Postal 2: Share the Pain

"Controversy aside, Postal 2: STP is a decnt gaming experience"

Whoever thought that a developer would release a game that in essence, has you running around buying milk, cashing paychecks and going to the doctor? And whoever thought that it would be this much fun! ‘Postal 2: Share the Pain' is definitely never going to win any awards for depth or involving game play, but it certainly is one big bag of laughs. So what's the difference between ‘Share the Pain' and the standard ‘Postal 2'? Not much, besides a multiplayer mode and slightly tweaked single player experience.

‘Postal 2: STP' puts you in the boots of The Postal Dude; your average redneck living in a trailer with his demanding wife and dog. His interests include hitting things with shovels, guns, and causing mass destruction. His life is spread across one week of mayhem, where you must complete simple tasks that include confessing his sins to a priest and visiting his father's grave.
The game is set in Postal Dude's new neighborhood, ‘Paradise,' and there's no shortage of places to visit or things to kill.
The story is certainly different, and I must say also quite refreshing. It's nice to play the role of the bad guy once in a while. To hell with saving the world! I want to bash someone's head off with a shovel!
Story: 6

‘Running With Scissors;' the developers behind ‘Postal 2: STP' made the decision to use the Unreal 2 engine to power their game, and overall it seems to have worked out well. The characters are adequately detailed and feature some decent rag-dolling effects. Interestingly the game is no-where near as gory as many people have claimed it to be. Heads can be taken off either with a shotgun or a shovel (my personal favourite) but otherwise it's not nearly as bad as say, ‘Soldier of Fortune.'
The games environments are mostly convincing, the maps seem to flow well and you do get the impression of being in a small backwater town. The outdoor areas are quite big and feature plenty of life, be it buildings or people on the street, however the indoor areas seems sparse and poorly designed. The mall for example doesn't seem very grandeur at all, and could best be described as drab and lifeless. The texturing used is hit and miss. Some things look great, others are terrible. Perhaps the biggest gripe is the load sequences used as a transition between maps, but this time is much improved and shorter than it was in the standard ‘Postal 2.' Still, it can disrupt the games flow dramatically, which is a tad disappointing.
The game is literally packed with visual gags, such as jokes displayed on billboards and signs. Most are pretty funny the first time over, but lose their impact after a while. Some parts are quite memorable, such as the protesters outside the ‘Running With Scissors' offices, (Yes, the developers put themselves in the game, seems they're not without a sense of humor.) or the protesters in the library holding signs saying ‘Hitler wrote a book.'
The weapon models are all decently detailed, but are mostly been-there-done-that material.
Graphics: 7

Just like the graphics, ‘Postal 2: STP's' audio is substandard. The music seems to be on a constant repeat loop. Hearing the same song over and over again does grow old after a while. Funny that. It's not all bad though, Postal Dude yells out his one liners every now and then, usually after causing a decent amount of mayhem… ‘My president is Charlton Heston!' These can border on annoyingly repetitious too. Most of the citizens you bump into have the same thing to say as well, usually ‘watch it' or ‘pull your pants up' (one guess what you have to do to get that reaction!). Again, this stuff is funny the first time or two but it wears thin very quickly.
The weapon effects are decent enough, the shotgun sounds fairly powerful, but by contrast the machine gun sounds pathetically weak, more like a pop gun than something that spews out hundreds of bullets per minute. My advice; turn of the audio and listen to a CD instead.
Sound: 4

As mentioned earlier, ‘Postal 2: STP' has you completing a list of tasks over the period of a week.
What makes this game interesting is its open ended nature, and while set tasks must be completed, they can be done any number of ways and in any order. For example, one task has you getting Gary Coleman's autograph. You can simply stand in line and wait to get the book signed, or kill Gary and his fans and take the book from their corpses. Hey, autographs are always worth more when the person is dead, according to the Postal Dude.
The beauty of this system is that if you are so inclined the whole game can be completed without having to kill anyone. This does become harder on the latter stages and quite frankly you'd have to be stupid to do this, but it can be achieved.
No first person shooter is any good without a decent selection of weapons, and ‘Postal 2: STP' is not one to disappoint. There's something here for every sadist, from the trusty shovel to the shotgun or how about the diseased cow's head? There's also a taser, baton, pistol, machine gun, sniper rifle, grenades, petrol can and more. While most are hardly original, there is something to be said for covering a group of people in gasoline and setting them alight with a match.
Interestingly you can also unzip your fly and whip out your piece, resulting in a few amusing reactions. This has to be one of the first games I've played that allows you to take a whiz wherever you please, and while it's certainly not a feature I think other games need, it's still good for a cheap laugh or two.
Going on the odd killing spree is fairly entertaining, especially with the weapons on offer. However, cause too much mayhem and you'll have the law on your back.
It's obvious that the ‘Running With Scissors' crew set out with the aim of causing as much controversy as possible, and they take a stab at everything from Islamic terrorists (called Fanatics, obsessed with ‘Killing the Infidels') to overactive parenting protest groups against violent video games. Yep, they can be set on fire ;)
‘Share the Pain' features an all new multi-player mode, but I cannot comment on this as I never used it. All I can do is repeat the comments of other gamers, in that it is unbalanced and there are not enough people still playing this game to offer up a decent online experience. Stick to the single player mode.
‘Postal 2: STP' is only a short game, and takes just a few hours to complete. It's a great ride though, full of plenty of cheap laughs and gags. An extra ‘Enhanced mode' is offered to those who complete the game, which changes a few of the weapons and elements within the single player game (peeing napalm for example). By the time you unlock this though you'll probably be over it all anyway.
As a shooter; ‘Postal 2: STP' is substandard. There's plenty of games on the market that offer a deeper and more exciting experience, ‘Half-Life' and ‘Dues Ex' to name just a few, but not many that manage to pull so many random elements together and still be funny. How many games offer you a virtual queue simulator and shooter all rolled into one? Seriously though, if you want a simple distraction from much deeper games then ‘Postal 2: STP' might be your ticket. Just don't pay full price, it's definitely not worth it.
Oh, and also, as mentioned before Gary Coleman; childhood star makes a guest appearance, and is voiced by the actual actor. I'll let you decide whether that's a good thing or not!
Game Play: 7
Life Span: 5

Pros
+ Shovel decapitations. Ok, I'm a sadist. Bite me.
+ Decent graphics
+ Plenty of memorable jokes
+ Unique concept and good execution
+ Array of weapons

Cons
- Sound/Music
- Load times
- Very short
- Shallow game play

‘Postal 2: STP' is a very unique game. Almost like a first person ‘Grand Theft Auto' minus the cars, and also minus half the entertainment that ‘GTA' managed to serve up. ‘Postal 2: STP' isn't a bad game, but it's not a particularly good one either. Sure, it has its moments, but it seems to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Give it a try just don't expect big things from it, just a simple laugh and a wasted weekend or two.
Overall: 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/05