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Postal 2
PC
Only Mild Amusement in Going Postal
3/5 stars
Postal 2 is pretty much a tongue-in-cheek release after the controversy that Running With Scissors dealt with following the release of Postal. It's also very much reminded me of Duke Nukem in both gameplay and the random crap that would come out of the main character's mouth at times. The game is crude and has little in the way of story as such, but the game does give you the option to shoot everyone or shoot no one - true to their word, the game is only as violent as you make it (but, come on, who is going to care?). For 2003 I'm guessing this was decent but it doesn't hold up the best over time. Much like Grand Theft Auto - a good game to blow off steam and that's about it.
Presentation: For 2003-era graphics, I'm sure this looked and sounded pretty good. Very pixelated and blocky and rough in pretty much every area (characters, enviroments) and the game even warns you when you get stuck (and tells you not to do it again when you get out), so you will probably get stuck a lot on the unrefined areas of the game - which are many. There is an effort to give at least some design consideration to characters so no everything looks the same - I mean, where else are you going to find Muslim terrorists, video game protesters, rednecks, a marching band, killer dogs, cats (that double as silencers) and other people aching to be shot in one game? Oh, and Gary Coleman - can't forget about him. The game is fully voiced, though there's nothing much to write home about here - and neither with the effects or music. It's all very competent, but completely unremarkable.
Story: You play as the main characters who goes through a week (Monday-Sunday) and essentially has a variety of mundane tasks to complete (such as picking up milk, voting, returning a book to the library, getting a petition signed and other such stuff) and most of the quests eventually have you coming across groups of angry people who either you piss off or they see you doing something they don't like and opens up more enemies that will attack you. Each day also gets more and more law enforcement from simple police officer to full-on military. The last two days (Saturday and Sunday) take a complete turn and introduce things like zombies, mad cows and even elephants into the mix - and even has certain areas that resemble a Silent Hill-esque horror show. It's very trippy but utterly confusing as why they went that route. Not much else here - it's mostly just killing people with a wide variety of weapons.
Gameplay: A typical FPS game that stands out somewhat from the sheer variety of weapons you can find. Pistols, shotguns, sniper rifle, grenade launcher, missile launcher, mini-nuke launcher, diseased cow head, scythe, axe, taser, brass knuckles, sledgehammer, assault rifles, baseball bat, dynamite, grenades, napalm, scissors, rusty hedge trimmer - the game gives you a lot of options on shooting and dismembering anyone you come into contact with. I personally prefer the machete - it's great at chopping up enemies and you can throw it like some kind of demented boomerang that it good for decapitations or limb removal. The game gives you a variety of other instruments of death - dog biscuits to recruit any mutt into an attack dog at your disposal, donuts to lure policemen away (or heal you for a small amount of health), cat nip for the cats (which, as stated, you can stick on the end of a shotgun to silence it) and "health pipes" to smoke for instant healing (though it will cause damage over time unless you smoke more).
Each day gives you more and more enemies to fight or avoid - video game protesters, book burners, terrorists, rednecks and, yes, postal employees - all turn on you and will shoot you on sight. The game features a few "boss" battles of sorts - but they are just enemies with slightly more health and bigger weapons.
The controls are somewhat janky to get used to on the Xbox controller. Eventually they work out, but I always found myself accidentally using something I wasn't trying to use (usually a healing item) or scrambling to scroll through the massive weapons list trying to find the one I wanted (and getting shot or hit the entire time). It could have been better for sure, but I wasn't about to try the keyboard/mouse thing after so long. Luckily the game doesn't feature too much in the way of precise jumping or movement - because the controls are very loose in that regard. Only the last two days (which, I said, are kind of strange) gave me any trouble in that department.
Replayability: Unless you want to get all the achievements or try different difficulties, not really much to go back for in my opinion.
Overall: Fun for a awhile, but quickly looses any appeal due to repetitive enemies and having to walk so damn much to get where you need to go.
Presentation: 3/5
Story: 2/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Replayability: 3/5
Overall (not an average): 3/5
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