Postal 2 Review (Silenzeio)
Postal 2 is, just on the face of it, a wild departure from the first game. What was an isometric shooter following the descent into madness through the Postal Dude, 2 throws it all aside to create a first person story following the days of the week with various chores the Dude has to accomplish before having to head home and begin a new day.
Players return to the town of Paradise from the first game, but given the events of both and how they fit together is up for speculation. From Monday to Friday, your list of tasks can be resolved with or without bloodshed. Want to cash in your paycheck and wait in line to be served? By all means. Tired of waiting and just want to mow down the crowd and rob the vault? Sure! This game is only as violent as the player chooses . You can complete the game bouncing around and not killing anyone, you even get achievements for it. Or you could kick open every door and gun everyone down like it's the original Postal. It's all up to how you the player want to undertake the task or the day.
Now for the more... Violent minded of us, Postal 2 has a wide arsenal of weapons to choose from. The list of melee weapons alone is a scroll and a half if you collect them all in a save, though you'll only find real use out of three. For guns, you're also spoiled for choice with pistols, shotguns, an assault rifle, smg, sniper rifle and other powerful killing tools. Why not spice up your spree by firing off your nuke launcher? Everything is left to the player in terms of chaos.
Those weapons will be put to extreme use though, as every passing day you'll encounter a new group of NPCs in one particular chore who will become hostile to you if they see you around town. That is, unless you're playing on the higher difficulties of the game where everyone will try to kill you anyway.
Rick Hunter brings the Postal Dude to life with 2. In the first game you would have the odd quip when shooting, killing or executing but in 2, the Dude has full dialogue with his chores and days on top of any rampage lines. This is the game that catapaulted Hunter to being cherished among the fanbase.
Included with the game as a launch option is the multiplayer. This adds many vs modes with various maps. However it is marked as (Unsupported) so take using it with a grain of salt. Apocolypse Weekend is also included, adding Saturday and Sunday to make a full week. This adds on to the ending of Friday and is (in my opinion) weaker than the weekdays. This could be due to the working formula being changed with the weekend being more of a linear and straightforward story compared to the more open and free nature of the base game in doing what you wanted in the way you wanted.
Overall, Postal 2 is an experience. You have to pick this up and play it at some point in your gaming life. Admired by many as the best in the series and with good reason, i wholly recommend this game. A recommendation that comes easier since RWS came back and injected more life into the game given the game's 20th anniversary this year.