Postal 2 Interview

We've warned you...

The original Postal first person shooter was infamous for its violence and politically incorrect humor, and now that the sequel has become available in your local high street store, more of the same implies that you should rush over and grab your copy before campaigners get the game banned.

We decided it was worth our while to catch up with Vince Desi, Running With Scissors’ head honcho as it must only be a matter of time before video games, and specifically Postal 2 is blamed for all that is wrong with the world, and Vince is thrown in prison for corrupting our youth – well, the first one worked on me.

Improvements and upgrades

This is Vince Desi. Postal 2 is his game. Don't trust him with your stash of explosives and weapons.

Sequels are normally expected to simply build on the success of the original using similar gameplay and features, so understandably it was important for the team to go further than before.

- Its bigger, better and badder. It’s a large open 3D world using the Unreal engine, it also uses Karma ragdoll physics and liquid physics, and it has over 150 unique npc’s and several thousand lines of dialogue, Gary Coleman and Krotchy. And a helluva lot more, says Vince Desi

This series of improvements is obviously to incite controversy but primarily to create a game that is fun to play for both themselves and run of the mill gamers.

- We make outrageous games for our fans not for parents and politicians, he explains.

Who cares about the story?

Be a pacifist, play Postal 2.

Most recent games strive for a complex story with which to suck the player into their world, but Postal 2, to be honest, couldn’t care less.

- There’s a cinematic intro with narration that sets it up. We use additional hints and lists to guide the gamer, the plot is very basic on purpose, I’m so bored with games that require manuals and swords, says Vince

If you’re having enough fun with the game play, Running With Scissors’ philosophy is to disrupt it with long and overly complex story elements as little as possible. Of course as much fun as shooting your way through the game is, when I asked how it was possible to be a pacifist in a FPS, Vince was keen to explain the true nature of the game.

- Easy, don’t shoot anyone; POSTAL 2 is a first person ADVENTURE, not a FPS. The real fun is in exploring the environments and interacting with the NPCs and things.

Stars, icons and environments

You can blow up cars? Good enough for me then!

The team was keen to keep their tongues firmly within their cheeks, and the characters within the game are a clear indication of this. The game features Gary Coleman, who plays a uniquely exciting role, performing vocally as well as through motion capture.

- Gary was our first and only choice. He’s a great American pop icon, and a gamer, and a lot of fun. We have many well-known characters in the game, such as the towel heads, and also ourselves, the RWS team in the game, Vince Desi informs us.

Evidently angry parents will have the satisfaction of being able to blow to bits the team, but aside from the usual array of features, I was confused as to what would set the game apart from both the original Postal, and other current games.

- That’s easy, play it. It’s not like anything you ever played before. Let me give you an in game example, what other game lets you play in outside environments and let you enter every building, rooftop, room, etc and did I mention its a First Person Adventure, not just another boring hallway shooter, Vince Desi explains.

Don’t mess with the Postal Community

This fellow obviously didn't buy Postal 2...

Nowadays, a game’s success rides not only on the quality of the game, but on the ability and ease with which players can modify the game, adding new levels or rewriting code to create their own mods.

- The Unreal editor is included with the game. And I’m confident the POSTAL community will deliver some of the most outrageous mods ever created, says Vince Desi.

The powerful Unreal editor allows players to tweak any aspect of the game, and gamers will latch onto the unhinged community like flies to one of those neon fly killer lights, although hopefully without the death that accompanies the fly light. Before closing the interview, Vince had one simple warning to offer:

- Don’t play in front of people unless they are ready to laugh their asses off!

Wise words there, from a man who should be celebrating the initial sales figures. Because Postal 2 is already in stores, the beauty of this whole situation is that you don’t have to wait now to seize your own copy, so if you’re akin to a little crazy game play filled extravagance, do it, because otherwise Vince Desi will probably come and get you.