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.

We have to confess being a little nervous about (deep breath) We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie. For whatever reason, its PS4 predecessor Katamari Damacy REROLL didn’t feel right. Perhaps it was the fact it didn’t particularly work for us with the Dualshock 4. At any rate, We Love Katamari […]

We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie – PS5 Review

June 17, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged bandai namco / katamari damacy / remaster / reroll / save the pandas by Ian

Wobbledogs: Console Edition comes to us on PS4 from developer Animal Uprising and publisher Secret Mode (aka Sumo Digital’s publishing arm), having released on Steam in March last year. This reviewer decided to have a go as our kid seemed to have enjoyed it on PC. At least until he […]

Wobbledogs – PS4 Review

June 3, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged animal uprising / breeding / secret mode / wobbledogs by Ian

Dicey Dungeons is a game we’ve been peripherally aware of for quite a while due to following Niamh Houston aka Chipzel on Musk’s hellsite. That’s off the back of her contribution to Chime Sharp. Man, we love Chime Sharp almost as much as we loved Chime on the 360 and […]

Dicey Dungeons – PS4 Review

May 20, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged chipzel / dice battler / dicey dungeons / rng / terry cavanagh by Ian

XEL pronounced Excel, yes like the spreadsheet application, is a forced isometric perspective adventure with Metroidvania type elements. At least in terms of certain areas being inaccessible at the outset. To begin with you can’t hit anything. So you get a sword. And then you can’t open gates until you […]

XEL – PS4 Review

May 14, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged buggy / dungeon crawler / lemon / metroidvania-ish / somehow good / xel by Ian

Run from the savepoint, skip the cutscene, jump to grab a ring, another cutscene showing the miasma that’s chasing you, platform section, mess up a jump, get eaten by the miasma. Then repeat last three sections over and over again until you die and start from the savepoint again. This […]

Itorah – PS4 Review

May 7, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged grimbart / itorah / mesoamerican / metroidvania / super sunday super bore by Ian

Developed by Repixel8 (aka London based collector and coder Andrew Jefferys) and CGA Studio Games with we assume multiplatform ports handled by the latter, we have Formula Retro Racing: World Tour. Very much the throwback to the halcyon days of Sega’s Model 2 arcade heyday and the blue sky gaming […]

Formula Retro Racing: World Tour – PS4 Review

April 24, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged blue skies in gaming / daytonaaaaaaa / g a m e o v e r / local multiplayer / namco-ish / repixel8 / retro racing / sega-ish / TIME EXTENSION by Ian

Murderous Muses is another FMV infused game from D’Avekki Studio after their previous release two years ago, Dark Nights with Poe and Monroe. This isn’t quite as FMV heavy as their previous game, the video mainly cropping up in the form of interview footage with the six suspects of the […]

Murderous Muses – PS5 Review

April 14, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged d'avekki / fmv / gallery / murderous muses / nightwatchman / not cluedo / there's been a murderrr by Ian

From first party Sony dev San Diego Studio and published by Sony themselves, we have MLB The Show 23, just in time for the opening day of the Major League Baseball season on 30th March. Somewhat unusually, we notice this is included on Xbox Game Pass on day one, but […]

MLB The Show 23 – PS5 Review

April 12, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged baseball / beisbol / los marineros / mitch garver is from new mexico / mlb the show 23 / negro leagues / rawr rawr like a dungeon dragon / san diego studio / SeaUsRise / the di-dawg is first up to bat by Ian

From Shenzen-based developer Fabled Game Studio & publisher Blitworks Games we have card battler Pirates Outlaws. Best described as a pirate themed take on Slay The Spire it’s hard not to draw parallels to MegaCrit’s 2019 masterpiece. One thing that immediately becomes apparent is the sheer scope of Pirates Outlaws compared […]

Pirates Outlaws – PS4 Review

April 6, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged blitworks / card battler / Derivative / not slay the spire / pirates / pirates outlaws / R by Ian

FATAL FRAME : Mask of the Lunar Eclipse had us genuinely excited that we were being blessed by Koei Tecmo with a brand-new instalment, the first since 2014’s Maiden Of Black Water in fact. No, in fact Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is a remake of the previously Japan-only 2008 […]

FATAL FRAME: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse – PS5 ...

March 23, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged aztec camera obscura / fatal frame / Mask of the Lunar Eclipse / now just plain zero / project zero / spirit in the sky / weeb / wiimaster by Ian

From developer 9Finger Games and publisher Jandusoft Games comes Zapling Bygone. Self-described as a “twisted metroidvania where you murder your foes and steal their abilities by wearing their skulls.” That’s true to a certain extent, more you have to beat bosses in some cases, others you find the skulls after […]

Zapling Bygone – PS5 Review

March 16, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged infection / metroidvania / sewers / skulls / vermin by Ian

Blood Bowl III comes to us from Cyanide Studio and is published by parent company Nacon. Despite that, this is very much a work-for-hire project for Nottingham based Games Workshop aka Warhammer. The first Blood Bowl was released in 2009 with the sequel, the imaginatively named Blood Bowl 2 coming […]

Blood Bowl III – PS5 Review

March 2, 2023 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged blood bowl / cyanide studio / dice roll / Games workshop / nacon / no fun league / turn-based / Warhammer by Ian