Pads & Panels

Title: X-Men: Psylocke

Publisher: Marvel

Writers: Chris Yost, Chris Claremont

Artists: Harvey Tolibao, Jim Lee

Rating:

Review by: Eric Stuckart

No return of a popular member of the X-Men would be complete without a proper storyline to tell it, and that’s where this book comes into play. After finally coming to her senses after being brainwashed by Madelyne Pryor’s evil mutant super-group, the Sisterhood, Betsy Braddock has a lot of issues to resolve. She goes to Japan to try to make peace with her past and put her former body to rest (long story). This plan gets completely shot to hell, as she is ambushed by the Hand, a group of mystical ninjas, leading her to believe that Matsu’o Tsurayaba – a Hand assassin that she knows all too well from her past – had sent them to kill her. On the way, she encounters a Jinn that Matsu’o crossed, also on a mission to send him to his grave. Chris Yost’s story will have readers guessing all the way until the end as to exactly who was behind everything and what was at stake, which makes for a great, fast-paced tale of revenge and redemption. The book also features an older story, penned by Psylocke creator Chris Claremont and penciled by Jim Lee, detailing one of the older stories when she went astray from the uncanny mutants. (more…)

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Title: Mafia II

Platform: 360 (PS3, PC)

ESRB: M

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: 2K Czech

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

More than three years after the first trailer was released, Mafia II is finally on store shelves. And while Mafia II gets a lot of things right – mostly on the storytelling side – it’s going to leave a lot of people wondering what 2K Czech spent all that development time doing on the sequel to Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. But despite that, Mafia II still has a few fun tricks up its designer sleeves. (more…)

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Title: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Format: Blu-ray

MPAA: PG-13

Directed by: Mike Newell

Written by: Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina

Producer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Film Rating:

Blu-ray Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Film

For Bill’s review of the film, originally published May 28, 2010, click here.

The Blu-ray

No matter what anyone thinks about the film itself, it’s hard to deny that Disney is putting out some of the best hi-def packages right now. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time comes as a three-disc combo pack, containing a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy. (more…)

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Title: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Platform: 360 (Wii, PS3, DS, PC, PSP)

ESRB: E10+

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive

Developer: Traveller’s Tales

Rating: 4.5/5

Review by: Sarah Kumley

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 plays much the same as the other LEGO games, but with everyone’s favorite adolescent wizard. The game follows the stories of the books and movies featuring Harry and his young friends for the first four years they attend Hogwarts. The students attend classes to learn new spells and can switch between them for whatever tasks need to be performed. Players can also switch between characters as some spells are only available to certain ones. There are also parts of the environment that cannot be accessed from the beginning, but rather can be once certain spells are mastered. It is through the spell unlocks that puzzles and progression unfurl. (more…)

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Title: Super Mario Kart Album

Band: The One Ups

Price: $9.99

Review by: Bill Jones

The art of video game music reinterpretations isn’t one often recognized by mainstream audiences. But if one band has gained some serious notoriety in that genre, it’s The OneUps. Since the band formed in 2000, The OneUps have reportedly sold more than 10,000 albums and made numerous appearances at the annual Penny Arcade Expo. The band generally mixes things up with each album, pulling songs from a variety of titles and gaming genres, but with their latest, The OneUps are focused specifically on one game, Super Mario Kart. (more…)

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Product: Superhero Magnetic Pixels

Company: Kikkerland

MSRP: $24.95

Review by: Jason King

In the spirit of the dots toys from Japan, here comes a new fridge gadget to give your Magnetic Poetry a rest. The Superhero Magnetic Pixels set allows artistic people who spend too much time in front of the fridge to do something instead of opening the door and wasting electricity. It’s odd that this was marketed as a superhero fridge magnet set considering the art design definitely looks more like old Nintendo graphics to this gamer’s eye. A tray comes with the set to organize the magnets by color (they’re all the same size) when not in use.  Ample magnets were included to provide variety.

For more info, www.kikkerland.com

Pads & Panels received two Superhero Magnetic Pixels sets, as we as various other product samples, from Kikkerland for review purposes.

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Title: Mystery P.I. – Stolen in San Francisco

Platform: PC

ESRB: Unknown

Publisher: PopCap, SpinTop Games

Developer: SpinTop Games

Rating:

Review by: Sarah Kumley

Much like a Where’s Waldo? puzzle, the Mystery P.I. series challenges players to find everyday objects that are hidden in a scene. The latest installment, Stolen in San Francisco, uses famous scenery from around the great West Coast city. The player has been hired by a very wealthy person to find $250 million worth of gold bars stolen from an armored car. The player scours 25 locations to find clues and put them all together to recover the gold, by pointing and clicking on objects. (more…)

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Title: Agents of Atlas: Turf Wars

Publisher: Marvel

Writer: Jeff Parker

Pencils: Gabriel Hardman, Carlo Paguyan, Dan Panosian, Paul Rivoche

Rating:

Review by: Aaron Ray

Composed of 1950′s Atlas Comics characters integrated into the current Marvel Universe via (mildly contradictive) retro-continuity, the Agents of Atlas show there is more to being a team than having catch phrases or Wolverine.

Jimmy Woo, a former S.H.E.I.L.D. and FBI agent, has become the leader of the ancient criminal ATLAS organization. Woo’s idea is to turn this organization into a force for good, by masquerading as a criminal. He has help – his secret “inner circle” of Gorilla-Man, Venus, M-11 the human robot, Namora and The Uranian. Armed with a flying saucer (seriously) and the counsel of a talking dragon (seriously!), they traverse the globe looking to right a couple thousand years of wrong. (more…)

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Title: Tournament of Legends

Platform: Wii

ESRB: T

Publisher: Sega

Developer: High Voltage

Rating: Rating:

Review by: Archie Easter

In May of 2009, High Voltage revealed Gladiator AD, a promising-looking and rather gory take on roman gladiatorial combat for the Wii. During the course of development, however, it eventually evolved into what is now Tournament of Legends.

Unfortunately, along the way it lost many of the things that made the original concept interesting. Combine this with the game’s numerous glitches and unresponsive controls, and the end result is a legendary amount of wasted potential. (more…)

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Product: The ThinkGeek 8-Bit Tie

Company: ThinkGeek

MSRP: $19.99

Review by: Jason King

Need to geek out your wardrobe? ThinkGeek has just the tie for the occasion. If Link needed to go to a formal event in Hyrule, this is likely the tie he’d wear (and, owing to its blue color, he might even discover he took half-damage). The tie is a clip-on – it would be difficult to imagine this would work any other way, really – and comes in blue or red. It is made of silky microfiber polyester, it’s 20 inches long and handmade.  Be warned, though, to those that didn’t spend their youth playing 8-bit Nintendo, the boxy tie will look a little … odd.

For more info, www.thinkgeek.com

Pads & Panels received an 8-Bit Tie courtesy of ThinkGeek for review purposes.

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