Special thanks goes to Running with Scissors
Postal 4: No Regerts
I can say this is better than Postal III despite never actually got to play that myself. To me, it's more what I would want than in Serious Sam 4's case. Just like Postal 2, the campaign is split up from Monday to Friday. Each day has different tasks with some notable changes. Such as you get a different boss for that day.
You also sleep somewhere else following completing that day. Of course, the apocalypse with you escaping the town happens again. They actually allow the players to select which voice actor gets used for The Postal Dude. Yes we even got the guy who played the character in Postal III as well as the amazing Zack Ward.
Honestly, I felt the set up for each day is a little too inconstant. Especially when you compare it to Postal 2. Speaking of that, I may not gotten as many crashes as Postal 2. I still got to experience some interesting technical issues. Personally I rather discuss the actual tasks you're given in Postal 4. In some of them, the humor is right off just a little lacking.
Sadly, a good amount of them simply came off being more like repetitive as well as being chores than actual fun. Yes the map is bigger but surprisingly lacks interactively. Yeah, the AIs aren't as interesting in their interactions as they were in Postal 2. Also a major problem especially before facing the final boss is they don't hide stuff all over the map.
Luckily you can find a spot you can die but keep most of your stuff. Trust me you may need that extra ammo. Unfortunately a major glitch indirectly makes the final boss too frustrating. Let's say you just died by the last boss. Usually in this game, you'll notice their health bars doesn't regenerate. However it turns out all of a sudden the game creates additional copies of the final boss.
Before I continued how this quickly became an issue. Postal 2 if you were low on anything. Just go out exploring anywhere you'll find stuff. Hell killing people does help speeding up the process too. Another major problem with the same glitch is you're stuck inside the elevator leading up to the final boss. Even if you kept skipping the cut scene, the same boss glitch occurs.
This was bad because if you nearly use up your resources, you had little to no way around the problem. Keep in mind, I bought this on GOG. For me, I had two major options to fix that problem. Either use codes or use an earlier save than my autosaves that are well within the glitch by that point. You will be surprised to know this isn't even the biggest design flaw I found in the game itself.
I had three to four of them at one time damn. Hey Running with Scissors someone really needs to fix that glitch please. You do get a handful of vehicles mostly scooters as well as go karts. I'm not trying to say this game disappointed me, it mostly felt like a sequel to Postal 2. It can't call it a direct reharsh of the same game since it does plenty differently.
What I can say is the weapons are a lot of fun to use. In terms of hitting your targets it's one of the best in the franchise. Postal 4 has a few areas tricky to look around on the map. I'm excluding inside buildings for reference. Postal 4 kinda tone the violence down a little bit but just enough I can still enjoy it. I can even argue ways Postal Redux is better than this.
I think it's time to talk about a major design flaw I found on Wednesday. It relates to Bidet tasks more directly going inside a building to install all of them including a wooden toilet. If you die at any point on that day, the game fails to give you a new set of Bidets. I made sure to look around the area with Mike J too for a while hoping I might've miss something.
There's slightly three options compared to the final boss glitch situation. The third option the one I ended up doing is restart Wednesday making sure I don't die doing both Bidet tasks. After those are done, it no longer matters if I die. Personally I never found such an issue within Postal 2. Even with the linear design of Apocalypse Weekend included.
Another weird not explained change is Mike J himself. In Postal 2, he became this weird cow demon character. But here all of a sudden is a regular human being again? I am very sure I didn't miss something story wise. I did like they chosen to parody DC's Bane character. Friday is broken up into three major sections with everything considered.
Friday starts with the usual tasks set up. After those are done, like Paradise Lost you take on all the leaders. I felt this is way more rememberable there. After defeating the final boss you escape the game ends. I do sorta like the new map but it just isn't Postal 2's Paradise map. I will respect a few major things about the game I gotta mention.
For starters, from 2019 to 2022 the fans step up to help Postal 4's development. This was more of bringing the community in development process was a clever idea. Of course, it came with it's own risks too. I also respected Jon St. John's take on the character, I simply prefer him voicing Duke Nukem. The game is still fun not playing the tasks, something you can't even do in Postal III.
The Rattler is one of my favorite weapons ever. They even went for an awesome Mortal Kombat reference line too. Postal 4 is trying so hard to be the next best Postal game. I do like they added in the ability to teleport around the map. There just wasn't enough of those on the entire map. People are likely going to steal your scooters not long after you get off them.
Unless you pick the right spots that barely has any people around. The game is a little weird in placements among reloading saves. I felt Cultic done this a bit better. I do hope Running with Scissors plans to make an expansion for Postal 4. I felt that would greatly help the game out in ways they can't even imagine.
For what it's worth, I do like parts of how they used The Postal Dude. I didn't even talk about the story well the important part of it at least. The story begins when Dude's RV gets stolen. They so happen to be nearby another town in Arizona named Edensin. Already being low on money, he works rather unpleasant jobs in hope to finding his RV.
A spoiler, he never finds it but ends up with a brand new RV instead. Enemy groups is announced a bit differently too. It's more automatically in Postal 2's case. Each day, a particular group becomes your enemy. When you get too close or they spot you, they will try to kill you. I also felt enemy are perhaps a little too accurate with their shots at times.
Postal 4 is debatable if it counts as a full game experience. Which I can see why despite having the full story. It still has many glitches as well as lacking some of the essential stuff that Postal 2 had. Postal 4 even tone down a little bit from offending people. I will say this is still better than Postal Movie. One cool thing about buying this on GOG is you automatically get the soundtrack free with your purchase.
Honestly, they should've went even crazier than what we gotten here. I'm sure if they had people would've loved this way more. I still see this as a good follow up to Postal 2. It's still way better than Dead Rising 4 which also suffered from lack of interactivity within the environment too. Postal 4 is a game the fans may enjoy but ultimately demands several changes to make it better.
I still got to talk about a particular joke they ended up doing on Tuesday. One of the tasks you have to put a package but the area is filled with chemicals. The game doesn't make it clear if what happens next was real or in the Dude' mind. You get to play as a cat version of the character. They made the tasks some stuff you expect of cats.
Sadly, they actually could've taken a bigger risk making it even funnier. Like Bully Dog task is one of the worst boss fights in the game. The easiest task in the entire game is find Milk in a store. Which is followed by a direct reference to Postal 2. The last one you get laid with a female cat. This angers a lot of male cats, some weird AI here.
I should point out you also get the option to go up walls of several buildings as well as light poles. I will give them credit for maintain the Dude's hair with Beard in cat form. Now stuff like this was actually funny guys. The humor needs work I'm not going to sugar coat things. Personally as someone who loves dark humor with a passion, I wanted more of that myself.
Hell does anyone remember this Postal 2? "You probably thought you weren't going to die today? Surprise!" To me that's actually both funny as well as mess up I love that line. I know Rick Taylor gotten a job but he later reprised the character for this game. To be honest, he doesn't sound like he previously did in the other Postal games.
I gotta ask the game does have a lot of toilet humor. Where was the famous line from Fullmetal Jacket when you really gotta hear it? I am serious I think a lot of thought would laugh hard if they had such a line into the game. To clarify which line I'm referencing have to curse folks. "Five foot nine, I didn't know they stacked shit that high."
VR task is alright, it isn't Saints Row series stuff though. In the Arcade area, they reference several game franchises I loved those jokes. To me, where were jokes like those in the bigger, more notable sections of the game? Early Thursday, you do start in a new section high up in the mountain surrounded by rednecks.
Personally this kept reminding me of Redneck Rampage series and Point Lookout in Fallout 3. I guess people that love FPS can't get enough of rednecks lol. Honestly, a handful of the right changes really would go a long way for this game. It just felt in areas I previously mentioned are the best spots to focus on.
It may not be the best Postal game of 2022. What it does offer is more freedom to do what you want. You also get to explore the map as much as you want. One tip for the prison task, codes for the storage rooms remains the same. But codes to lock down the cell blocks is always different. I will say that's my go to Monday task.
Another notable problem mostly during the apocalypse. Sometimes people will shoot at you. Chances are you are riding in vehicles. You may get shot dead not even see who killed you followed by that distance you had to cross again. Parts of the map is a little lengthy to clarify. You could be almost as one of the boss fights then all of a sudden you get shot dead without warning.
Thankfully, they aren't giving crazy weapons like rocket launchers. I did play the game on Normal. You would think reaching the boss then die, you start not too far from that boss but nope. Thankfully any damage previously done is still present. In a weird way I'm glad because the apocalypse ends up being the best section to stock up on supplies in the entire game.
Sadly you have to do a few tasks on Friday to get such an opportunity. This is a huge reason why so many fans greatly prefers Postal 2. I know I'm criticizing the same issue again. But you just don't know how frustrating Friday at it's core is. In total, you got five bosses yeah that by itself will use up a lot of your resources.
In Paradise Lost's case, getting supplied up was much earlier for a similar set up. There's another bigger difference too. During Friday there those were optional boss fights you could do. Not to mention a more interesting boss line up in comparison. Yes Vince and Mike J are included in both boss line ups. You also could face Gary Coleman, Osama bin Laden yes the famous terrorist and Zack Ward.
They are also more interesting due the more risks offending people their factions were. On one hand you could face some or all those secret bosses or escape it makes no real difference. You don't get a choice in Postal 4's case. I felt they were to find a possible loop hole there maybe more people might enjoy the game more.
I should also point Ward is recently starring in A Christmas Story Christmas with most of the original cast returning. The true sequel to A Christmas Story well forget about A Christmas Story 2!!! Sadly they don't reference the movie but the original movie itself got referenced in Paradise Lost. Even in the Postal Movie, I respected his take on the character.
In comparison to Postal III, this already had huge shoes to fill as the true sequel to Postal 2. Essentially the best game Running with Scissors ever made. I even argue Postal: Brain Damaged is better too. Parts of Postal 4 felt not enough of the actual theme or came off being a little dated or doesn't fit at all. Postal 4 is still a fun game despite it's flaws.
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