$20 Game of the Week: Postal 2 (PC)

A few month’s ago, I featured this game’s predecessor, which could only be described as darkly humorous, delightfully tasteless, and disturbingly addictive. It attracted its share of controversy, and the fact hasn’t been lost on developer Running with Scissors. In 2003, they created this sequel, and there are a number of substantial changed to the formula. Although its content these days is pretty tame compared to the Grand Theft Autos and Manhunts, it can still get a bit extreme at times. In fact, its content is so extreme that it has been banned in both Australia and New Zealand. It gained further negative publicity a few years back after the Dawson College shooting rampage in Montreal when the gunman listed Postal 2 among his favorite video games. This is the type of game that, while it clearly doesn’t appeal to everyone, still maintains a healthy cult following.

You play as Postal Dude Jr, the son of the original Postal Dude (see, I told you that was the guy’s name). He lives in a trailer in Paradise city with his dog and his (rhymes with witch) of a wife. Postal 2 takes place over the course of a seemingly normal week in Postal Dude’s life. Beginning on Monday, he goes to work to collect his paycheck only to discover that he has been fired, and from there, things go downhill. Before long, Postal Dude mixes it up with protesters, religious cultists, crooked policemen, rednecks, and even the Taliban. Thankfully, Postal 2 sticks to dark humor this time instead of the first title’s pure shock value. Many of the situations you’ll encounter in the game are satirical in nature. You’ll find many references to Columbine and the anthrax scare. The game also takes several jabs at senator Joe Lieberman. You can dismember enemies and watch them crawl away, and you smoke crack pipes in order to restore your health.

The main change from the previous game is that Postal 2 is a first person shooter powered by Unreal Engine 2.0. Also, the game is played in a sandbox style, similar to Dead Rising. Each day of the week you are given several tasks to do, and it is up to you how and when to approach them. Although the majority of these tasks are seemingly mundane (i.e. going to pick up a carton of milk, going to the bank, urinating on your father’s grave, grabbing a Christmas tree), things usually get crazy after you do the task. Most of the time you’ll be stuck in a line waiting for your turn. After taking care of business, the place will most likely come under siege from a 3rd party, and you’ll have to survive long enough to make your way out. You’ll meet anti-gaming protesters, book burners, a marching band, and even Gary Coleman. At one point, you’ll even wind up kidnapped and dressed in a gimp costume. While the first title forced you to kill in order to progress, this game is only as violent as you make it. As a matter of fact, it is possible to make it through the game without killing anyone (although it’s difficult to do so and requires a bit of thinking outside the box). Even though the game will still be pretty violent with adversaries shooting at you and everything around them, at least then the violence would be through no fault of your own. There are also various multiplayer modes available via the Share the Pain expansion, which even includes a map maker. Another expansion, Apocalypse Weekend, adds two new days to the single player game (Saturday and Sunday), new weapons, and new enemies, including Zombies.

One thing does bug me though. It seems that every Muslim in the game is stereotyped as either owning or working at a convenience store called “The Lucky Ganesh”, having an Indian accent (a’la Apu on the Simpsons), and has ties to Osama Bin laden. Maybe this is a satire on America’s post 9/11 fear and ignorance about Arabs and Indians, but it still irks me bit, seeing as how I was raised to respect others regardless of their race. Even with this issue, Postal is a fun game for those who like controversy and can look past its shoddy production values. You can buy this game from the developer’s website at http://gopostal.com, but you can also buy the complete edition, which includes both of the expansions, for $10 at Gog.com. Of course, if you don’t mind spending a little extra, you can purchase both the original game and this package as part of the Postal Fudge Pack DVD. There are also several mods that have been released, including the Week in Paradise and Eternal Damnation Mods (both of which are included in the Fudge Pack). The former allows you to play through both the original game and the Apocalypse Weekend levels and features new dismemberment mechanics, while the latter allows you to play an all new campaign with an all new storyline.