The Let's Play Archive

Postal 2

by Tehzim

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Original Thread: Potty Training - Let's Play Postal 2!

 

This LP is also available on the Internet Archive! Some video LPs are kindly hosted by the folks on archive.org. This means the original source videos will always be available for download or watching, even if the original video hosts are no longer available!

Introduction

LP IS NOW COMPLETE, THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

Note: I have reorganized the OP in the hopes of making it cleaner and easier to archive when it is time. Thus if more images shrink or leave it is only in the interest of making things easier to read and archive. Thanks, mgmt.






Introduction (To Be Read Before You Watch)

Postal 2 is a first person shooter from 2003. It uses the Unreal Warfare (2.5) engine. It was developed by Running With Scissors but its distribution has been cloudy. Many publishers wouldn't touch it and those that did soon changed their mind.

Is this the game you're not supposed to play? Darker and more sadistic than Grand Theft Auto III, more action packed than Soldier of Fortune 2: Double Helix, more perverted than Manhunt, more... well, you get the idea. The game had a reputation among politicians who like to shine their image by trashing violent games. RWS tried to parlay this into bigger sales and failed. Miserably.

Why? Because quite simply the game sucks. SOF 2 and GTA 3 were big name entries that did gore and sandbox gameplay well. Manhunt, released the same year as Postal 2, was even more violent and perverted (arguably) and was a better game as well.

Postal 2 is pathetic. The animations are sad, the violence is silly, the combat is unbalanced in the extreme, the AI is both bone dumb and deadly accurate, and the humor is twice as crude and half as witty as GTA.

To add insult to injury the small town is divided up by "loading zones" where you have to load the next section of the town when you want to run your errands. Having to load every two minutes is enough to make you pull your hair out. Just imagine how bad it was back in 2003.

So, why, if this game is so bad should anyone play it, let alone LP it? Because it's a game that could have been. Cutting edge engine (Unreal Warfare), no content limits, the advantage of controversy. In short Postal 2 and Running With Scissors had everything to lose. And they lost.

The story such as it is goes like this. Postal Dude gets errands from his woman (she's not named) every day that he has to accomplish before the story moves to the next day. These can be things like getting a carton of milk or going to the bank to cash a check.

Join me for a bizarre ride that is equal parts hilarity and groan inducing stupidity. For every shining moment of awesome there is a great example of poor design and writing. But it's worth it. Come along with me and watch.




CONCLUSION (To Be Read After You Watch)

After having spent a month with Postal 2 I have come to the conclusion that it wasn't as bad as I had first thought. If you saw the credits you'll notice how small the development group was. This makes it feel all the more like a total conversion mod for the Unreal Warfare engine. If you approach it that way, the game is actually incredibly ambitious.

There are little things scattered throughout the game that show that the people paid attention and cared about what they were doing. Sometimes you can almost see the game that could have been shimmer through. Then the lack of soundtrack, numerous load zones, scatological jokes, and bad mission design ruin it.

When I started this LP I would have given the game a 5.5 out of 10. Now I would give it a grudging 7.0 out of 10. The game tried hard and was a victim of a lack of money and some poor design choices. It's failure was one of both ambition and execution as reach far exceeded grasp.

But since we've waited 7 or so years for a sequel there is hope. Postal 3 has had lots of development time, a strong engine in Valve's Source, and still has name recognition. And any game where you can kill people with your pet wolverine is going to be worth an LP.

COMING NEXT: Apocalypse Weekend





VIDEOS
IntroViddlerBlip.tv
Monday (Pick Up Check, Cash Check, Get Milk)ViddlerBlip.tv
Tuesday, Part 1 (Get Signatures, Get Gary's Autograph)ViddlerBlip.tv
Tuesday, Part 2 (Confess Sins, Return Book)ViddlerBlip.tv
Wednesday, Part 1 (Vote, Piss On Dad)ViddlerBlip.tv
Wednesday, Part 2 (Collect Laundry, Get Christmas Tree)ViddlerBlip.tv
Thursday, Part 1 (Get Steaks, Pay Ticket)ViddlerBlip.tv
Thursday, Part 2(Get Napalm, Get Krotchy)ViddlerBlip.tv
Friday, Part 1 (Gear Up, Collect Package)ViddlerBlip.tv
Friday, Part 2 (Get Alternator, Go To Clinic)ViddlerBlip.tv
Friday, Part 3 (The Compound, Finale)ViddlerBlip.tv

BONUS VIDEOS
BONUS!!! (Cash Paycheck Without Killing People) ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (Get Gary's Autograph Without Violence)ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (The Road To Tora Bora from the Share The Pain Edition)ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (Tora Bora from Share The Pain)ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (WMD Mayhem and suicide)ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (Where Is Paradise, AZ?)ViddlerBlip.tv




VIDEOS
Episode 1 (Hospital, Part 1)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 2 (Hospital, Part 2)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 3 (Takeout)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 4 (I Promise This Won't Hurt)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 5 (Gearing Up For The Next One)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 6 (Get Back The Gold Master) feat. Emissary666ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 7 (The Mansion and Elephant Preserve)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 8 (Terrorist Training Camp, Part 1)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 9 (Terrorist Training Camp, Part 2)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 10 (Military Base, Part 1)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 11 (Military Base, Part 2)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 12 (Military Base, Part 3)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 13 (Deliver The Payload)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 14 (The Dog Pound)ViddlerBlip.tv
Episode 15 (Escape From Paradise Finale)ViddlerBlip.tv

BONUS VIDEOS
BONUS!!! (Welcome To The Slaughterhouse) ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (The Many Deaths of Tehzim)ViddlerBlip.tv
BONUS!!! (The Outer Limits of Apocalypse Weekend)ViddlerBlip.tv


EXTRA CREDIT:

THE MAP
Here I've put up a map to track unmarked load zones. I'll update it as we go along. This is the final map. I found 26 zones but there may be some I missed. The world may never know...



Click here for full image



PS: Feel free to submit fan art/hate art to the thread. I'll stick it in the OP. Also if you think you might want to join me in a commentary let me know. This is my first LP so all help is welcome.

MORE BONUS STUFF!
A look at the original game: Youtube (Thanks to Thompson for the link)
A hard to reach place in Apocalypse Weekend: Youtube (Thanks to Emissary666 for the video)
Another platform puzzle with Emissary666: Youtube


FAN ART

cofaigh


Click here for the full 1280x800 image.


Lithuanian Dad

Myself


Click here for the full image.
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