Postal Redux is a remaster of the original 1997 game simply titled Postal. It has us take control of a psychopath in his mission to cleanse humanity via death. The action is shown from an isometric perspective as we explore multiple locations murdering police, civilians and ostriches. For those that have played the original game the first thing you’ll notice is how the graphics have been redone into an amazing hand drawn style. Almost immediately thereafter you’ll notice that the controls have been modernized and are much easier to use.
Before starting the game, you can choose from a Campaign mode or Rampage mode which features point based scoring. You’ll also have the ability to modify the graphics with many different effects and can change the Postal Guy’s cape into hot pink if you desire. For those familiar with Postal 2, the original is nowhere near as tongue in cheek and feels much darker due to its seriousness. Your goal for each level will be to murder a certain amount people that can fight back such as police officers, skin heads and some dude that looks like Bob the Builder. Killing civilians is completely optional in the none score based Campaign mode though with explosive barrels scattered everywhere the temptation to do so is always there.
Throughout your travels you will find a plethora of weapons to use like a napalm launcher, frag mines and revolver to name a few. Your standard weapon will be a submachine gun that has infinite ammo unlike the other objects in your arsenal. Each of the missions feature a few dozen people but for the most part they will only respond to your presence if shot so being swarmed is a rare thing. This game is extremely easy even on the Normal difficulty, I would highly suggest playing on Hard otherwise there is very little challenge or chance of dying.
Alongside the base campaign you will have the 6 add on missions to play which add nothing new but more locations to cause havoc and do add more humor than the base campaign. Overall there are 23 missions and you’ll be able to blaze through them in a few hours. There is a bare-bones story mostly told through the loading screens but are so painfully edgy that most are hardly worth reading. Curiously the ending has been changed from the original. With all the recent school shootings it’s understandable but in its place is something that you can barely call an ending. There are a few different endings but all are uninteresting.
In Postal your best weapon is neither lead nor explosives, it’s fire. With the slightest graze of fire your enemies will catch ablaze and frantically run around accidentally setting fire to their comrades in a domino like effect. It’s equally dangerous to you however, if one runs into you or are hit with napalm you will be defenseless for several seconds as you thrash around. Health is regained by collecting first aid crates but they are usually very limited. It makes it feel more tactical and encourages slower play. There is also armor scattered around that takes damage instead of your health. Plenty of levels contain hidden loot to find that may be a lifesaver for those that pay attention to their surroundings.
Shooting people has the chance to wound them which will cause them to crawl around in agony trying to escape. It is pretty morbid seeing the streets scattered with wounded people begging for their life. Once wounded they pose no threat to you but if they were a combatant you will have to kill them regardless in order to progress into the next level. You do so by performing an execution, exclusive to whatever weapon you are wielding. All weapons are rather fun to wield and useful minus the grenade. It simply takes far too long to detonate, making it near useless, a problem not found in the original version.
One of the coolest new additions is the ability to play online coop which makes it that much more fun to run around the decently sized levels. Each level completely changes their environment so you’ll be going through carnivals, ghettos, mines and malls in the blink of an eye. It helps to keep the game from getting stale when there is so much variety to the scenery unlike the combat which never adds anything new aside from a few weapons. Ignoring the subject matter of murdering random people this is a rather solid game in its own right. For fans of the original version it’s a no brainer to buy this as it is not just a lazy release. It builds on the original’s formula with amazing new art, better control schemes and the ability to play with friends. For those with no nostalgia towards this title it is an average twin stick shooter and one that may be worth your time if you are fine with the theme.
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