39,327
edits
Postal (video game series): Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (cleanup categories) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 1:
{{work}}
{{quote|"''[[I Regret Nothing
Before Uwe Boll brought us the [[So Bad It's Good|magnificent masterpiece]] ''[[So Bad It's Good|Postal]]'', there was the notoriously tasteless ''Postal 2''. And before ''that''? 1997's ''Postal'', developed by Running With Scissors. It's arguably one of the most unsettling PC games ever created, and one that attracted a good dose of attention from the [[Moral Guardians]]. You play as "The Postal Dude", who believes himself the [[Only Sane Man]], and goes on a bloody rampage, shooting it out with cops and soldiers—and inevitably inflicting ''a lot'' of collateral damage along the way.
Line 6:
The 2003 sequel ''Postal 2'', doesn't play itself ''nearly'' as seriously. The Postal Dude is now married and lives in a trailer park, and the game covers what has to be the weirdest week of his life, as every day the simplest errands become life-or-death battles. (Cashing his paycheck? Robbers invade the bank and he gets caught in the crossfire. Returning a library book? Anti-book protesters ''[[Book-Burning|set the library on fire]] with him in it.'') There is an expansion pack (''Apocalypse Weekend'') with its own campaign that covers Saturday and Sunday of The Postal Dude's weirdest week, with new weapons and characters. A popular [[Game Mod]], [[Ascended Fanfic|included in later releases of the game]], titled ''A Week in Paradise'' backports Apocalypse Weekend's enhancements and additional weapons to the base game, as well as merging the two campaigns and adding some extra content for good measure.
The games are not only controversial, but have also been panned by critics, mostly by reviewers who were offended by the game's content, such as Robert Coffey of ''Computer Gaming World'' who wrote that "''until someone boxes up syphilis and tries to sell it at retail, Postal 2 is the worst product ever foisted upon consumers''", a quote that has since been [[No Such Thing
''Postal III'', which is built on the [[Valve Software|Source engine]], is co-developed by Running With Scissors, TrashMasters Studios, and Russian developer/publisher Akella. It was announced in 2006, and was finally set to be released worldwide via digital distribution on the [[Steam]] store Christmas week on December 20, 2011. As per possible mandate by Akella, three retail versions were released in Russia on November 23, 2011. Hard copies and Steam CD Keys are available for purchase on the Running With Scissors online store. It should be noted that the PC version was released unrated due to Akella not wanting to pay for an ESRB rating. The game had to wait until February 17, 2012, to get a rating, and until then, you couldn't actually buy it on Steam. Console versions for both the Xbox 360 and [[
{{tropelist}}
Line 22:
* [[Fat Bastard|Fat Bitch]]: The Dude's wife, at least in the movie. In both it and the second game, she's simply known as "The Dude's Bitch".
* [[Genre Shift]]: Not for the games, but for the developer. Prior to Postal, these people made such games as Tom & Jerry and Bobby's World for the SNES, amongst other titles largely aimed at children. They also made the well-known Spy VS Spy game. Why'd they shift over? They basically got tired of making licensed games and wanted to do their own stuff.
* [[Going Postal]]: [[Exactly What It Says
* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: The Postal Dude, when killing terrorists and zombies. The Dude can actually embrace the "Heroic" part in Postal III, where he can become a cop and use non-lethal force to take down bad guys.
* [[Molotov Cocktail]]: Available in every game to date.
Line 47:
== Postal 2 ==
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: {{spoiler|It's actually a lead-up to a hidden Taliban base containing nukes.}}
* [[A Date
* [[Armor Is Useless]]: Subverted with the US Army soldiers late in ''Apocalypse Weekend'': they can take more bullets than normal NPCs, and their helmets even protect them from the [[Your Head Asplode|usual result of a sledgehammer to the face]]. [[Double Subverted|The other new melee weapons cut right through them with no problem, though.]]
** Played totally straight for the player; the difference between having armor or not before entering a gunfight is typically only about five extra HP at the end of it.
Line 76:
* [[Grenade Hot Potato]]: It's possible to take out grenade-throwing enemies by kicking their grenades back at them.
* [[Hate Plague]]: {{spoiler|1=Afflicts the whole town of Paradise after you complete all of your tasks on Friday. At least the NPCs are often too busy killing each other to bother with killing you.}}
* [[Hitbox Dissonance]]: Gary Coleman. Especially obvious when the AI [[Boom! Headshot!|always goes for the head]] and you see puffs of blood appearing ABOVE Gary's head when he gets into a shootout. Likely done for balance reasons, lest Gary end up like ''[[
** This also leads to strange things if you play ''A Week in Paradise'' and attempt to kill Gary when he shows up; if you do so with a bladed weapon and behead him, his ragdoll stretches out to normal size.
* [[Hitler Ate Sugar]]: As per parody, some book protesters hold signs stating "[[Gratuitous German|ACHTUNG!]] HITLER WROTE A BOOK!"
Line 82:
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: [[Good Bad Bugs|Probably not intentional]], but it's entirely possible to see a book protester on Tuesday attempting to get a book signed by Gary Coleman.
** This is the source of humor from a lot of the hate groups: protesters who are against violent video games holding signs stating "KILL VIOLENT GAMERS" and can later be found playing arcade games in the mall, a condemned house with graffiti sprayed by an otherwise-unseen "Parents Against Graffiti" group, and others.
* [[It's the Only Way
* [[I'll Kill You!]]: Often uttered by hostile NPCs when you get too close.
* [[Katanas Are Just Better]]: In the AWP mod, they're good for dismembering people with a quick slash and also assassinating people in public with an [[Secondary Fire|alt-fire]] [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works|throw]] right after unsheathing it, [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now|unless they survive being impaled by a hurled katana.]] Police officers and soldiers are also strangely resistant to them.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Postal Dude, again. At the end of ''Apocalypse Weekend'' {{spoiler|he nukes an entire city killing an unknown amount of people, and he gets away free, despite taking out about half of the US Army in the process. He even gets to [[Pet the Dog|save his dog]], too.}}
** In a comic posted on the official site at one point detailing the immediate aftermath, the government officially blamed Al Qaeda for the nuke. Not that it was a huge stretch, since Paradise was literally ''infested'' with Al Qaeda members by this point.
* [[Kick the Dog]]: Postal Dude does this as soon as he exits his trailer first thing Monday morning. Literally. Though considering Champ's actions right before the fact (see [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9NlDT4PRNQ#t=3m10s here]) and [[Your Mileage May Vary|depending on how you perceive it]], this may fall somewhere between [[Kick the Dog]] and [[Kick the Son of
* [[Kill It
** You can pour trails of gasoline on the floor and light it with a match when some poor sap walks near.
** There's the napalm launcher weapon, which either fires impact-detonating napalm bombs or fires [[Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball]] napalm bombs that spill fuel that catches fire soon after all over the place!
Line 137:
* [[Difficult but Awesome]]: This installment's [[Obvious Beta|rather loose physics]] has made using [[Machete Mayhem|the Machete's]] [[Precision-Guided Boomerang|alt-fire throw]] much more difficult, though it still kills enemies damn quick.
* [[Emergency Weapon]]: The kick returns. There aren't any doors you need to kick open, but it'll knock over most human foes, setting them up for any number of nasty finishing attacks.
* [[Everything's Worse
* [[Fan Disservice]]: The Dude's first job in the game is working as a cleaner in a sex shop ran by Mayor Raul Chomo (played by Ron Jeremy), 'nuff said.
** Said Mayor also has a Malaysian slave boy... which ends up being a 40-year-old slave ''man''. In a gimp suit. That's assless. And has nipple tassels. And a Gary Coleman mask on the back of his head.
Line 146:
* [[Joke Weapon]]: [[Urine Trouble|Piss again.]]
* [[Karma Meter]]: The game has one, with a "Good" side and a "Bad" side. The "Good" side has the Dude joining the Catharsis Police Force. The "Bad" side has the Dude staying the immoral asshole he has always been and working along side his Uncle Dave and Mayor Chomo. Good karma is maintained by carefully observing your objectives, using non-lethal force when necessary, and not rampaging against innocent bystanders. Bad karma is gained by ignoring your secondary objectives and massacring the residents of Catharsis. In a weird twist, only Good karma can be lost while Bad karma can be both gained and lost.
* [[Kill It
* [[Loads and Loads of Loading]]: Get used to looking at Uwe Boll [[Flipping the Bird|flipping you off.]]
* [[Multiple Endings]]
| |||