Pads & Panels

Title: John Carter

Format: Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Written by: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, Michael Chabon

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Willem Dafoe

Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Film Rating:

Blu-ray 3D Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Film

John Carter may be best known in retrospect as a bad business decision. One that saw a lot of money spent and not nearly as much made. And that comes, I think, primarily from its source material.

John Carter is the kind of fiction that has attained a certain cult status – an incredibly loyal contingent of followers staunchly stand by the Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi adventure – but may be entirely unfamiliar to general audiences. And ultimately what happened is a group of those loyal followers pushed to get this made, and the mass audiences just weren’t there.

But that doesn’t necessarily speak to the quality of the film. Financial success doesn’t always speak to quality, of course, but in this case there does seem to be a connection. What John Carter struggles with most is finding, or creating, an identity for itself. By the end of 132 minutes, we’ve all seen a lot of fantastic things but are left caring about very little of it. (more…)

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Title: The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile

Platform: XBLA

ESRB: M

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Ska Studios

Rating:

Review By: Eric Stuckart

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai was a surprise favorite of mine that I didn’t discover until last year, but I was glad that I did. Two-dimensional side-scrolling beat-‘em-ups are a personal favorite of mine, which may or may not be a byproduct of the games I grew up with, but I instantly fell in love with the art style and the fast-paced action of Dead Samurai. (more…)

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Title: LittleBigPlanet 2

Platform: PS3

ESRB: E

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Media Molecule

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

How does a game developer follow up an effort that offered gamers virtually limitless gaming, in which the quantity and quality of ever-increasing community content has seemingly only been limited by the imaginations of the people creating it? That’s the question that faced Media Molecule after the release of the critically-lauded LittleBigPlanet.

On the campaign front, LittleBigPlanet provided gamers with arguably some of the best 2D platforming seen in years, with the addition of depth planes. But it was the custom creations that hooked the hardcore on LittleBigPlanet. For the creative types, the title offered console gamers the most extensive and streamlined set of creation tools ever seen. Better yet was the “Share” model of the game, which allowed gamers to easily publish these creations for others to play.

And so those simply looking to get their money’s worth had nothing to complain about with the amassing content, including developer-created packs. But with all of that content, it’s easy to ask the question – why do we need a sequel to LittleBigPlanet? What makes LittleBigPlanet 2 worthwhile? And the simple answer to that question is that the tools and possibilities have grown, as is the series fame, practically infinitely. (more…)

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2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the PSP Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Valkyria Chronicles II

Sega managed to cram a full-fledged sequel to it’s PS3 tactical RPG, Valkyria Chonicles onto the PSP while maintaining the original game’s strategy and stylized watercolor art style. Although the units may be smaller, they’re no less powerful, as this proves to be more than a worthwhile followup to one of the PS3’s stand-out titles of 2008. The military strategist on your list (and who doesn’t have one?) will thank you for this one. (more…)

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Title: God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Platform: PSP

ESRB: M

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Ready at Dawn, SCE Santa Monica Studio

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

God of War is a series that was never meant for the PlayStation Portable. The series’ characters, stories and environments were all epic in scope from the very start, meant for a big screen, preferably in high-definition, on which Kratos can scale the sides of monstrous beasts, tearing them to shreds to the tune of gallons of blood. That said, despite the handicap of a smaller screen, less disc space and inferior specs, Ready at Dawn has just proven twice in a row that they can use what the PlayStation Portable has got to make a pretty darn good adaptation of God of War on the go. (more…)

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While at the Penny Arcade Expo, Archie got a chance to check out some of SouthPeak Games’ offerings at the publisher’s booth, and go hands-on with two of their major upcoming titles, Two Worlds II and Nail’d. (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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