By Matt Peters
This year is scheduled to be one of the biggest of note in the world of comics, video games, and all-around geekiness. We here at Pads & Panels would like to give you twelve reasons that 2012 will be awesome. Let’s hope our Mayan overlords don’t return from outer space until we get to experience most of it. Take a look below for some of the highlights:
Publisher: THQ—Developer: Volition
The Saints Row series has long been the cartoonish alternative for gamers to the now serious and realistic Grand Theft Auto games. Every mistake GTA IV made, Saints Row: The Third fixes. Everything is over-the-top, from the missions to the weapons and the story. The level of polish elevates it from the previous games in the series. But the best part of Saint’s Row: The Third is jumping into co-op and sharing the chaos with a friend. (more…)
Title: MotorStorm Apocalypse
Platform: PS3
ESRB: T
Publisher: Sony
Developer: Evolution Studios
Rating: 
Review by: Bill Jones
MotorStorm: Apocalypse is a beautiful disaster of a game. It takes the series from its dusty and tropical landscapes to a venue of urban destruction, but plagued with bad timing and a poor story, Apocalypse gets off to a slow start.
While developer Evolution Studios can hardly be blamed for circumstances well outside of their control, Apocalypse’s story of a group of thrill-seekers who flock to a dying city ravaged by an earthquake to race — well, it’s a little hard to experience outside of the context of Japan’s disaster at this point. If that wasn’t working against the game enough, the major hack on PlayStation Network all but stifled the online community of MotorStorm: Apocalypse. Apparently, the only thing worse than the timing of MotorStorm: Apocalypse is its story. (more…)
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Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment – Developer: Sony Santa Monica
Our Review
Is there any real question why God of War 3 is on our list? The game proved to be a truly epic finale to one of Sony’s biggest and most popular franchises. From the moment I started the game and up until the credits rolled, I was amazed by the sheer scope and breathtaking graphical prowess on display. The game’s first encounter had me questioning if subsequent levels could possibly top it, but those fears were quickly put to rest as God of War 3 delivered consistently. (more…)
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Publisher: Sony – Developer: Quantric Dream
Our Review
Heavy Rain is daring. It’s inventive. It takes the ideals gamers have grown accustomed to for years and spins them to the game’s advantage. It is an experimental form of storytelling, and it all works so very well. Heavy Rain may have its faults, but it’s easier to overlook them when the results are so often pushing gaming’s boundaries. In an era when the industry is as sequel-riddled as with film, with titles generally fitting nicely into a short list of genres, Heavy Rain is refreshingly and hauntingly something unique. (more…)
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Publisher: Microsoft – Developer: BioWare
Our Review
Mass Effect 2 has earned its spot on this list due its outstanding storytelling, rich characterization and exciting combination of adventure and combat. Additionally, Mass Effect 2 boasts an impressive musical score, a vast array of weapons and abilities that can be tailored to any play-style and a variety of ethical and personal quandaries that players must endure, which essentially guarantees a unique experience with every campaign played. (more…)
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Publisher: Team Meat – Developer: Team Meat
Super Meat Boy is an addictive platformer that can be taken in short spurts or over a long haul, with a maddeningly steep difficulty curve, especially if you want to unlock everything the game has to offer. Team Meat has stripped down the very essences of hardcore gaming into adrenaline bursts, especially when the game starts to really get rolling. And that’s before players even discover that there’s a “dark world” (read: even harder) version of everything they’ve beaten once they’ve perfected their runs through each level. (more…)
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Title: Gran Turismo 5
Platform: PS3
ESRB: E
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Rating:
Review by: Archie Easter
Five years in the making, Gran Turismo 5 has been long awaited by fans of the racing franchise. With such a well established pedigree and promises of over 1,000 cars and every form of racing from NASCAR to go-karts being represented in the game, hopes and expectations have been understandably high. Now that series head Kazunori Yamauchi’s racing magnum opus is out on the streets and rolling through living rooms everywhere, the question remains – can the game possibly live up to the hype?
Let’s get this out of the way right now – when it’s firing on all cylinders, GT5 is downright gorgeous. The game’s intricately detailed cars and new weather effects like rain and snow are faithfully reproduced and combine to create instances of near photo-realism. In addition, more than 200 of the cars have modeled interior dashboards so that players can actually use a more immersive cockpit view while driving. While many of the cars look amazing, a possible side effect of the game’s large stable of vehicles was that there are a couple of models that noticeably suffer from lower resolution textures. (more…)
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Creating a Best of List for Pads & Panels is no easy task. It involves everyone putting in feedback, a get-together and copious amounts of drinking, when we argue our cases for what belongs where on the list. Inevitably, fantastic titles don’t make it to the top of the tower, and we’re left feeling bad for not honoring the enjoyment some of these games provided us throughout the year. So that’s where the Honorable Mentions come into play. These are the list of games that didn’t quite make our Top 10, but we think you should be playing them nonetheless. Plus, it’s always kind of fun to make our readers wonder, with titles this great on the honorable mentions list, what is going to make our Top 10. They are essentially our #11 through #20 picks, but are presented in no particular order. Enjoy! (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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