Postal 2

It’s widely accepted that the gameplay of Postal 2 can be accurately described as a “fucking around simulator,” so the crux of my morbid curiosity was whether it could be considered satirical or merely offensive for its own sake. The verdict, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned out to be a little of both. The way the Postal Dude literally medicates himself with fast food, and the way the anti-video game violence protesters violently raid game development studios – that’s some quality satire. On the other hand, making all the rednecks trigger-happy closeted homosexuals and making every Muslim a suicide-bombing Osama bin Laden lookalike isn’t satire; it’s just hackneyed stereotyping. When the game remembers to include some humour in its offensive humour, it can be audaciously enjoyable. For example, having a dedicated urinate button isn’t exactly the pinnacle of comedy, but the fact that you can use it to douse yourself when lit on fire is kind of amazing.

With the question of its comedic intentions resolved, we’re left with the fucking around simulator for a few hours, and like the humour, it can be enjoyable, but it usually isn’t. Interestingly, it is very possible to complete every mundane objective by being a law-abiding citizen, which actually makes it more fun to complete them via gasoline and ricocheting scissors. But that design choice also means that every combat encounter can be overcome by simply walking past any hostiles, which isn’t a bad idea, because the combat itself is stunted and rickety. Even worse, the objectives all have literal commutes between them through nonsensical level design, which can only be spruced up to a limited degree via wanton murder. And of course, the production values are pitiful, from its unpleasant character models to its near-total lack of music.