#guess this is what we get when score depends mostly on technics and experience than stamina power and speed

[lewanarta]

No but it astonishes me that Daniel is the first jumper born in the 21st century to stand on the men's World Cup podium, while also the 21st century-born Marita has already won the Crystal Globe

[illusivegore]

Gore Reviews Concrete Genie

Release Date: October 8, 2019 Platforms: PlayStation 4 

I’ve always had a great love and deep appreciation for art of all forms. Drawing and doodling have been some of my favorite hobbies for years, and when I was in grade school, I was quite the artist. Sadly, I never honed or improved those skills, and to this day, I still have the artistic talent of a seven year old. In recent years I’ve found that I’ve resorted to living vicariously through other people’s abilities, in the form of watching videos and other less interactive means, to get my artistic fix, which isn’t so satisfying. Concrete Genie appeared to be a game that focused greatly on creativity, so my biggest question going in was just how much or how little it would make me feel like I had some semblance of artistic talent. Let’s find out the answer to that question, shall we?

As Concrete Genie begins, we meet a young boy named Ash who is hanging out in a port town known as Denska as he draws in his sketchbook and remembers better times. This was once a beautiful, bustling place, but has become a rundown mess overrun by juvenile delinquents. As Ash continues to sketch, a group of these bullies start to torment him, eventually destroying his sketchbook and locking him in a tram destined for a “haunted” lighthouse.

Without getting into specific details, I just wanted to take some time to mention the story here. I will say that Concrete Genie does have an important message about bullying and friendship, but I also couldn’t help but feel like most of the overarching themes came across as predictable and cliché. This isn’t to say that it’s inherently bad, but I’ve seen this type of story told before and with better execution. I never felt any real attachment to any of the characters because of this, resulting in most of the narrative falling kind of flat for me.

Upon arriving at the lighthouse, Ash has an experience that ends with him wielding a magical paintbrush and being tasked with putting his sketchbook back together and bringing life back to Denska. To do this he will need to paint pictures all around town using the pages he finds from his book as inspiration. As he collects pages he begins to unlock a variety of landscapes that he can use to spruce up Denska. These range from trees and grass to the sun and stars and some can be absolutely beautiful at times. As art is added to walls and buildings, light strands will begin to illuminate in the area, and a new section of town will unlock once enough of these have been lit up. Then this process repeats until enough light has returned to Denska and Ash is able to create a “masterpiece” painting in each of the game’s three main areas.

These landscape murals aren’t the only things Ash paints in Concrete Genie either. As the title hints at, he’ll also be creating creatures called genies. These genies aren’t simply artwork though, as they serve a greater purpose in Ash’s world. He will need to use them to solve simple puzzles throughout Denska, usually as ways to open new paths forward. There are three types of genies, with each used to solve a different kind of puzzle. Red genies can burn tarps, yellow genies can generate electricity, and blue genies can create wind. Genies can only be created in specific areas and are automatically designated a color/type taking much of the guess work out of which kind will be needed in that area. While a genie type can’t be chosen at will, as Ash finds more pages from his sketchbook a number of customization options such as new bodies, tails, horns, and more will become available to outfit his genies with.

Ash’s main focus in Concrete Genie is painting and this is a pretty straightforward endeavor. Each painting starts by choosing one of the many landscape or genie pages found throughout the game and with each stroke of the brush an image inspired by the page will appear on Ash’s chosen canvas. There are slight changes to what is laid down by the brush based on how long each stroke is and mixing and matching landscapes is possible, but overall it’s a simple process that doesn’t allow for much real artistic freedom.

Painting using the Dualshock 4 can be done with or without motion controls. Holding down the R2 button will begin the paint process and, depending on the chosen control scheme, moving either the controller itself or the right stick will emulate brush strokes. Concrete Genie was clearly made with motion controls in mind and while I found both ways were intuitive and worked just fine, after the first couple of chapters I switched off motion controls and never looked back. Precision is never technically needed, as the game doesn’t care what Ash has painted just as long as something was painted in the locations that needed it.  Still though, I felt I could be slightly more precise using the right stick than I could with motion controls and overall it just felt more comfortable.

Unfortunately, this painting mechanic never clicked for me, in the sense that I quickly ended up getting bored with it. I was given dozens of landscape pages to use to express myself, but only a couple felt satisfying to paint with. Aside from the first few instances, each time I started a new painting section it felt exactly the same as the last and eventually it just felt more like busywork that I had to do rather than actual creativity. This was even more apparent to me when it came to the creation of genies. There are so many parts to collect, but in the end they felt like they offered only very minor differences, and by a point, I had a hard time creating genies that I felt were truly unique. I knew this game was never going to make me feel like I was an actual artist, but I was still left disappointed in what it did end up offering.

When Ash isn’t painting, he’ll be spending his time trying to avoid those bullies in more action-adventure style gameplay. It feels somewhat similar to the Uncharted games (without all the machine guns), as he’ll be platforming around town, going from rooftop to rooftop, and climbing all number of structures to reach new areas and escape the bullies. If Ash does happen to get caught by the bullies or miss a jump, the punishment for “death” isn’t harsh at all. He’ll always start from the last safe place he was, and at worst, may need to retrieve his lost paintbrush.  

This painting and platforming structure is how Concrete Genie plays for the majority of its six to eight hour length, but about three-quarters of the way through, the gameplay gets turned on its head. I can’t go into much detail without spoiling some of the story bits, but it ends up going from a game about painting to one about fighting. While this new focus on combat does mix things up, the result felt mostly like tacked on filler. Some parts in this final section were so tedious that it actually had me longing for the return of the boring painting.  

I didn’t hate my time with Concrete Genie. I can’t say I particularly liked it either and was left massively disappointed. Painting was interesting the first few times, but eventually ended up feeling like boring busywork. The platforming and exploration is fine, but if that’s what I wanted out of a game, there are dozens of other ones that do it far better. The ending’s focus on combat left me scratching my head and wishing I could just go back to the painting. That said, Concrete Genie does offer up some beautiful imagery at times, has mechanically sound gameplay, and delivers an important, if a bit cliché, message about bullying and friendship. Unfortunately, with all of its other shortcomings, that just isn’t enough for me to wholeheartedly recommend it.

Score: 2.5 out of 5

[junker-town]

Which of the wild card teams in the American League could actually win the World Series?

All of them, technically. But we have to rank all of the hilarious teams jostling for the second wild card.

There have been 20 different teams to play in a Wild Card Game in the era of the second wild card. One of them has won the World Series. Nineteen of them have not. While it’s always fair to be scared of the monster at the end of this book, these teams are usually not the ones that win the World Series.

Here’s what’s happened in the past:

10 teams didn’t advance past the Wild Card Game, by definition

5 teams lost in the Division Series

3 teams lost in the Championship Series

1 team lost in the World Series

1 team won the whole danged thing

That seems like a perfectly random distribution that supports this assertion: A wild card team probably won’t win the World Series this year. I mean, if both the Dodgers and Astros can’t win it, we already knew that, but there’s more evidence to consider.

So let’s figure out which of these second wild cards in the American League is going to win the World Series.

The second wild card is a mess in the AL. The Rays are a game under .500 and they’ve lost 7 out of their last 10. They’re right in it. The Orioles’ team ERA+ is 88, one point worse than the 2009 team that lost 98 games. They’re right in it. The Twins have a Pythagorean record of 53-64, which doesn’t just suggest they’re mediocre, but that they’re actively bad. They’re right in it.

However, I would like to offer a counterargument of “but it would be really funny if one of these teams beat the Dodgers, Cubs, or Nationals.” That should be enough to explore the idea. So which one of them could do it?

The first order of business is to wave the Yankees through. They have the lineup. The postseason makes any issues of rotation depth less of an issue. And jeepers, do they have the bullpen, assuming Aroldis Chapman is right. It would be merely a mild surprise if they were to win the whole thing.

The second order of business is to come up for some sort of standard for these teams. I’m going to rely less on gut feelings (“The Royals have experience stabbing hearts out and eating them on live television”) and at least do some cursory analysis. A proper second wild card team with championship hopes should fair well in a few categories. We’ll evaluate them all based on these categories.

To the rankings!

8. Toronto Blue Jays

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

Yeah, I can see Marcus Stroman going bananas for a few starts. J.A. Happ gives them a worthy no. 2, as well. Not sure if they can trust Marco Estrada and friends after that, but they have a guy who could get hot.

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

At least four.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

Yes. Roberto Osuna’s ERA is unfair. Don’t look at it. He’s still an elite reliever.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Sure. When you plop down a lineup of Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion, and Tulowitzki, you can ...

[squints]

Damn. Wha’ happened? Donaldson is hot again, and apparently Justin Smoak is Mark Teixeira in his prime, but other than that, the lineup is kind of a soggy mess.

Mostly, though, they’re last because they’re 3.5 games out of the second wild card, and that’s a steep hill to climb against this many teams.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

7. Minnesota Twins

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

Ervin Santana has shut me up, and I apologize for making fun of the Twins for signing him. He’s a fantastic pitcher, and I can’t express enough regret. To Ervin, to his family, to Twins fans ... I made a terrible mistake.

But is he someone the Twins can ride like Corey Kluber? Nah.

Jose Berrios, though. Sweet Jose Berrios. Even if he’s an erratic rookie, I’ll still take my chances with him. As long as he has a veteran behind him and Santana.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Allllll abooooard the Twins wagon!

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

Not to be rude, but ... zero? They traded Brandon Kintzler, and Twins fans were left without anyone who can complete the sentence, “Alright, __________ is in the game. Shutdown time.”

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

No.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

My guess is that Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario are exactly the kind of hitters who could be handled by the elite starters and relievers they would see in the postseason. Baseball is weird, sure, but sometimes it’s what you expect. So I’ll go no.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

6. Baltimore Orioles

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

No. The Orioles’ starting pitching is so incredibly bad. I keep staring and staring and staring, and Wade Miley and Ubaldo Jimenez are still in the rotation. They’ve combined for 44 starts, and only 12 of them have been quality starts. That’s appalling. That means that in 32 of those 44 starts, they either couldn’t finish six innings, or they allowed four runs or more. That’s 40 percent of the rotation! How is this team within 10 games of a postseason berth?

Ahem, sorry, no. The answer to the question posed above is no. I think Jeremy Hellickson is their ace, and he’s not likely to Bumgarner the place up in October.

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

Depending on what you think about Darren O’Day, they can go three or four team and make a team feel hopeless if they have a lead after six. Which answers that rhetorical question up there about how this team is contending.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

Yes. Zach Britton’s arm should be rested, and he should just be getting sharp as the postseason rolls around.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Yes. They can dinger.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

While I could see this rotation getting the Orioles through a series — maybe two — because baseball is funny like that, I would have to think that at some point, they would get out-dingered by the Yankees, Astros, Indians, Dodgers, et cetera before they made a miracle run.

5. Texas Rangers

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

Yes. Cole Hamels isn’t the whirlwind he used to be, but he’s still a fine pitcher, someone the Rangers could feel comfortable starting on short rest in a Game 5 or Game 7.

After that, there’s Andrew Cashner, who has been just as effective preventing runs, but has a ghastly FIP to go with his ERA, and he’s suddenly striking out people like he’s Aaron Cook. Except I’m not sure if he’s the same kind of sabermetric nightmare that Cook was. He’s probably just lucky.

If only the Rangers had one more starter. But where were they going to find one of those at the deadline?

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

Alex Claudio has the kind of peripherals that make me think of Sam Dyson, but I would never tell Rangers fans that. Matt Bush has been mostly fine since being removed from the closer’s role. Jose Leclerc is wild and hilarious, and I guess he can shut a team down, even though he’s a character from a Pynchon novel.

But I’m not going to call any of them shutdown relievers. So to answer the question: maximum of three, minimum of zero. It would be super rude of me to point out that Sam Dyson has a 2.13 ERA (3.21 FIP) since leaving, so I wouldn’t dream of it.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

No.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Kind of, but only because I’m pretty sure Rougned Odor is better than this.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

4. Los Angeles Angels

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

No. I suppose it’s at this point that I’ll sigh deeply, give up, and force myself to look at their current rotation. I’ve been avoiding this because I didn’t want to puncture the illusion. Let’s see ... okay, thought he was retired ... pretty sure that’s a lefty specialist ... can’t say that I’ve heard of this guy, but I can’t admit that as a national writer ... Tyler Skaggs, who is pretty good! ... and Roster Resource just ends after four, which is perfect.

To be fair, the Angels have been ravaged by injuries in the rotation more than almost any other team here, so they get credit just for making it interesting. They also get credit for Parker Bridwell pitching like a dynamo after they acquired from the Orioles (the team without any starting pitchers that we made fun of above) for a player to be named later or cash.

But ... no, they don’t have an ace of aces to rally behind.

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

Three or four? Bud Norris is probably better than his ERA, but they traded David Hernandez at the deadline, so they aren’t exactly dominant from the sixth on.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

I’m the world’s biggest Yusmeiro Petit fan, and the last time a wild card team did win the World Series, he threw six scoreless innings in one of the greatest relief appearances I’ve ever seen.

But, no. Probably not.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Friend, I can picture Mike Trout doing a lot of things.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

3. Kansas City Royals

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

Danny Duffy is pretty close. I suppose we should have seen Jason Vargas turning into Jason Vargas, but it’s also possible his last seven starts are a blip. They don’t fare super poorly in this category, but I have concerns about their rotation depth.

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

This is not the 2014 Royals bullpen. If you assume that Ryan Buchter and Brandon Maurer are better than they’ve been since they traded for them, they might go three or four deep.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

Not exactly, but Joakim Soria’s super-low home run rate and low FIP give him a chance to surprise. Except maybe he’s hurt.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Kind of. They’re built a little like the Twins, in that they have hitters who will crush mistakes (Moustakas, Perez), which could be a problem if they face pitchers who don’t make them.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

2. Tampa Bay Rays

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

Probably? In Chris Archer’s last two months, he’s thrown four quality starts. Wait, check that, he’s thrown four bare-minimum quality starts of exactly six innings pitched and three runs. Around them, he’s sandwiched six innings and four runs, or six innings and two runs, or 5⅓ innings and three runs, or ... it’s been an impressive run of functional starts, with quality starts mixed in.

But this is the team that makes me want a new category: Do they have enough depth in the rotation to avoid needing overworking an ace? And the answer is yes. If you believe in Jacob Faria (which you should), and if you believe Alex Cobb will come back strong (turf toe is no joke, but there’s no reason not to believe this)

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

First, I think that Steve Cishek and Sergio Romo should get to stand on the mound at the same time, and that they should get to alternate pitches, just to mess with the hitters in a more dramatic, fun fashion.

The Rays were active at the deadline, and those two have been fine so far. They also have Alex Colome doing good things and a resurgent Tommy Hunter. Brad Boxberger is back, although it’s been a couple years since he was super effective. I’ll assume that one of Cishek and Romo is steady, which gives them three or four.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

Colome is fine, but I think I had Andrew Miller in mind for this category. It turns out that none of these teams has Andrew Miller. Maybe they should get him, imo.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Kind of. It’s not the most balanced lineup, but if you’re a believer in Logan Morrison or Corey Dickerson (581 OPS since July), you can make an argument that they can be scary. The team ranks third in the AL in adjusted OPS, so I’ll wave them through.

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

1. Seattle Mariners

Do they have at least one ace they can work the hell out of?

Assuming he’s not broken, yes. James Paxton is a talented fellow, and he could definitely put the team on his back.

How many relievers does it take until they get to an iffy one?

They can go pretty deep, especially if you’re a believer in Emilio Pagan. They have five solid relievers, and they mix and match lefty-righty pretty well, too.

Do they have a super-reliever that can be used for more than one inning?

Edwin Diaz isn’t the same cyclone that he was last year, but he’s plenty good, and I could see him in an extra-stress role pretty easily.

Can you picture their offense scoring several times off Max Scherzer or Clayton Kershaw in an elimination game?

Yes, but only because I’m pretty sure Kyle Seager is better than this, and also because I could see someone like Robinson Cano getting fiery hot for a month. They don’t need Ben Gamel and Mitch Haniger to resume hitting like they were for the first couple months (though that would be rad).

Would it be funny if this team beat the Dodgers, who will apparently finish with 163 wins?

Yes.

So give me the Mariners as the wild card team with the best chance to win the World Series. This is based on an empirical look at their roster and strengths.

[James Paxton swallows tub of uranium marked “DON’T SWALLOW: TUB OF URANIUM”]

The Mariners have been underperforming for a variety of reasons.

[Robinson Cano is arrested by Springfield police for unsolved murders in New York]

I don’t see a reason why they can’t be the team to stun the world.

[Mariner Moose eats entire 25-man roster]

So put me down for the Mariners as my Team to Watch™ in the 2017 Wild Card watch. I don’t see what could possibly go wrong for them.