Postal 2 Review - PC

What gets the most media and governmental attention isn't always the most controversial. Take Postal 2, the 2003 first-person shooter by rebel developer Running With Scissors. This game makes San Andreas look like Sesame Street, but it went under the radar--despite more sadistic gore and political incorrectness than any video game before or since. Fast-forward two years, and Running With Scissors is hoping that its self-published, better-late-than-never single-player expansion, Apocalypse Weekend, nets the negative publicity it deserves.

TGIF

Postal 2 followed the Postal Dude on an everyday week, where the most trivial of tasks turn into shocking bloodbaths. Apocalypse Weekend is just what it sounds like: a look at the following Saturday and Sunday, when all Hell breaks loose. Again, simple things go horribly awry. A hospital visit turns into a delusional episode where charred Gary Coleman look-alikes hurl grenades at you. Stopping into the local Chinese restaurant becomes a battle against mad-cow-infected, Tourette's syndrome zombies.

You'll also infiltrate a Taliban training camp, hunt angry elephants, and storm a game publisher's office to recover some stolen software (evidently Running With Scissors and Postal 2's publisher didn't have the most amicable of breakups). A small semblance of a plot ties everything together, much like a wire hanger tries to hold up the exhaust pipe on a '78 Pinto.

Oh No He Didn't

There's a 99.8 percent chance something in Apocalypse Weekend will offend you. Crack pipes act as health power-ups; animals of all sizes and shapes are "euthanized"; you can expel waste liquids at will; and there are more F-words than in Webster's dictionary. The box itself proclaims this game has a "broken sense of humor," and that is truly honesty in advertising. However, if you can remember that it's just a game, you have a good chance of actually enjoying yourself--provided you possess a little moral flexibility.

Console Action in Disguise

Even disregarding the insanity of the missions, Apocalypse Weekend doesn't play like your typical PC first-person shooter. You'll often be platforming, exploring the vast, character-filled environment, and engaging in some item collecting. This unconventional approach is refreshing, and one can't help but think that, if it had its druthers, Running With Scissors would've rather released this game on PS2 or Xbox. It still controls like an FPS, though, and does so well.

The new weapons are for up-close brutality. Postal Dude wields a scythe in much the same way Death himself would, though he adds a few more one-liners to the mix. The machete is effective as a melee weapon, but it's when you throw it and witness the boomerang aspect that you'll truly be in awe. The sledgehammer reduces both man and beast to a lumpy puddle, but requires time to swing effectively. For more biological warfare, hurl a diseased cattle head, then shoot it and hold your breath.

Indy Game Development

Postal 2 is the equivalent of an independent slasher flick, and not just in content. It's obviously been made with a small group of developers on a tight budget. You'll see crashes, a lack of checkpoints, and some other spots where polish could've come in handy.

Apocalypse Weekend's graphics have their ups and downs. The main draw is in the gore. It's possible to chop off all four of someone's limbs, along with his head. Blood is applied liberally, and even flows with the level geometry. The physics engine allows you play "kick the can" with a severed head to your heart's content.

It certainly looks dated, but the game succeeds in looking decent even with 32 MB graphics cards. Evidently, there's an advantage to releasing an expansion this long after a PC game's release. Besides, not everyone can run Half-Life 2 as smooth as fresh milk, so this is a good game to look out for if your PC rig isn't up to snuff.

The sound doesn't get off quite as easily. You can tell that voiceovers were just done by the developers and their buddies. Most are passable, but it's the repetition that will get on your nerves. The sound effect for cow parts being splattered is the exact same sound as pistol rounds hitting your person, which will befuddle you to no end.

Workin' for the Weekend

Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend relies on shock to get attention, but there's substance to it, too. With smartly designed levels and a variety of tasks, there are much worse ways to spend a weekend. Don't expect the trimmings of a big-budget title, but it's a bloody, twisted good time to those who are neither squeamish nor easily offended.