Finished Postal 2 and about to finish it's expansion, Paradise Lost. I have to say I was weary of it for the longest time. I had not heard great things about it. Granted it was never written off as terrible, usually... but it was not eyed, at least that I can remember, as being great. And I have to say, if the review is not 80% or higher, they are doing it a gross injustice.
The game is violent and sexual for sure, over the top and offensive, with a lot of dark humor. There is no doubt about it. But it is how you play that makes it violent, usually. Yes the game is designed to make the player do those things. People will cuss you out on the street, long wait times on missions that actually force you to stand around for long periods of time or ridiculous circumstances where something's price is just out of your reach... But you don't have to be violent, minus the boss sections and what they call "battleground scenarios". It is the player choosing not to wait or to be treated in such a manner, that they choose to play violently.
I'd also like to point out on a forum about Shenmue, that lends itself to realism in many ways, so to does Postal 2. The town is huge, spanning many sections. Everything one would expect to find in a town can practically be found in the game and then some. Houses, arcades, dry cleaners, bill boards, people and cops roaming around. Basically GTA on foot, with the on foot being more detailed and more realistic than GTA even, if that can be believed, at least up until San Andreas, I have not played anything past that point.
Regardless and I have not been playing that long, but the game is actually patched to have seasons/holidays. At least during the Halloween week, people were actually dressed up in costumes. I am assuming Christmas will have a similar theme. And at least on Paradise Lost, sections where it rains, it seems legit with the look of the rain drops falling and the sound of it hitting the pavement and rooftops and people actually use umbrellas. When it snows the crunch and crispness of your foot falls and the people wearing jackets is pretty cool to behold. And there is a LOT of variety in the NPCs. They wear all sorts of clothing and all sorts of accessories and the towns can be loaded with NPCs, to the brim. It feels like a real city.
Also they have a large assortment of difficulty modes. Normally I would recommend any one playing the game on medium or normal difficulty for the first time until you get a feel for the game. But I will suggest to anyone new to the game and interested in playing it, to play on Hestonworld mode first. The difficulty mode is not that much higher than normal, but what it does is arm everyone (or most everyone) with a weapon, instead of just the bad guys, cops and the occasional by stander, although you wont know till crap hits the fan. Depending on your play style, it may make it harder or easier, as when you go Rambo on everyone, they have the opportunity to and will fight back. But also when you run into those who openly hate you, those civilians on the streets will help to defend you, provided you did not draw your weapon or shoot first. But the major reason to play that difficulty mode, is because at the end you get to turn the seasons/holidays on and off at will. So if you missed the Halloween section (Literally it was not there one day and was the next and felt so awesome, it was amazing! Kind if like Christmas in Shenmue 1, but this is done in real time, not game time. In other words, during Halloween in real life, that mode kicked in.)
Further more I'd like to talk about the NPCs in further detail. They act accordingly to how you treat them. Bump into them rudely on the street and you will get an ear full. Pull a weapon on them and they may try to flee or stay their ground. Others who witness it may also do either of the same. Cops may show up on the scene to arrest you. Depending on how you injure the NPCs, they will also act out as one would expect in real life, even to gruesome detail. You can also use animals to your advantage by befriending them if you choose to...
And not to ruin any spoilers, but the zombies in this game are some of the best I have ever seen in a video game. Pretty great stuff. Also after beating the game on normal difficulty or harder, you get to play the enhanced mode which, I am not truly sure what all occurs, but you do get some much added benefits and can change the way you play dynamically. And that is not even to speak of the great Workshop/mod community that has added waayyy more stuff to an already filled to the brim game.
The only true draw backs I have, minus if you are squeamish or sensitive, which in that case the game is simply not for you, is the load times. The world is huge, the maps spans quite a bit in each area. But there are times on a mission where the shortest route is to come out of one loading zone and immediately coming out of that, turning right and going directly into another loading zone. It's not the biggest thing, but that can be annoying. Also the game can have "too" many weapons. You will have to learn both the weapon number keys and in what order they fall under. You could have several melee weapons, a few pistols, a few rifles, several explosives, several rocket types, a few fire starting/miscellaneous weapons, etc. And the items are in the dozens or so it seems as you try to scroll through it all. Seriously though, if those are your two major complaints, they need not be, as who ever complains about large elaborate maps filled with great content and NPCs and lots of weapons and items to collect and use?
One other negative and it is more me than anything else, was that I keep getting errors. But my laptop is old and not even that great when I first bought it. Every so many reloads and the game shuts down. The last boss on Paradise Lost there is a cut scene that also prevents me from finishing because the game crashes. And that last level and one in Postal 2 lags something fierce for me too, even when I turn down everything in options. But that is a problem I have and maybe a few others. You most likely will not have that hiccup, so do not let that prevent you from experiencing and enjoying the game.
Long story short, this could be the first person shooters of Shenmue. I would recommend anyone not too easily offended to give it a try. You might just fall in love with it. Oh and how can you not like a game where both Gary Coleman and Zack Ward are in it, as themselves? ^^!
The most confusing part I guess was getting details between both the Wii and PS3 versions confused, mostly to do with differences in Santa Destroy as well as some textures here and there.
