they will hurt him.

Ashe sets out to save the city with his weapon, a magic brush he found in a slightly dilapidated lighthouse as he searches for his scattered pages, bringing his cryptographs, drawings, and genies into real life in two-dimensional reality.

Although Ash is the focus of attention, the bullies get a lot of clips during your journey into the game world, but this character has made an impression on me because of their conversations with each other and to Ash.

Each person in this group has their personality and their relationship is different, and that's what you'll learn better as you progress.

The game is a masterpiece in terms of graphics as well as great animated clips. The control is well designed and interactive where you will spend a lot of your time climbing walls and jumping between surfaces to reach new areas and to avoid bullies while controlling the character from a third-person perspective.

It's not like The Assassin's Creed game (but I felt infamous: Second Son) but it has a platform mechanism (platforming) and it's very hard to fall or miss a jump unless you're trying to, the game doesn't try to kill you or even challenge you, but you want to have a quiet and enjoyable experience.

Without any fighting (until later in the game but we'll get there), you'll walk the streets of Denska and bring it back to life with ash's magic brush, which will offer players a range of options that you can draw from that that will grow bigger and bigger when you find pages in different places of the world. Based on drawings of trees, stars, sun, herbs and more.

You can draw on the walls by moving the device's control hand and using sensors or by controlling the right wheel (R) — for me, I tried both ways and felt that the right calf control was more comfortable and faster in time.

You'll also be able to draw the ghosts who will accompany you, but you can do it in specific locations and you'll often be where you'll need to solve a puzzle to move the story forward or open a new area of the city to explore.

I'm not a fan of puzzle games and if you're like me, don't worry, all the puzzles here are simple and easy to solve.

Concrete Genie isn't long, its main story runs from 5 hours to 6 hours, but again it's $30 and includes a virtual reality phase if you have PSVR glasses.

Experience Mode puts you in a 360-degree world and you have to complete requests and follow the little ghost Splotch who lives in a Bag Ash while the Freeform phase puts you in an empty world where you can create what you want.

The basic game mechanism is summarized in the following sequence:
Find a point where you can draw a ghost and draw all the things he asks of you to win the genie's trust and friendship.

Then he'll charge the super paint counter – used to remove the dark roots from the walls and then call the ghost you painted to the object that blocks your path and ask him to help you.

At first, drawing the ghost and interacting with them was fun and suitable for the world of the game, but after a little bit of time, I felt repetitive, which made me a little further away from the magical world of the game.

Late in the game, a new combat and skills system was introduced that helps Ash overcome the mysterious dark Genies you saw in the story above.

I don't want to talk about it too much for fear of burning some details of the game, but some of these skills and the fighting system should have been introduced earlier and not in the last paragraph.

In the middle of your progress, you'll feel that there's nothing new left, but events can happen and you'll go to places that captivate you for a short time until you feel the same way.

One of Ash's fun skills was the possibility of painting, which once again reminded me of Infamous: Second Son.

This skill made the control and touring of the city more enjoyable in stages but I understand what the development team put in the last paragraph, in the end, it certainly fit the story, style of play and the magical world of Concrete Genie, but I wish we had some early.

We can simply say that Concrete Genie's optics, art style, and animation sought to be experienced, as well as its style of play, which contains some interesting mechanisms.

In my experience, I've enjoyed walking around, creating a gin and interacting with them because you'll feel connected to a 2D pet and you'll see his happiness when you meet his requests and draw what he wants.

Certainly the game is not huge (AAA) but it is an independent game and as a lover of independent games I advise you to try it it is a change from the style of games that we are used to recently.

Positives

• Both the artistic style, the graphics, and the animations were stunning.
• The interaction of graphics with the character made you connect more with the world of the game.
• The story revolves around an important social issue that it is trying to present from both sides.
• Music that fits all aspects of the game beautifully and increases your connection with the world and characters.

Negatives

• In half the game you may get bored because of the repetition of the gameplay mechanism.