Made by the same developer of the STALKER series, this game was released in a time where budget games were starting to gain traction. It wasn't a terrible game upon it's release at a $20 price point. That said it didn't set the world on fire either. The game was terribly simplistic in it's shooting mechanics and even for $5.99 on GoG I'm not excited to relive those memories. The game itself never lived up to the cool intro video. It boasted basic level design and idiotic AI. It's interesting to play the first game that GSC released, if for no other reason, to see how they evolved over time to create a more realized game world in STALKER. However, age doesn't benefit budget shooters and mediocrity from 15 years ago is much less so by today's standards. This game is what it ultimately was when it was released years ago: a very forgettable game overshadowed by just about every other shooter out there.
This was one of those games that you remember loving or hating. Loving the fresh take on a more realistic tactical shooting experience or hating the punishing difficulty. This game was definitely great for it's time though. It was the anti-first person shooter. It dared to something new and completely different. For that I must applaud it. Still, I must admit, as far as all the realistic iterations of the Tom Clancy games go (ie Rogue Spear, Ghost Recon etc.) this boasted the most painfully unforgiving difficulty of the group. The biggest problem was the unrealistic response times of the enemy AI. Basically if you made eye contact, you'd be dead. The problem stems from the fact that there is literally no aiming animation. Enemy AI will snap from a relaxed "I don't see anybody who wants to kill me" pose right into shooting your face off in less than a quarter of a second. And did I mention they never miss? Thankfully friendly AI responds in kind. The biggest problem with this game is that it becomes 100% trial and error, especially if you want to make sure that all your squad mates survive because if they don't they're dead and they're not coming back. There is no practical way to go through the game and save everyone with out memorizing enemy spawn locations. For my brother, that was his favorite thing. Personally I preferred Raven Shield (Rainbow Six 3).
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.
