https://steamcommunity.com/id/fluddsskark/recommended/223470/
Preamble
Postal 2 is one of those games that has been shunned upon by a lot of people and a liked game by some. This game has been in such controversy for it's violence and other controversies but it's humor has been applauded. The game is generally considered an niche game because it is not much known and is mostly well known within the FPS community.
Gameplay
The story of the game tells us that the game takes place around a small town in Arizona called Paradise, which is based on the real life Bisbee, Arizona. The story goes on from Monday to Friday. You play as the Postal Dude, who is not related to The Dude from The Big Lebowski but has a lot of comparisons put with him, like an unemployed person who lives in a small house, but in Postal 2's terms, Dude lives in a trailer home with his wife that he seems to dislike a lot. The gameplay is in those days between Monday till Friday, The Dude gets to do various tasks (around 3-4 everyday) which are just usual, boring tasks but in order to make those tasks interesting, the developers were able to make protests, or other groups of people trying to make the Dude's day more complex with the RWS protestors talking against violence in video games, the Book protestors and the Taliban, etc. Each of these protestors tend to have an enmity against the Postal Dude, and as more days pass by, the group starts for the hunt of the Dude in random parts of Paradise and are armed to kill him. Speaking of weapons, the Dude is armed with a plethora of weapons that can be obtained in just about in all parts of the town. In Postal 2 Other than weapons, there are also items that can replenish health like the Pipe, which gives the most health, then comes doughnuts, pizza, etc. There are also these items like the catnip that make your game appear in slow-mo, and it particularly helps in avoiding hordes of armed people, especially doing a pacifist play, or money, that is used to buy items like Napalm, Pipes, Milk and so on in order to progress the game if the player does not want to create a commotion with the seller. The game is an immersive sim, just like Deus Ex. Though it is not an RPG, it has some of it's elements such as trading items, like giving Coleman's book to Krotchy to get the last Krotchy doll in the store. Some of the examples of the immersive sim here is that the game is having the ability of free-roam, but the game gives you more freedom near the last days, with encouraging the player to go to the new unlocked area, as that place is always having a task in it. Another aspect of it's immersive features are that players can go for a pacifist route without killing anyone, and it also shows that there is a lot of degrees of freedom in this game, for an early FPS open world game. The game's humor is somewhat twisted, satirical and the game has a tendency to break the fourth wall. For example, the presence of RWS developers is an example of the fourth wall breaks throughout the game and the repeated spoofing of the violence in the game also shows that this game was considered a patriarch of games that have the same humor of it, with games being inspired by Postal 2 for it's humor.
Final Notes
Postal 2 had been a defining game for the franchise and it certainly transformed the series from a dark fantasy from the 1997 original to this humorous game with everyday life aspects of a game character. Postal 2 was later given an official expansion in 2005, with Apocalypse Weekend, that added two new days setting in the weekend. Additionally, it also gave new content such as new weapons and also new characters. After this, a semi-official expansion was made by some Russian developers who had already released Postal 2 to Russia. Corkscrew Rules was the name of the expansion, and generally it is shunned upon by the fans of the game due to it being released by Akella. Postal 3 was made by Akella, but it is considered one of the worst games of Postal series and the original RWS devs also had to remove it from their website, and recently in Steam due to DRM issues. After Postal 3, RWS released Paradise Lost in 2015, and it was praised for giving a proper sequel to Postal 2. After that they released Postal 4, the franchise seems to be updated, unlike other boomer shooters. This game is a 10/10 for me, this could have been better if it was not so prone to crashing all the time.
Preamble
Postal 2 is one of those games that has been shunned upon by a lot of people and a liked game by some. This game has been in such controversy for it's violence and other controversies but it's humor has been applauded. The game is generally considered an niche game because it is not much known and is mostly well known within the FPS community.
Gameplay
The story of the game tells us that the game takes place around a small town in Arizona called Paradise, which is based on the real life Bisbee, Arizona. The story goes on from Monday to Friday. You play as the Postal Dude, who is not related to The Dude from The Big Lebowski but has a lot of comparisons put with him, like an unemployed person who lives in a small house, but in Postal 2's terms, Dude lives in a trailer home with his wife that he seems to dislike a lot. The gameplay is in those days between Monday till Friday, The Dude gets to do various tasks (around 3-4 everyday) which are just usual, boring tasks but in order to make those tasks interesting, the developers were able to make protests, or other groups of people trying to make the Dude's day more complex with the RWS protestors talking against violence in video games, the Book protestors and the Taliban, etc. Each of these protestors tend to have an enmity against the Postal Dude, and as more days pass by, the group starts for the hunt of the Dude in random parts of Paradise and are armed to kill him. Speaking of weapons, the Dude is armed with a plethora of weapons that can be obtained in just about in all parts of the town. In Postal 2 Other than weapons, there are also items that can replenish health like the Pipe, which gives the most health, then comes doughnuts, pizza, etc. There are also these items like the catnip that make your game appear in slow-mo, and it particularly helps in avoiding hordes of armed people, especially doing a pacifist play, or money, that is used to buy items like Napalm, Pipes, Milk and so on in order to progress the game if the player does not want to create a commotion with the seller. The game is an immersive sim, just like Deus Ex. Though it is not an RPG, it has some of it's elements such as trading items, like giving Coleman's book to Krotchy to get the last Krotchy doll in the store. Some of the examples of the immersive sim here is that the game is having the ability of free-roam, but the game gives you more freedom near the last days, with encouraging the player to go to the new unlocked area, as that place is always having a task in it. Another aspect of it's immersive features are that players can go for a pacifist route without killing anyone, and it also shows that there is a lot of degrees of freedom in this game, for an early FPS open world game. The game's humor is somewhat twisted, satirical and the game has a tendency to break the fourth wall. For example, the presence of RWS developers is an example of the fourth wall breaks throughout the game and the repeated spoofing of the violence in the game also shows that this game was considered a patriarch of games that have the same humor of it, with games being inspired by Postal 2 for it's humor.
Final Notes
Postal 2 had been a defining game for the franchise and it certainly transformed the series from a dark fantasy from the 1997 original to this humorous game with everyday life aspects of a game character. Postal 2 was later given an official expansion in 2005, with Apocalypse Weekend, that added two new days setting in the weekend. Additionally, it also gave new content such as new weapons and also new characters. After this, a semi-official expansion was made by some Russian developers who had already released Postal 2 to Russia. Corkscrew Rules was the name of the expansion, and generally it is shunned upon by the fans of the game due to it being released by Akella. Postal 3 was made by Akella, but it is considered one of the worst games of Postal series and the original RWS devs also had to remove it from their website, and recently in Steam due to DRM issues. After Postal 3, RWS released Paradise Lost in 2015, and it was praised for giving a proper sequel to Postal 2. After that they released Postal 4, the franchise seems to be updated, unlike other boomer shooters. This game is a 10/10 for me, this could have been better if it was not so prone to crashing all the time.