Pads & Panels

#5 Portal 2 (PS3, 360, PC, Mac)

Publisher/Developer: Valve

Portal 2 trades the surprise of the first title for anticipation the second time around, but it manages to live up to the hype. While the plot may not be quite as a shocking, it is still funny as hell, with fantastic voice work driving things from start to finish. Portal 2 falters a little in the variety and quality of its single-player puzzles but adds a few new elements to keep things interesting. The real selling point for Portal 2, though, is its new co-op mode. Valve gives us the opportunity to prove that two minds are better than one in a series of much more complex puzzles that involve four portals, rather than two, and seek to drive apart our friendships in the process. (more…)

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Digital Download Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Super Meat Boy

(XBLA, PC)

This game is alternately heaven and hell for platforming fans, but it manages to toe the line well enough to always be stuck in that sugary sweet spot that makes it so addicting players don’t even mind dying a few thousand times in the game’s 300-some levels. Plus, the Xbox Live version is going to have regularly-updated free downloadable levels added, which only makes the game even better! (more…)

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…)