Living La Vita Loca

Welcome to another edition of #FreeplayFortnightly where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review each game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are!

The games we've picked out for random review this week are:

• Metal Wolf Chaos XD (2004/2019, Steam)

Timestamp: (03:15 - 21:00)

• Limbo (2010, XBLA)

Timestamp: (21:00 - 42:35)

• Inside (2016, Xbox One)

Timestamp: (42:35 - End)

As far as we're concerned, ALL of the above video games are artistic masterpieces in one form or another but can you work out which one we think was drawn up by a 7 year old?!

Prepare to be pleasantly surprised... Enjoy the pod.

Last week was 'Obscure October' on LLVL podcast. This week it's 'Handheld Halloween' as we take our PSP/PS Vita's for a scary spin around the neighbourhood. Will our review pairing be a trick or treat?

Firstly, we chat about our favourite Halloween memories decide we don't really have any! We also briefly check in on the state of the PlayStation TV in 2026.

(Timestamp: 00:00 - 08:00)

As for reviews, Rich heads over to one of FromSoftware's scariest video game entries EVER... Armored Core 3 (2009, PSP). The game may not be set in Lordran, Dranglec or Lotrhic but what could be more frightening than a poorly realised handheld port where AI rules a post-apocalyptic world?!

(Timestamp: 08:00 - 29:30)

After we just about escape the previous haunting critique, we take a trip down to the pumpkin patch which just so happens to be the much more jovial setting of Halloween Forever (2016, PS Vita).

Part 'Ghosts & Goblins', part 'Zombies Ate my Neighbours', does this homemade indie fill Fazz full of spooky spirit?

(Timestamp: 29:30 - End)

Don't ghost this one... Enjoy the pod!

Welcome to another edition of #FreeplayFortnightly where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review each game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are!

The games we've picked out for random review this week are:

• Water Margin: A Tale of Clouds & Wind (1996, Sega Mega Drive via Evercade)

• Ghosthunter (2003, PS2)

We've hit spooky season guys and we all know what that means when it comes to video game reviews right? That's right... it's #obscureoctober!

How obscure do you like your video games? How about an unlicensed Sega Mega Drive game that was only initially released in Far Eastern markets and has finally found a home on Steam & Evercade?

Enter Water Margin: A Tale of Cloud & Winds (1996, Sega Mega Drive), a side scrolling beat 'em up with magic elements that Debbie McGee would be proud of.

Timestamp (04:30-17:00)

If that doesn't tickle your fancy, how about Ghosthunter (2003, PS2), one of the best looking PS2 games you've probably never played. Is it still pretty in 2026? Yes. Is it still pretty crappy in 2026? Ahem...

Timestamp (17:00-End)

Why not find out on this week's episode of the most obscure video games podcast sat in your podfeed?

Living la what now??? Enjoy the pod.

Wallace Wells: "Hey, Jimmy do these guys rock or suck?"

Jimmy: "They have not started [podcasting] yet..."

Wallace Wells: "That was a test Jimmy, and you passed"

---

Side scrolling 'Beat 'em ups' kick ass. We're in lesbians with them.

First up, Fazz enters the subspace highway between your ears to plant a review of 'Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game - Complete Edition' (2021, Nintendo Switch). Does the movie tie-in video game do a great job of rounding out the Scott Pilgrim media empire or does it simply deserve a roundhouse kick to the face?

Timestamp (02:10 - 36:20)

Next, Rich returns to River City after resolving a difficult ransom situation previously. This time, he's dealing with something far more dangerous... the relationship travails of a pair of teenage girls! Fortunately, the 'River City Girls' (2019, Xbox One) are out to kick some serious butt of their own.

Timestamp (36:20 - 58:15)

Finally, Rich gives us a punchy rundown of some of the best 'Beat 'em Up' video games that are kicking about out there.

Timestamp (58:15 - End)

Enjoy the pod!

Welcome to another edition of #FreeplayFortnightly where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review each game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are!

The games we've picked out for random review this week are:

• Ridge Racer V (2000, PS2)

• Heading Out (2024, PS5)

What?! Ridge racer? Again?? Literally 3 episodes later?!?

Look, we've told you guys a dozen of times, this is just a place where we record our thoughts on video games and it's actually your own fault if you happen to listen to us. Read the small print people!

Whilst you do that, why not listen to Rich help Fazz tackle some 25 year old suppressed memories locked away in 'Ridge Racer V'?

(03:05-27:30)

Okay, okay... if you're truly done with Ridge Racer now, how about a completely different type of racing game where you actually spend most of your time engaged in a fantastical narrative adventure with roguelite elements? Good, we have your attention once more!

Jump in the passenger seat as we out run our fears/weird accidental wrestling bouts together in the intriguing indie 'Heading Out'.

(27:30-End)

Enjoy the pod!

Small print: Never promise to be any good at anything EVER. You'll only disappoint people as much as we disappoint you on a weekly basis.

Dear listener... we really need your help...

​It’s pretty hard to link a marginalised 2004 PSP launch title with a massive 2017 PS4 flagship adventure. The good ship 'Podblurb' is heading straight through choppy seas and taking on water fast!

​Think... think... Ooh, wait. Seas? Ships?? PORTS?!? It’s tenuous, but grab a lifejacket, it’ll have to do!

​Rich takes us back to 'Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower' (2004, PSP), a port of the Japan-exclusive Dreamcast fighter 'Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service' (snappy name). Never heard of it? Rich is about to right that wrong for you. He’s kind like that.

​Then, Fazz dives into a port you’ve definitely heard of... Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered (2024, PS5). Okay, fine, it’s a port/remaster hybrid thingy, but these segue seas are rough! You gotta let us off. You’re kind like that.

​Fazz has several burning questions: Why did this game need an overhaul just seven years after launch? Does Sony really view 'Horizon' as a primary pillar of Playstation brand? And why is a best-selling newer original IP actually divisive amongst modern gamers?

​Now... how do we sink this doomed port promo once and for all? ​Erm... Cheeky Vimto anyone?!

"Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone boldly gone before"

That 5 year mission has actually lasted 60 years Kirky boy. Let's hope someone has emptied the septic tank in the toilet by now...

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the airing of Star Trek: The Original Series (8th Sept 1966), we have seconded a far more competent leader to our crew deck this week.

Captain Fiona has boarded USS La Vita to provide a Star Trek 101 (1701? Apparently that's cool) lesson to the usual waster crew members who just hang out on the poop deck playing video games.

To help facilitate the boot camp, Fiona has chosen to review Star Trek Resurgence (2023, Steam) which is rarer than a collectible Star Trek Astrotank due to being delisted from most digital storefronts recently. Is it still worth seeking out this oddity to play?

Chief Engineer Rich does at least have a general understanding of Star Trek media. As such, he has chosen to engage with several video game entries to a "minimal" extent.

He dips his toes into some timey wimey travel heading back to Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (1992, PC) and Star Trek: Bridge Commander (2002, PC) for a 'wee' bit as Scotty would say.

As for Fazz? Well he's a true 'Holodeck Filter Cleaner'. Absolutely zero idea what is going on. We're not sure he even knows what a 'trek' is? Further studies of his idiocy are underway as we speak..

Interested in listening to this episode of Living La Vita Loca? Click the play button and make it bloody so...

Hi podfans!

A long while ago (167 episodes ago in fact) we reviewed 'Ridge Racer' (PSP) and 'Ridge Racer' (PS Vita).

It turned out 'Ridge Racer' was still good in 2023 and 'Ridge Racer' was still bad in 2023! We also discussed Jalopnik.com's 'Ridge Racer' ranking from the same year to see if we could work out which 'Ridge Racer' was the best that had ever ridged?!?

It seemed as though the series had been inconsistent throughout the years and we didn't have enough knowledge to understand which edition is the best version at the time so we left it there like an itch one day you really should address. A bit like fun 'Athlete's Foot' if you will...

It turns out TODAY is the day we scratch that itch. Mmm satisfying... Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaaacer is back on Living La Vita Loca podcast and we're sure you all couldn't be more... ambivalent... about our discussions on the long dormant series.

We're concentrating on a couple of home console iterations this time out. Rich takes us on a flying lap around R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998, PS1), the sixth edition of the series from a five year span in the 1990s. Can a game 28 years old still slip into top gear easily?

Meanwhile, Fazz drifts around the potential dilemmas of Ridge Racer 7 (2006, PS3), an updated port of the maligned Ridge Racer 6 exclusive on the Xbox 360. Could a console hop provide the racing machine with the jump start it desperately needed?

Finally, we totally nail a 'Ridge Racer' ranking of our own because we KNOW thats what people want to hear from an amateur video games podcast in 2026.

Enjoy the ridge!

Hi Podfans

Welcome to another edition of #FreeplayFortnightly where we both pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host. We then review said game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are!

The games we've picked out for random review this week are:

• Fear Effect (2000, PS1 via a 2024 remaster port)

• Train Sim World 6 (2025, Steam Deck)

There are plenty of destinations to choose to navigate your train engine via on this week's episode:

Reading? Plymouth? Leeds? A brothel in a Chinese backwater town? Literal Hell itself?!?

No, you did read that correctly.

All aboard the crazy train! This one is a fun ride...

Did you know there are over 100 Mega Man games in existence?

There's Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man ZX, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network, Mega Man Star Force and Mega Man: In Da House...

Okay, we may have made that last one up but you get the point. If you've never played Mega Man before (Looking at you Fazz, you barbarous savage!) then where do you even start? Well, at the beginning of course. Sort of.

Whilst Fazz does dabble with the original game iteration via the excellent Mega Man Legacy Collection, he actually focuses his attention on 'Mega Man Powered Up' (2006, PSP), a remake of the original game which is now 20 years old itself. Is it still full of power in 2026 or has it ran out of juice?

Next up, Rich dives deep into another branch of the Mega Man bloodline via the 'X' series. He's gone in search of a rare Mega Man entry that struggled to be mega-popular when it was released. What brings him to this rusty end of town?

Mega Man X7 (2003, PS2) was widely derided at time of release. Can Rich find anything left to appreciate in this edition at all or is it best left to rot on the (s)crappile?

All this and more on this week's Living La Vita Loca podcast!