Concrete Genie: Game review (PS5)

A few years ago I fell in love with Playstation Plus' game Concrete Genie (affiliate link). This little gem about a boy being bullied by his schoolmates should't have had that effect on me. 

 

 

Concrete Genie bullies

In general this topic traumatizes me. Bullying is the reason why I didn't like Life Is Strange. That is the reason why I couldn't play as the killer in my all time favorite game, Friday the 13th: The Game.

So why Concrete Genie managed to steer clear of that trauma?

The reason must be the adorable spirits, the Genies. I can't get enough of them. I'm totally in love with them. I could spend hours just watching them.

 

 

 

Concrete Genie video game

In Concrete Genie you play as a boy called Ash, who is living near a dark town of Denska. Some time ago something terrible happened to Denska, and darkness consumed it. But now Ash finds a magic paintbrush, and he is then able to bring the town back to light. With his new friends, the genies. 

Say no to Move

By default on Playstation the game's setting has the painting minigame on Move motion function. If you hate Move as much as I do, be sure to change that setting. Then the painting is done with the right stick, and it's much easier that way. 

Ugh, I had so much trouble with Heavy Rain because of this stupid Move.

 

Is Concrete Genie worth it?

I can't recommend this game enough. I love it, or should I say the genies, too much. 

But there are some cons too.

I don't like the fighting against monsters towards the end, especially the big boss.

Hint: You can change the game's difficulty to easy. That's what I did.

Also way too often I'm having trouble seeing which designs the genies are requesting. That's so frustrating, for both the genies and the player. 

 

 

How long is Concrete Genie?

Concrete Genie is a relatively short game. My second playthrough took about 5 hours.

 

Cats in Concrete Genie

Yes, there are cats in this game. Or to be honest, I don't know if it's always the same cat. It probably is.

 

You can pet the cat, and the genies can pet the cat. So freaking adorable, both genies and the cat.

 

 

Is Concrete Genie free to play?

Concrete Genie is available for free on Playstation Plus Extra.

 

Concrete Genie gameplay (PS5)

Here's some of my Concrete Genie gameplay on Youtube:

 

L.A. Noire: First impressions

I get commissions for purchases made through the links in this post, at no cost to you.

 

Ten years ago, back in April 2014, I had the time of my life. I was playing L.A. Noire for the first time. On PS3. These days I'm happy to say that L.A. Noire is one of my all time favorite games. I'm very sad that it's very unlikely that there will ever be a sequel, L.A. Noire 2.

In L.A. Noire you play as detective Cole Phelps, solving crimes in Los Angeles in the year 1947. And still today, the city looks astonishing and so genuine. I'm always in awe while driving on the streets (and trying to run people over in the process).

 

 I hate Roy Earle. But there is one character in the game who I hate even more...

But here are my first impressions of L.A. Noire, first written back in 2014:

While partying on a Saturday night my neck got sore in a fist fight. Things got too real when I almost died, and panicked because of it. This happened in my new favorite game L.A. Noire! 

 

 

Because of (the first) The Last of Us, which turned out to be a complete disappointment for me, I thought that "cinematic" games are not really for me, but I guess I was wrong. LA Noire was reportedly the first game ever that was "honoured as an official selection" at a film festival.

Noire is a calm enough game for my taste, but there is also plenty of action. At first the game reminded me of the CSI series, and then of the Grand Theft Auto games. The game world is large and well executed. After all, the game was years behind its original schedule because they wanted to make it better. 

 

Herschel Biggs is taking it easy.

It was funny when one time I drove away from the bad guys and accidentally drove full speed to the wall. Well, the villains followed suit - and died. And that's how I passed the mission! Oops. I sometimes have that idiot-loser's luck. But then it hasn't been nice when my boss yells at me because I suck at detective work :( It's always scary when the boss yells.

The best crime case to solve was the one where you have to decide whether to go to a liquor store, a bar or a bowling alley next!! And the funniest thing is that I had to go to the the liquor store many times because I always missed some evidence. The last time I crashed the car directly to the entrance of the liquor store, and my spouse commented funnily that my character seems to be pretty drunk by now... But of course it was unfair that my character was never allowed to take a cigarette break or take a single shot of alcohol, my work partner instead kept slacking... "You go interview the witnesses, I'll just drink at the bar."

"If we survive this it's gonna be a miracle!" is my favorite quote in the game, said by my favorite detective partner Rusty Galloway. 

 

 

On the way to a street crime, I managed to wreck no less than FIVE cars. Or, okay, maybe four. But do the destroyed cars on the other side of the head-on collision also count? ;) I guess not then.

 

Now it's scary that the game will end soon. I don't want this game to ever end, I want to keep investigating crimes forever!

 

More L.A. Noire posts coming soon!

 

For my L.A. Noire playthrough videos you can check Youtube. Note: this is not from my first playthrough. And by checking through the playlist you can see which LA Noire character I hate the most!

Killer Klowns game gets release date

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is an upcoming asymmetrical multiplayer horror game by IllFonic, based on a movie of the same name. Now the release date has been revelead, it's June 4, 2024.

 

 

At the same time the video game became available for pre-order from Steam, Playstation and Xbox stores. If you pre-order you get early access, some cosmetic skins, and even one klown character (Slim) as a bonus. The price for the base game is $39.99, and digital deluxe edition is $59.99.

Also a gameplay trailer for the game was released.

 

Will we finally get an asymmetrical multiplayer game which can compete with Friday the 13th: The Game? Other similar games, such as Dead by Daylight, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Evil Dead: The Game, simply don't have the fun and variety of F13. 

I personally have lost all hope that there ever will be as good multiplayer game as Friday has been. But unfortunately F13 game will cease to exist at the end of 2024, so there would be room for a good replacement.

I'm not familiar with the Killer Klowns movie, but of course that wouldn't stop me from enjoying the game. Heck, I haven't even seen much of the Friday movies, and I still love that game to bits.

But Killer Klowns lost me at 3vs7... In F13 you have the best chances of survival because it's 1vs7(8). In all the other similar games there are less survivors, and even more killers. And I say no thank you to them.

I know some people just want to kill, and want the games to favor the killer(s) heavily. So that escaping and survival is rare. But that's not my cup of tea.

Borderlands movie: First trailer

I get commissions for purchases made through the links in this post, at no cost to you.

 

Borderlands is an upcoming film by Lionsgate, and its release date is August 9, 2024.

The movie's cast includes Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi, Steven Boyer as Scooter, Ryann Redmond as Ellie, Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus, Charles Babalola as Hammerlock, and Jack Black as the world famous wiseass robot Claptrap.

But where is Handsome Jack?

Here's the movie's official poster.

 

 

I have been a big fan of the Borderlands games since the first one. I don't even normally like first person shooters, but the Borderlands games are great fun in co-op. I wouldn't even play them solo.

But Borderlands 3 was a big disappointment. We pre-ordered it, and after that experience decided never to pre-order a game again. Borderlands 3 was missing vertical split screen at launch, and we had to wait a year (!!) to play it.

Currently we are playing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and luckily it has been much more fun than the previous title in the series.

Funniest game videos

I have watched these way too much and laughed at them way too much.

Red Dead Redemption 2: Jack falls down a cliff, Arthur laughs and says "thanks, kid".



Red Dead 2: Arthur says he's "slightly intoxicated" and that he needs another drink, and then...



GTA 5: Trevor finally gets what he deserves, and he takes it surprisingly calmly.

Game recap 2023

The most played game (on two different users) is my all time favorite game Friday the 13th: The Game.

 

 

But on this second user account only one of the several co op games is showing. (like we always say, in most of the games the second player simply doesn't really exist)

On primary account more hours played than the previous year (2182/1977).

 

 

Personally I played My time at Portia the most. Yes I became very addicted to it, and I very much want to play its sequel My time at Sandrock, but I guess it's still too expensive.

On Twitch I watched something on each day of the year, except one? What was that very special day?

 

 

PSN: pollepakana

PSN: UglyOldWoman

Youtube: superfreakgirl

Twitch: catlady78