Concrete Genie
Concrete Genie certainly has a vandal’s heart, but this creatively-oriented PlayStation 4 exclusive struggles to tie its various mechanics together.
Art conception as a central machinist in TV games always seems like a brake shoe - in . With a simple undulation of an analogue stick or motion controls , adding vibrant color and animation to a formerly dreary macrocosm always feel unmediated and fat , a proven expression in a variety of games , fromOkamitoDe Blobto theJet Set Radioseries . It ’s a reaction that serve the interactive culture medium in a way that find pure , but it can be tricky to coordinate given the nonsubjective element of art itself , and it ’s one of several problem that novel PlayStation 4 exclusiveConcrete Geniestruggles to prioritize , making the resultant experience a fiddling act puddle on the whole .
Denska is a dimly - lit interface - side town that has clearly regard better 24-hour interval , condemned by a lack of industry and a kind of ennui infused into its ramshackle shanties and warehouses . chief persona Ash is a young creative person busily sketch his imagination into a journal , which mostly consists of name monster characters with bellying furry bodies and beaming smiling . Contending with an intimidating crew of roving bullies who frequently make his sprightliness nether region , his journal is steal , shred , and its varlet scattered to the wind , before he ’s chased to a distant lighthouse where one of his make “ genies ” number to life .
Related : The Angry Birds Movie 2 VR : Under Pressure Review - Hectic 4 - Player Fun
Now armed with a magic paintbrush , Ash returns to the Denska mainland to project glowing exist painting onto its canvas , re - enlivening the town one wall at a meter . In practice , this means that virtually any encompassing surface can be painted on , either by using the analog stick or through the default motion control — for such an important mechanic , it ’s illustrious that either method work well . Rather than paint these pieces line by line , player get a palette of unlike forms by find each shredded sketchbook Sir Frederick Handley Page , permit them paint telling rainbow , stream of flowering vine , animated butterfly , and more .
And , of course , there are the djinny themselves , who are make in something of aMr . Potato Headfashion , and the unlike genie components do work much the same way as the rest of the palette frame . Strangely , merely drawing on walls alone does n’t fulfill completion of a Denska zone , and you ’re intend to primarily paint walls behind chain of light electric light , which crystallise them to track progress . Weirdly , this is never really explain and does n’t quite make sense within the fiction , and just seems like a secret plan - yttrium scheme to forbid the rampant private road to cover every single available wall in the town , which might have grown tiresome .
It ’s one of several inelegant affordances to be found in the overall game , which tries to merge stealing , platforming , puzzle - resolution , exploration , storytelling , and free - wheeling creativeness into one unavoidably jumble swither . The bullies fromConcrete Genie ’s intro pop up throughout your travels , and they will often try their best to catch you , rob you of your coppice , or slingshot you off of shaky perch . This either direct to a stumble or a fail - state , neither of which meaningfully slow up thing down — even falling from a remote height or into a body of water prompt something of a “ demise ” animation , but then instantly teleports you back to where you once were . Lacking any real threat , the only potential tenseness emergences in the episodic moments of confusion as to what to do next , something never ably resolve by an inscrutable mathematical function CRT screen .
To be fair , some of this lack of tenseness is due to the focus on the house painting itself . The first few times you utilise the brush may elicit a gasp , with each modest stroke creating a buzzing collage of luminescent figure . The number of creating a new genie with whatever accouterments you like — go ahead and give them five spiraled horn , three butt , and a moustache , if you wish — seems like it would get old , but their broadcast braggy - toothed smile as they shimmer to life is always a genuine delight . Once they ’ve been created , they can follow you along bulwark through the entireness of an arena , and three dissimilar base - type of jinni volunteer different elemental power that factor into occasional puzzles . you’re able to even end up with a whole squad of genie bumbling around each level , need you to paint objects and rewarding you with particular paint that eradicates corruption - like blockades .
It ’s unclouded that studio apartment Pixelopus prioritized the house painting mechanics duringConcrete Genie ’s development which , of track , was a very wise decisiveness . What ’s unfortunate is that footling else in the game seemed to have received a comparable amount of polish or consideration . Platforming is very fidgety , the stealth aspects are mostly nonexistent and disposable , and whatever puzzles do emerge are so straightforward they sense like bare cushioning and distraction . The moments of cinematic storytelling where player watch more about Ash ’s parents or an individual yob is spotlit are forgettable the flash that they ’re over , and Denska ’s various districts are some of the least compelling surroundings to navigate in recent memory , whether they ’re cover in glowing pigment or not . When that most obvious of lazy game tropes appears — the sewer level — it almost feels like an knowing joke .
Even suffer a paintbrush seems like an odd compromise , when arguably the most obvious tool to beautify the townspeople would have been a magical spraypaint can . Additionally , your artwork ’s glittery core serve to separate it from the Denska architecture , gain the painting always seem like they ’re hovering a few inches off the wall , which touch on full submerging in the approximation .
If you havea PS VR headset , there ’s a cunning advance - base adventure bundled intoConcrete Genie . Paint homonculus Splotch ( who label along with Ash in the principal narration ) guides a player through a serial publication of interactional paint demonstrations in 3D , which only takes 20 minutes or so , but is a beautiful and focused diversion . It ’s probably never going to serve as the solitary reason to buy the secret plan , but PS VR players get a worthy bonus for have the hardware , which even uses both Motion Controllers . To be dependable , some kind of full - on PS VR integration with the main game would have in all probability added significant value to the package .
IfConcrete Geniewas a fully - priced game , most anyone playing through it would feel shorted by their investment . As it stands , though , it ’s amusing in spurts and , while it never amply wears out its welcome , it nevertheless struggles to make an impact . In our playthrough , there eventually came a time where we just repeatedly painted whatever random shape might brood up light bulbs the quickest , ignoring any push to accurate art — a preindication of former enervation with a biz that only take five or so hour to complete . With a few tweak and a great deal more meat add , Concrete Geniecould have been excellent , but it ’s still a nice palette cleanser before upcoming remnant - of - twelvemonth releases .
More : Telefrag VR Review - There ’s Nobody leave to shoot down
Concrete Genieis out now on PlayStation 4 for $ 29.99 . A digital transcript was provided to Screen Rant for purposes of review .
