Pads & Panels

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Action Gaming Fan…

By P&P Staff

.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

(360/PS3/PC/Wii/DS)

Activision’s popular shooter series is back this year with the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty: Black Ops.  If the shooter fan on your list wasn’t already camped out for a midnight release of the game and doesn’t already own it, this one is essential.  A brand-new single-player storyline, as well as new multiplayer levels and the return of the zombie mode from World at War will guarantee plenty of Prestige ranking, zombie killing, multiplayer fun. (more…)

 Print This Post

Title: Red Dead Redemption

Platform: 360 (PS3)

ESRB: M

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Rockstar San Deigo

Rating:

Review by: Kevin Haverty

The Western is a dying genre. Kids aren’t outside playing Cowboys & Indians anymore. Western films have been few and far between, and recent ones haven’t been given wide releases. Unless of course, we count the recent adaption of Jonah Hex, but that crapfest would hurt the case for the Western.

A great reflection of society’s one time love for the Wild West and current disinterest in it could be summed up with Woody’s plight in the Toy Story series. Thankfully Rockstar dug up the Red Dead Revolver franchise and crafted an amazing Western experience with it in Red Dead Redemption. (more…)

 Print This Post

Red Dead Redemption Multiplayer Impressions (360)

By Kevin Haverty

.

Saddling up for the multiplayer of Red Dead Redemption, the biggest difference from other online experiences is the absence of a lobby. After picking “Multiplayer” from the menu, gamers are thrust into a free roam of the open game world with up to 16 other players. This is a great tool for getting players right into the action.

Once in the open world, there are a handful of things to do – discovering gang hideouts and flushing them out, shooting waves of dangerous game or going out Bonnie and Clyde style against the lawmen to earn XP. Earning XP levels up the character and unlocks titles, character models and mounts that can range from donkeys to bison. Instead of forming a party, RDR features the ability to join a posse of up to 8 players to tackle the aforementioned events, as well as other Player vs. Player modes. (more…)

 Print This Post

Title: Jonah Hex Vol. 6: Bullets Don’t Lie

Publisher: DC

Writers: Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti

Artists: Darwyn Cooke, J.H. Williams III

Rating:

Review by: Eric Stuckart

Readers curious about Jonah Hex, but not sure where to start, would do well to pick up Bullets Don’t Lie. Collecting issues #31-36, it might not go into his back story too much, but it does offer up a broad cross-section of the anti-hero and what he stands for. It comprises six separate stories, and they all stand on their own, telling the tales of a bounty hunter scorned by nearly all he encounters but who still manages to keep a strong moral code. The artwork is vibrant and evocative of the Wild West, and does a good job telling the stories without words. With an atmosphere as thick as blood, things in Jonah Hex’s world are never black and white. The subject matter is dark and grimy, and definitely for mature audiences, but it doesn’t commit the crime of pushing the envelope just for the sake of shocking the reader. (more…)

 Print This Post