Living La Vita Loca

Ready, Jet Set, Go... What do you get if you mix Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2), Jet Set Radio (Dreamcast) and Dave Mirra BMX Challenge (PSP) together? You get THE BEST ranked, 4TH BEST ranked and... 2ND WORST ranked games on their respective platforms according to Metacritic.com. It feels like a game reaaaalllly has to go some to be rated one of the worst games on Sony's PSP so we get Dave Mirra'...

Which games should you review on your retro gaming podcast to coincide with the release week of a tent pole summer blockbuster movie starring Superman? The much maligned 'Nintendo Superman 64' or perhaps the bang average 'Superman: Shadow of Apokolips' from 2002? No, what you do is you play Batman games! Obviously. Metropolis will have to wait, Gotham has thrown up the bat signal... After a quick...

"Always make sure the DEUCE is worth the squeeze". That's the idiom that we assume tennis players must live and die by. We'll LET you mull that one over as you listen to this week's podcast SERVING. Okay, sorry, we'll stop now. We are joined once again by our friend Haikers who is a marathon runner and 'Monroe Bagger' so he must know all about tennis right?! Probably. He's opted to tell us all abo...

26 years is a long time... 26 years ago, Manchester United had just won the treble... 26 years ago, Tony Hawk landed THE 900 (and had his first named video game released... 26 years also marks how long it has been since we have set eyes on a new Fatal Fury game and it didn't take long for our resident fighting game aficionado Rich to pick up the latest release in the storied SNK franchise, Fatal F...

'Hotman' Paris Hutapea is an Indonesian lawyer, presenter, and businessman. He is known for his flamboyant style, high-profile clients, and luxurious lifestyle. 'Hotman' is also a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sho Kitagawa. None of the above should be confused with 'Hitman' AKA Agent 47, iconic protagonist (according to a recent BAFTA poll) of the storied IOInteractive series. I...

19 years ago, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released to critical acclaim across multiple platforms and it won several Game of the Year awards with its incredible RPG open world. Uncontent with this achievement, Bethesda and Virtuos studio decided that they would also attempt to nuke this years GOTY elect, Clair Obscure: Expidition 33, by shadow dropping The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remaster...

Sometimes in a relationship, you have to take stock of where you are heading together and work through some of the 'icky' stuff. Sure, there's been some rough patches between us but we're in it for the long haul. No, dont worry, we're not talking about Fazz and Rich... We're referencing the relationship between Living La Vita Loca Podcast and the PS Vita. Fazz has drafted in a marriage counselling...

The month of May is a great time to be a bounty hunter in the Wild West. Both 'Red Dead Revolver' (PS2, 2004) and 'Red Dead Redemption' (Xbox 360, 2010) share a May birthday along with the North American release of the stellar movie 'Once Upon A Time in the West'. Now all of those heavyweights get to share May with episode 113 of this here podcast. We're sure they are beyond thrilled... We spend m...

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! Are you ready to hear a terrible opinion on a critical gaming masterpiece? Of course you are... Shadow of the Colossus (2005,...

Boom! Shake, shake, shake the room! Boom! Shake, shake, Quake the Doom! Doom! Quake, Quake, Quake the Doom! Not entirely sure where we go from here now... Erm... Fazz reviews Doom (2016, Xbox One). Rich reviews Quake (1996, PC). There's a highly disappointing visit to a special Doom: The Dark Ages exhibit at The Royal Armouries, Leeds and an important chat about sexy bellies! What else do you need...

We know... we know... we'll have a nosebleed reviewing TWO Vita games in a single episode but we promise its worth the bloodshed... We've been a little hard on the PS Vita recently but it feels like we've 'unboxed' a couple of real gems this week... Open Me (2013, PS Vita) is an augmented reality puzzle game from Sony's Japan Studio. It's generally regarded as one of the best of it's genre on the...

'Rare' is an adjective that can mean "unusually good or remarkable". When Ultimate Play The Game developers Chris and Tim Stamper changed the name of their video game development company to Rare in the late 80's, even they can't have known quite how remarkable Rare's impact on the industry would be. Formed in 1983 by the two brothers and their associates, UPTG/Rare have forged an incredible back c...

Hi Podders We recorded this special interview with @Scottmassey83 in March 2025 down at @Horsforth_tap during their retro Beers and Bytes evening. Fazz (interviewing) is flying after 3 pints of Horsforth Brewery's excellent 'Forty Orbits' so please forgive the slurred line of questioning and concentrate on Scott's answers as we discuss his Instagram account all about an adoration for gaming. We hi...

Hi Podpeeps We recorded this small-scale episode a few weeks ago as half of your host duo are on their holidays currently. It's appropriate then that we spend the bulk of our time discussing some of the most famous tiny creatures in the video gaming world, Team 17's Worms. In particular, Rich covers off Worms Armageddon (1999, PC) which recently had a 25th anniversary edition released via Team 17/...

Welcome to another edition of 'Freeplay Fortnightly' where both hosts pick a video game that we want to play and keep it secret from each other. We review each game on the podcast and ask our co-host to score the game out of 10 based on our TOP quality review. Simple? You bet we are! Alas, there was a little bit of an identity crisis on the pod this week relating to the games we brought to the tab...

Chaos Theory is "a situation where the behaviors of a system appear random and unpredictable". It's extremely pertinent then that we have no rhyme or reason for stringing together the games we are reviewing this week... - A 36 year old cult classic that is now widely considered one of the best NES games ever made... Step forward River City Ransom (1989, NES). Take a bow. - A 20 year old PS2/Xbox/P...

Hi podders This week is all about 'Unfinished Business'. Whether it is chasing former housemates down the road with a glass bottle at 3am or potentially defecating on others from a great height, it's all about REWENGE this week. (FYI... That is spelled correctly. Peak Blackadder/Peep Show reference. Go check it out.) Rich heads to the beach via his tabletop surface to play Cliff Diving (2012, PS V...

"Shows increased independence and may resist being told what to do". "Can use a core vocabulary of around 50 words, with a growing ability to understand and use new words". "Enjoys playing with other children and engaging in simple games". These are some of the important developmental stages of an average 2 year old so you can expect all of the above from us this week as Living La Vita Loca turns...

Space Admin, Space aquariums, Sexy space robots. These are just some of the dense themes that someone needs to cover off when reviewing the 100 hour space odyssey that is Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (PS4, 2021). We decided we needed to rope in a 'Large Party RPG' professional to help with such weighty topics... Someone who can actually define the words 'Paragon' and 'Renegade' (unlike Fazz). So...

Gang warfare. Yakuza. Triads. It's a world that is very far removed from ours in West Yorkshire. (Although Fazz is still very concerned about the cats that are gathering on his road in great number... They killed a wood pigeon last week dont you know?!?) Luckily it seems that 'Gang' video games have been doing a booming trade over the last 15 years so we've picked two games this week to give us a...

4.25 days... that's how much time you're never getting back if you've listened to every minute of the first 99 episodes of Living La Vita Loca podcast. Think about how much you could have done with your life... We won't lie. That's absolutely on you if you have... Whilst we're at it though, we may as well remove another 1 of your hard earned hours spent on Earth with our 100th episode special!! We...

"Welcome to Anarchy 99" is a quote from the stellar 2002 movie, XXX starring Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson. It can also be used to introduce the 99th episode of Living La Vita Loca Podcast. Wait...do you guys remember when Samuel L. Jackson did that movie "51st State" with Robert Carlyle? When was that? 2001? Maaan... Samuel L did some trash around then huh?!? We won't lie... someone has left t...

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: • Tecmo Bowl (1989, NES) • Tecmo Super Bowl (1993, Sega...

#DryveJanuary is over. #FelineFebruary is here! Okay that might not stick but it's got a fighting chance so... "Let's get ready to rumble, let's get ready to rumble. Watch us wreck the mic, watch us wreck the mic... psyche!" That song reached #9 in the UK charts in 1994... a reminder that not ALL retro stuff is great! With that in mind, we're checking out some modern rumblers this week on the podc...

"How do you do fellow kids?" The reason that great meme starring Steve Buscemi from 30 Rock has lasted so long is because it's SO devastatingly real. How do we know this? Well... go and play Need for Speed Underground 2 (2004, Nintendo Gamecube) in 2025 and see how it makes you feel... mega old right?!? But let's say we disregard how difficult it is to drive in the rain at night for us oldies... d...