Background: Exclusive to VGTimes! Postal authors explain why Postal 3 became “shit on the palms” and who came up with the idea of ”shoving all kinds of things up the ass of cats”Coming out of early access today Post 4: No regrets. This is a continuation of the cult series, in which the Dude has to pee on passers-by again, make mufflers out of cats and force citizens to sign petitions. In 2003 this was fun to do, but how does the game feel now? I passed the novelty and I hasten to share my impressions!
What is Postal 4: No Regerts
There is an ambiguous attitude towards the Postal series in the world. The game was banned in 13 countries, as the authors proudly recalled on the cover. In the United States, a prominent politician called it one of the most dangerous threats to society. Well-known brands still refuse to cooperate with Running with Scissors.
However, in the CIS, gamers surrounded the franchise with love. They enthusiastically ran through Paradise with their pants down, muffled cats, fought with conservationists, and ruthlessly smashed up a gay bar.
And the fans were sad when they were made in Russia Postal 3 turned out to be a terrible trash can, they rejoiced and appreciated a good Postal 2: Paradise Lost, and hoped the fourth part would be good. It’s not just that in our interview, Mike Jaret and Vince Desi said Postal 4 will be the greatest game of all time.
But is it true that the outrageous developers managed to create something suitable? Of course not! No Regerts is terrible at everything: starting with graphics and ending with the gameplay – you just don’t want to berate her.
Instead, the novelty should be treated like a retarded pet that has lived with you for 20 years. He shits on slippers, tears up chairs and screams hysterically at night, and yet you have warm feelings for him. Generally an asshole, but your asshole.
What do you think of the Postal series?
Story
Much time has passed since the Dude’s last adventures, where he finally destroyed Paradise, but the hero hasn’t stopped gouging. He and the dog drove peacefully across the country in a trailer that replaced a house and wheelbarrow, but one day things went downhill even more. Once the Dude went to the toilet and at that moment the trailer was stolen. Now the worthless hero must go to the city of Edensin and try to find his place there.
Unfortunately, whatever the Dude does, everything is bound to go wrong. When he tries to get into jail, a riot immediately ensues. As soon as he looks into a new area, he is kidnapped by mean Mexicans. Did you befriend the mayor? He will force residents to agree to the installation of a bidet in every home. Went sleeping? Fell into the clutches of evil cultists. Such is the routine!
In general, the plot of Postal 4 tells about the usual week of the Dude, who can not even take a step not to get into trouble. The authors decided not to invent global conflict or the main villain – instead, the story remained the same as in Postal 2.
Dude this time is voiced by Jon St. John, the voice of Duke NukemAt the same time, Vince Desi and Mike Jaret regularly use old tricks. Remember how the Dude in the second part forced the residents to sign the petition? How did he work for a game company? Post 4 has it too.
At the same time, although the hero’s motivation has changed, the essence remains the same. It’s just that this time the petitions are supposed to please the mad mayor who is obsessed with toilets. Otherwise, the Dude will have to walk through the streets in the same way, pointing a finger at passers-by and a piece of paper.
But the presentation has gotten even meaner — the authors’ love of toilet humor has only grown over the years. For example, during an interview, the Dude can blow gases into his palm at any time and then start sniffing them. This is probably the mildest example of mischief that Vince and Mike enjoy so much.
There is no Russian language in Postal 4To summarize, the plot of the novelty is primitive and full of clichés typical of the series, and from now on there are even more horrors than in the previous installments. All this will confuse the modern gamer, but the old-timers who once sent a disc with Postal 2 to the disc way back in the day will not frown.
The story is horrible, of course, but this is a game about the Dude – he’s an idiot, what can you take from him. And Vince Daisy and Mike Jaret were responsible for the development – did anyone really expect a whole story from these guys? Drama, twists and turns and respect for the rules of decency should be sought in other games, but certainly not in Postal.
Gameplay
Imagine Postal 2, which moved from Unreal Engine 2 to Unreal Engine 4. Also keep in mind that modders, not experienced professionals, were responsible for the code, design, and other important stuff. This is enough to learn everything you need to know about the new product: it almost completely repeats the cult sequel and even uses similar resources. At the same time, all mechanics are impossibly skewed.
The basic gameplay remains exactly the same. Every day strange quests fall on the Dude, which he has to deal with heroically. Unfortunately, according to tradition, even the simplest commands turn into a bloodbath – as a result, the corridors and streets will constantly overflow with corpses.
An impressive arsenal will help to cope with various madmen. Guns are mostly known from previous games: pistols, shotguns, various machine guns – in general, nothing out of the ordinary.
It’s worth noting just a few new items. For example, the hero finds a special revolver on the first day: if you use it to kill all kinds of villains, a special bowl is filled, reminiscent of Dead Eye from the ingenious Red Dead Redemption 2. Just aim at a crowd of enemies, pull the trigger and the bullets will fly to the head. There is also a funny scythe, which not only makes everyone cool, but also replaces the grappling hook.
Of course, the authors have not forgotten traditional entertainment either. As before, the Dude can take off his pants and pee on passersby, blow his head off with a shovel, or use a cat as a muffler. It’s still fun to do this, but it won’t take long.
Yes, the residents are funny to run away from the hero who has bared his manhood. Yes, the idea of a damper cat will have you smiling for at least another minute. Yes, to show everyone that you meet the middle finger and swear touchingly.
The problem is that gamers have already done this a thousand times. Postal 2 has been wiped out for a long time and Paradise Lost was released not too long ago. If you pee on passers-by for too long and bully cats too often, it is no longer special. For connoisseurs of the series, such perversions have long been commonplace.
It turns out that Postal 4 is a tracing paper from the cult second part, which took all the ideas of the ancestor, but lost its former charm. The sequel struck with indulgence, but gamers’ old tricks are no longer surprising.
At the same time, all mechanics are performed as clumsily as possible. The novelty is unpleasant to shoot, the controls are poor, the distances to the target are usually too great, the NPCs behave like idiots, and the open world is at times unbearably long to load.
In addition, the authors regularly forget to clearly explain what exactly they want from the player. As a result, some quests have to be completed almost randomly. Similar shortcomings in Postal 4 above the roof.
Despite the fact that the gameplay of the fourth part is objectively disgusting, it is impossible to scold him with a serious face. The fact is that, as if they made the game so bad on purpose, the developers didn’t forget to underestimate the community by calling their creation “The Worst Game Ever”.
As a result, Postal 4’s gameplay is so bad that it’s even good. Like Tommy Wiseau’s iconic The Room, there’s not much to praise for the game – but it has a certain inexplicable charm that somehow makes you piss on passers-by and put cats on a trunk, over and over.
Graphics, System Requirements and Sound
Post 4 looks terrible. The level design is insanely primitive. The world is built on the same assets, which are boring from day one. All animations are disgusting. Not to mention the quality of the textures.
It seems that Postal 4 is based on Unreal Engine 4, from which skilled developers are still squeezing excellent graphics. However, Running with Scissors clearly lacked the budget and skilled hands. In general, gamers were not mistaken when they said that “the game looks like shit”.
Optimization was not part of the deal either. According to the official system requirements, Postal 4 should run on a PC with a 2 GB video card, 8 GB RAM and a 2.5 GHz processor. But in reality, the project brings much more powerful configurations to its knees.
For example, I tested the new product on a computer with a GTX 1070, 16 GB RAM and an Intel i7-7700 processor. At the same time, FPS dropped regularly, SSD did not save from long downloads and every attempt to play with the settings turned into dancing with a tambourine.
The sound doesn’t matter either. You can only praise the voice of John St. John, which fits well into the role of the Dude. But the music, the sound of gunfire and everything else can be seriously faulted.
Postal 4 looks bad, plays clumsily, sounds weird, and runs horribly even on adequate configurations. It seems that such a craft should be immediately removed from the hard drive and forgotten forever, but I do not want to do this. Passing for the games Running with scissors is a different perversion: it seems painful, but you keep going. However, if your taste is not so specific, it is better to wait for the release of a retro shooter Post: Brain Damaged, about which we have already shared our impressions.
Are you going to play Postal 4?
Source: VG Times
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.