Ian

About Ian

Ian likes his games weird. He loves his Vita even if Sony don't anymore. He joined the PS4 party relatively late, but has been in since day one on PS5.

Beyond the Ice Palace II is quite the relic. The first game came out in 1988 on our beloved Speccy, the Commodore 64, Alan Sugar’s turdbox plus the Amiga and the Atari ST. Published by Elite Systems, formerly Richard Wilcox Software, they’ll be more familiar to contemporary gamers due to […]

Beyond the Ice Palace II – PS5 Review

March 22, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged broken / elite systems / ice palace / shitroidvania / storybird / the thing that should not be by Ian

From dev noobzilla and publisher Silesia Games comes the latest in a genre we’d never previously been particularly aware of, let alone interested in. Cats and Seek: Dino Park follows on from the previous in the series, that being Cats and Seek: Osaka. Silesia have published a lot of hidden […]

Cats and Seek: Dino Park – PS4 Review

March 11, 2025 in PS4 / Reviews tagged dinosaurs / meow meow meow / noobzilla / polska / silesia by Ian

From developer Gameloft’s Australian studio, publisher Netflix Games and Houghton Mifflin comes a revival of a series only peripherally familiar to us over here in the UK, that being Carmen Sandiego. The first game in the long running series was originally released on formats of the time in 1985 as […]

Carmen Sandiego – PS5 Review

March 4, 2025 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged carmen sandiego / edutainment / gameloft / netflix by Ian

Techno Banter almost put us off at the first juncture because of the name alone. Banter. It’s such an insipid word. Used to excuse all kinds of boorish behaviour by awful knuckle dragging idiots. Bullying if you ask us. Thankfully it’s just a name as it turns out that Techno […]

Techno Banter – PS5 Review

March 4, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged berlin techno / bouncer off neighbours / club life / techno banter / thanks chris by Ian

From Munich-based developer Aesir Interactive, comes the next in the loosely connected simulator games by publisher Nacon , the last being Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator. In this case, it’s Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator. So ferrying people around in rather more urgent circumstances. Only rather than in a […]

Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator – PS5 Review

February 14, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged aesir / ambulance / nacon / paramedic / we're going on a bughunt by Ian

From Liverpool-based work-for-hire developer Wushu Studios and publisher Rebellion comes the latest installment in the Sniper Elite series, subtitled Resistance. It is set in early June 1944, alongside the events of 2022’s Sniper Elite 5. While long-time fans might be expecting Sniper Elite 6 this is the next best thing. […]

Sniper Elite: Resistance – PS5 Review

January 31, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged breakin' 2: electric boogaloo / harry hawker / listen very carefully I shall say this only once / maquis / sniper elite / wesley by Ian

The Legend of Cyber Cowboy from Eastasiasoft is a Westworld-style twin stick shooter with a similar feel to The Binding Of Isaac in terms of the randomly generated aspect and the going from room to room part. Only unlike Edward McMillen’s effort, there no map. Unlike Isaac, the enemies you […]

The Legend of Cyber Cowboy – PS5 Review

January 8, 2025 in PS5 / Reviews tagged cyber cowboy / darn tootin / eastasiasoft by Ian

From Malmö based dev Simogo and published by Annapurna Interactive comes the intriguingly titled Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Set in the recent past in and around the Hotel Letzes Jahr, that being Hotel Last Year, the black and white graphical style with occasional flashes of colour gives it an […]

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes – PS5 Review

December 17, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged annapurna / lorelei / puzzle / simogo / splt. by Ian

You’re the lucky new proprietor of the titular Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop on the planet of Little Mesa. In effect, a space garage where spaceships land in varying levels of decrepitude or disrepair. Though your tenure is wholly dependent on being able to make your rent after three days of […]

Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop – PS5 Review

December 14, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged beard envy / job simulator / roguelike / space garage / uncle chops by Ian

Mindcop from German dev Andre Gareis, originally released on Steam in 2020 and ported to console by Pixel Ratio and published by Little Villagers is something we’d heard about by virtue of it being advertised on a YouTube channel we frequent. Mindcop is a whodunit set over five days where […]

Mindcop – PS5 Review

November 28, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged mindcop / mindreading / open your mind by Ian

From Kraków-based developer 7Levels comes an official Monsterverse tie-in, in this case Kong: Survivor Instinct. Were it not for the fact that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire had released in March this year, we’d suspect that it was attempting to hype up a forthcoming film. It does feature several […]

Kong: Survivor Instinct – PS5 Review

November 15, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged alan jonah / fay wray / monsterverse / neil armstrong he had balls bigger than king kong first big suit on the moon and he's off to play golf hole in one by Ian

Squirrel with a Gun by Deedee Creations and published by Maximum Entertainment is pretty much what you might expect from the title. Quite literally a squirrel with a gun. In effect, it’s an Unreal Engine 5 physics sandbox with you running around making a nuisance of yourself. Think Untitled Goose […]

Squirrel with a Gun – PS5 Review

November 5, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged gunplay / hello mr anderson / open world sandbox / physics-based / ue5 by Ian