POSTAL: Classic and Uncut

I'm glad RWS gave this game away for free - super generous of them! I've been a Postal fan since I played 2 way back when. I never got to play this original version, so it's nice to have a GoG release. The game itself is really rudimentary, but well done for what it is. I only played it for like 30 minutes before uninstalling. I like the direction RWS took with Postal 2 and the expansions more. Soon, I will probably drop some cash for Postal 4 on Steam!

I remembered loving this game when it came out although I must admit I only had the demo. I must have played it through dozens of times. That said the nostalgia of playing through again is almost complete lost. This game has not aged with grace like some of the other classics on here. I really wanted to love the full version of this game as I did the demo 15 years ago but unfortunately the game just doesn't play the way you want it to. Where modern isometric games like Bastion simply map down for down and up for up Postal maps all movements relative to your character. In other words when looking at your characters back left will turn you left but when looking at your character straight on left turns him to the right or HIS left. Response times are slower (for me at least) since you have to readjust to your characters orientation. The controls just are not intuitive in the least. It takes a lot of getting used to when you press forward and character runs left or down since that is where he is facing as opposed to up. Things get even more complicated when the strafe modifier is pressed. There aren't any strafe left or right options in the key mappings. Just a strafe modifier. Mouse controls are basic. Rather than actually allowing you to aim it simply turns your character left and right leaving aiming automatic, keeping the general direction your character is facing in mind. Also it was impossible for me to remap anything to the mouse since whichever button I'd press the game registered as a Left Click. I also remembered the game being quite difficult and that seemed to be the only thing that carried over in terms of my more recent play through. The game was never really a looker but I had no problem with the visuals. The violent fun on the other hand always seemed fleeting. I never felt like I was over powered and in a game like this I feel like your character should have been stronger. There are plenty of people who will have fond memories of this game and even enjoy this game now. I'm just a little disappointed that I was not one of them.

The game may be old but the atmosphere and story brings a psychological horror aspect to it since you can see what your protagonist is thinking through the loading screens between levels which give you text written like a journal including dates setting the game in the year 1997 and compared to the other postal games this one is more dark and creepy having no music during gameplay, all you can hear is screas from people you kill

POSTAL is a horror game where you are the horror. It serves as a deconstruction of the moral debate on violence in video games. This is the game many anti-video game protesters like Jack Thompson, Joe Lieberman, and Hillary Clinton keep stereotyping all video games as, if it didn't have a terrifying story and a deconstructionist theme around the gameplay. This is a game where you massacre as many people, including innocent civilians, then move on to the next level to do the same. However, the pained screams of your victims, the ruined locations, the corpses piling up, the unnerving atmospheric sounds, and the terrifying loading screen music, all serve to make you feel wrong about going on genocide crusades. You play as the Postal Dude, who has a much darker personality in this game than later, more comedic entries in the POSTAL franchise. You follow the Postal Dude as he is having delusions of a plague making people violent with him having illusions of putting them out of their misery. But just listening to their screams makes you realise that you are wrong, but not the character you are playing as. The gameplay itself is a simple twin-stick shooter, but the tank controls in the original release were terrible. However, playing with a console controller or KB+M with the modern control scheme is much better. The game has a "2D background, 3D foreground" style to it similar to the PS1 Final Fantasy and Resident Evil games and it looks good here. The low-poly character models are unimpressive even for the time but the hand-painted backgrounds look appropriately gritty and are great works of art. The music and sound design are phenomenal and serve to make the game feel even more unnerving. The lack of music in actual gameplay just enhances the tone. This is an easy recommendation but I would recommend getting POSTAL Redux, a full remake with improved gameplay and visuals, as well as a lot of added features. This is still good for curiousity's sake, though.

There was huge controversy over this 'murder simulator' back when it was released and that controversy is still alive today. There are good and bad points to this game - lets take a look at the good first.... There are a total of 11 different difficulty settings with the map changing as the difficulty is increased. Reading the 'diary' in the manual gives most of the storyline and is an insight into a troubled and fragile mind. Even on the easiest setting things can get intense at times - the game does not reward just running out into a middle of a group and firing... that will most likely lead to your own death. As such some thought is need to plan your way through a level to maximise opportunity to attack whilst minimising the liklihood of being hit. Weapons come in a variety from a weak but unlimited ammo automatic rifle to shotguns and molotov cocktails. The shotgun is fairly short range but pretty devastating when it hits and the molotovs explode into fire creating a 'pool' of fire within an area temporarily. This can be used tactically as a method to get away or create a wall enemies cannot get past for a short time. There are cheats already built into the game code if you want to see the most difficult setting but die within moments when trying - but of course cheating removes the tactical nature needed which should be beared in mind. Now the bad.... The keyboard controls are broken - there is no other way of describing it. The ability to turn left does not function properly via keyboard and discussions are on going on the forum - for the extra special edition levels the configuration to increase turning speed works. However mouse control works - rotate the character by moving the mouse left and right and move forward with right mouse button whilst attacking with left mouse button. Having tried both methods I have to say that mouse control - once you are used to it - is very good... especially in tricker situations when you need to move quickly and still keep accuracy on the weapon. This game does not equal Syndicate as an isometric shooter... that has far more depth and hopefully one day ends up on GoG. This game does make an interesting diversion for an hour or two at a time for mindless blasting - so long as you are not the type to get 'upset' by some disturbing dialog or killing sprites of 'innocents'.