Postal 2

your humble abode, in a Trailer Park no less!

Postal, the prequel to this game (not a huge jump to figure that one out) was banned in 10 countries around the world, condemned in the US Senate as one of the top three things wrong with America and pulled by many retailers after it became the center of a (misguided) media backlash against violent games. (The other things wrong with America? Calvin Klein underwear ads and Marylin Manson!) Postal IS a violent game, but it had its knockers, as it was actually quite a poor game. Now that the developers, Running With Scissors, have developed a sequel, have they addressed the flaws of the original?

This guy has just Fired you, after 1 day! Kill him!

Postal 2 originally had trouble finding a publisher, and it's no wonder considering the backlash that the original caused. But someone did step up and decide to be counted (or derided): Whiptail Interactive. Do we have them to thank, or perhaps they shouldn't have bothered? Well, everything seems to go OK in the beginning, installation is (mercifully) short and there's a little intro at the beginning. It's all very simple to work out and play so actually reading the manual isn't necessary.

Personality disorder

Better than Sim City? Who knows?

It plays like an FPS with all the usual back and forwards up and down, alternate weapon attacks etc. so almost everyone will be at home immediately. First of all you wake up, say how hot it is, find out the A/C isn't working, shoot it for it's trouble and then argue with the wife while she gives you your errand list. This is the "plot" of the game, in an extremely loose sense. There's no saving the world in this game. Stopping total nuclear war? I'm afraid not. Nothing so grandiose! Your "mission" on the first day is to collect your paycheck, cash it and get some milk on the way home! It all sounds very simple, but as ever, there are obstacles in your way.

Sure, Mr. Coleman, as long as you hold a gun bigger than yourself, I'd say you are a celebrity

Your hometown, perversely named Paradise, has a pretty screwed bunch of folks as residents (yourself excepted). Shout abuse at them and they'll more than likely pull a gun or take a swing at you. Hit them with a shovel and all hell will break loose with guns and baseball bats swinging everywhere. It's almost too easy, like the government has put something in the water. Situations present themselves throughout the day and are easily answerable with extreme amounts of violence, but they don't have to be.

Abusive behaviour

Petrol+matches=inferno

If you do decide to go all mailman on someone there's a nice array of weaponry to choose from. All the standard shooting iron's are there, the machine gun, pistol and shotgun all make an appearance. Slightly different are some of the other options. The first weapon you pick up is your shovel. This can be quite a formidable weapon as a deft swing in the right place knocks your victims head clean off. The gas canister and lighter is another option, and the flaming victim will stagger about screaming before falling to the ground and burning quietly.

Some games have recently lured actors and movie stars to narrate games or become the voice of characters in the game. Postal 2 has sort of jumped on this idea, but I'd hardly call Gary Coleman a celebrity anymore! Some of you younger folks won't even know who he is. (Clue, TV show, Diff'rent Strokes, often on Satellite and cable TV, immediately forgettable). He provides a voice for some of the characters in the game, but quite why they felt the need to use him I've no idea. There is one moment in the game where the temptation to kill the same Mr. Coleman may just become too much to ignore. He signs an autograph for you, asks you not to sell it on Ebay, but we all know that dead star's autographs are worth much more than living one's. Did I kill him? Of course!

Peace Brother

Ha! Tongue firmly in cheek!

Here's the big catch, you can play as a total pacifist, hiding all your weapons and not retaliating when others go a bit loopy just because they've had a bad day. For example, when you go to collect your paycheck you get told you've been fired (after one day, natch) and your "firer" just stands there, almost begging to be blown to pieces or beheaded with your shovel. You don't have to, you have a choice. You can be as violent as you wish, or be completely non-violent. Having said that, when the protesters outside suddenly rush the building toting shotguns and automatic weapons, you can't exactly avoid them completely as they'll try and shoot you on sight. It's not easy, but it is possible to be non violent throughout the game.

It's not really just the wanton violence that gives this game a bad name though. When you've killed someone (or many someone's) you can then proceed to urinate on them. You can even aim to make sure you "hit" your target. To me, that's going just a little bit too far. Running With Scissors seem to have confronted controversy with every aspect of the game, but it's been said many times, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Pessimist or Realist?

The toilet. Your pee. You don't have to do this in the toilet!

Graphically and sonically it's all fine. The graphics are based on the Unreal Engine you'd expect everything to look very nice, and it does. The whole map isn't stored on the machine at any one time and load points are spaced around the map. Although these are clearly marked, each level can take up to 20 seconds to load. Sometimes they're not that far apart either, breaking up the flow of the game. Half-Life managed it in little steps, why can't other games use HL's way of doing things?

You, the Postal dude. DO NOT mess with this guy!

Another flaw in the game is its lack of multiplayer support. I’d have thought a game like this would be ripe for some sort of online slaughter fest of epic proportions, but, alas, it's just not to be. There is some light in the Postal tunnel though. As it's based on the Unreal engine, the Unreal editor will work perfectly, allowing all sorts of mods to be made and little things entered into the game. Want to paint your Headmaster's face onto your potential victim? Easy enough, but you'd need a mug shot first. There's plenty of support and a few tutorials out there for the editor, so you've got no excuse.

Psycho's R Us?

Postal 2 is a game with very little actual point to the proceedings. There's no feeling of satisfaction when you complete a part of the game and the difficulty appears to be made up by having more assailants rather that harder to kill ones. It helps to have a decent weapon, but shooting someone with an automatic rifle takes at least 5-8 shots whereas a single shot with a shotgun will kill them instantly? There are little bugbears throughout the game like this, and they spoil it slightly. Overall it's thoroughly competent and there's nothing really wrong with it, it just doesn't feel like someone has spent months, even years with it as a labor of love. Slightly above average, but only by a little bit!