Living La Vita Loca – Details, episodes & analysis

Ho ho ho Podfans Or should we say CODfans? Our last review podcast of the year sees us serve up a festive buffet of gaming goodness. Rich plumbs for a more contemporary affair with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (PS4), a bloated title for bloated holiday stomachs. Is this remaster worthy of the base game or do we wish that we'd swapped it with the original disc and placed it in the freezer with an entire PS3 console as Fazz once did? Yes, that really did happen... Whilst Rich has the modern side of gaming covered, Fazz dumps his face into a retro gaming feast. First up, he runs through some recommended retro gaming reading in the form of Retro Gaming: A byte sized history of video games by @MikeDiver and The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles and Games by @nostalgianerd Peter Leigh. A big shout out goes to the @game_older_podcast for their deep dive(r) interview with Mike Diver which, in one of those weird twists of fate, dropped about 17 minutes after Fazz had finished reading Mike's book. A great interview and a great podcast listen! Finally Fazz blasts through a review of Antstream Arcade (Xbox Series), the cloud based subscription service for retro gaming. Can an industry based on physical collections really live hand in hand with a digital based solution and is it worth finding out? A last shout out goes to @garygillgaming and his brilliant #amigasunday posts. We wonder what retro gaming stalwarts such as him make of having so many Amiga games in the digital cloud?! Enjoy the pod.

Patapatapatapon... patapatapatapon... Is that the gentle sound of rain against the window during the UK's stormy season or is it the rhythmic drumbeat of a 2007 PSP game from Japan Studio? Likely, it's both but only one is really welcome here at Living La Vita Loca and we know you didn't come for a review of the s*&t weather! We've gone big this week and by big we mean rather small as both of our featured games are story driven adventures with diminutive characters being controlled by quasi-deity's in the sky... Rich rips through Tearaway (2013, PS Vita) whilst Fazz beats his way through Patapon (2007, PSP). Will the video game gods look as fondly upon these games in 2024 as they did upon their release or do they look as disturbing as Rich's face pasted into the Tearaway background with the PS Vita's 'spectacular' camera? Tune in to find out! Patapatapatapon... patapatapatapon... That really gets stuck in your head huh?!? Enjoy the pod.

What are "War Adjacent" video games? Certainly not something we just made up on an amateur podcast, no sir. But let's say that the 'War Adjacent Video Game' awards did exist, how would this weeks games fair in the best 'War Adjacent Video Game ever' category? First up for selection, Crrrrrraazzy Taxi: Fare Wars (PSP), a faithful port of Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2. Did Fazz have any idea this port existed until 2 weeks ago? No. Does that matter? Maybe not it seems. The meat of this weeks sandwich is a review of XCOM2: War of the Chosen by our returning guest star, Haikers. This PC expansion has us wondering how unfair a game (and life in the human resistance) is allowed to be?!? Finally, a leading candidate for the award in this particularly specialist category, is Freedom Wars (PS Vita). Recently, a remastered version has been announced for home consoles in 2025. Does this Vita fan favourite deserve to break free of its 1,000,000 year sentence as a handheld exclusive? Rich is on point to help decide. Enjoy the pod.

Hi podfans Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where we all pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from our co-host (and special guest this week!). We then review said game on the podcast and ask our other pod pals to score the game out of 10 based on our review. Simple? You bet we are! Haikers guest stars this week with a review of Brutal Legend, a 2009 Jack Black action adventure/RTS vehicle. Would the Stardew Valley cast survive in a world we describe as "Too F*!@#%g Metal"? Rich fights his way through 14 years of development hell to deliver a review of Duke Nukem Forever on his Valve Steam Deck. Does Duke cook (say it with a posh accent) or make us puke? Finally, after taking a little time to reappraise the Steam Deck together, Fazz remembers skipping(?) down the high street gleefully to pick up Grand Theft Auto IV for the PS3 16 years ago. So why did he skip on the expansion to Liberty City released just 2 years later? It's time to right a wrong and play through GTA IV: Episodes From Liberty City. Eclectic, scattershot, controversial... and that's just our take on the potential dangers of Dodgems! Enjoy the pod.

You want PSP shmups? We got PSP shmups! You want all time classic video gaming series? We got all time classic video gaming series! You want crazy-ass sand lion enemies just constantly comin' at ya bro?! You don't?? Well we don't blame you. It's psychologically terrifying... We're not messing about this week (not the whole time). We're shooting from the hip, elbow, belly button... anywhere we can take aim from really. Target: Gradius Collection (PSP, 2006) Operative: Fazz Target: Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting (PSP, 2010) Operative: Rich Target: Full engagement and enjoyment of the listening public Let's hope we're better at that than we are at beating shmups... Enjoy the pod.

Attention Pod Tac squad! This week, we're infiltrating the 3rd person shooter genre with the help of our cutting edge remote technology... The er... PSP and erm... PS Vita... But never fear! It is far from mission over before it's even begun as our holy hand(held) grenades actually give out quite an explosive kick when it comes to performance across our reviews. Well... some of them anyway... First up, Fazz plays through Syphon Filter (PS1 via remote play, 1999), the very first game he reviewed with his friends at the age of 11 on tape cassette. The tapes are out there somewhere, we're sure of it. Maybe we need Gabe Logan and Lian Xing to help track them down? They're always looking for data disks somewhere! Next Rich takes a shot/stab at Unit 13 (PS Vita, 2012) which comes from Zipper studios who are known for their well regarded SOCOM series. Is the Unit 13 still fully operational almost 13 years later or is it more like a 13th edition of the Expendables by now? Syphon Filter gets another run out as Fazz rounds things out with a review of the PSP (2006) exclusive (subsequently ported to PS2) SF: Dark Mirror. Can Gabe still look himself in the eye at this point? Finally, reflections (sorry) on the franchise as a whole leads Fazz to this question: How does a game get on a greatest of all time list anyways!? Enjoy the pod.

Hi Podfans. Well here it is... an actual retro gaming podcast for SOME... MANY... ALL (?)... of your retro gaming needs... We're off to the Leeds International Beer Festival this weekend. That's good. Fazz lost the previously recorded podcast. That's bad. We're here to talk about current retro gaming news instead. That's good. Rich is less than invested by the proposed current retro gaming news. That's bad. M.U.S.H.A (Sega Mega Drive, 1990), Commando (Capcom Arcade, 1985) and Street Fighter (Capcom Arcade 1987) get super speedy reviews. That's good. We are very ill informed and vastly against the clock to jump on the bus. *Blank Stare* That's also bad. Enjoy the pod.

As Fatboy Slim once span... "Back once again for the renegade master" and by "renegade master", he obviously meant "a retrogaming podcast after a week's holiday". And by "retrogaming" we obviously mean "a gaming podcast that reviews games from 2024 but their original iterations are between 25-50 years old". Are you still with us? Potentially not. Someone who is definitely with us this week is our resident (literally, she owns in the pod house) Final Fantasy special guest expert, Fiona. She has played Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) recently and tells all. Is it as good as all of the hype suggests and how good is it compared to the original Final Fantasy VII? This leads onto a conversation about how loyal a remake should be to its original game and what do fans really want? Rich then takes us on a delightful tour of Digital Eclipse's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter story (Nintendo Switch). Does the pod's local cardigan lover enjoy 'Yak's' life story and gaming backlog? Finally, Fazz wanted to review his first PS Vita port for the pod but the pod breaks so he'll have to wait until next time!!! Enjoy the pod.

Hi everyone. Welcome to Living La Vita boat-cast, for all of your gaming knees... What's the best way to follow up last week where we had a record number of podcast listens and listeners? (Thank you all so, so much by the way!) Leaving you all wanting more by going on holiday for a week obviously! That's right, there is no official episode of Living La Vita Loca podcast this week for the first time in 75 weeks. We know... we have commitment issues! So please accept this short "WE WERE ON A BREAK!!!" message in absence of the pod. Or if you're missing us THAT much, why not check out some of our back catalogue that might not have caught before? A few personal recommendations from your co-hosts are as follows: Rich: Episode 33: Soldier Blade/Fazz learns a SHMUP LIVE Episode 41: Our 2023 Reviews ReTrO rAnKeD Fazz: Episode 52: GQ's Best 100 Video Games draft Episode 60: Hatoful Boyfriend and Olli Olli World Rad Edition (World Exclusive review... we think...) Enjoy the pod. Wait... that doesn't work this week... Enjoy your time back. Play some video games instead!

Hi Podfans The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. We just thought you should know that (00:52). We also think you should know that the Evercade series of consoles from Blaze Entertainment are pretty awesome. With the company due to release their latest upgraded Evercade cartridges and consoles next week (although breaking news is that the handheld EXP-R has been delayed to November) we ask "Should you buy an Evercade in 2024?" We break down costs, pros and cons of owning a console that provides a genuine method of game preservation. Is this the best way to play retro games in 2024? Deliberations ensue. Also Rich breaks down Fireshark from his beloved Toaplan Arcade 2 cartridge leaving us wondering "Will it ever be safe to fire a flame thrower from a biplane?" Enjoy the pod.