Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

POSTAL 4: No Regerts from Running with Scissors

Cadmus

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
4,264
yes
 

schru

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
1,131
Postal 2 had very weak combat-specific sections, but the game otherwise felt like it had a bit more going for it in terms of (crude) style and coherence, and the interactive sandbox aspect was probably also more innovative at the time. This looks a bit amateur and mod-like in comparison, and the quality of some of the visual effects seems inconsistent.

It's nice that the original voice actor is back as an option, though, as I don't think that Jon St. John fits the role at all.
 
Last edited:

Luka-boy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
1,629
Location
Asspain
A 2/10 from IGN means
quality_shit.png
 

V17

Educated
Joined
Feb 24, 2022
Messages
266
Gamespot went even more radical and gave it 1/10: https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/postal-4-no-regerts-review-nothing-but-regrets/1900-6417864/

The biggest significance of GamerGate for me was realizing how worthless most of (american) gaming media is. I never consumed it much, being from a different country, so before GG and various other stupid cultural wars it seemed to be just okay. Then the wannabe journalists collectively decided to show the world how idiotic most of them are for some reason. I'll never forget the gamespot review of GTA5 written by a trans woman who looked and sounded like a man, ranted about how "profoundly misogynistic" the game is for like half of the review and then gave it 10/10.
 

randir14

Augur
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
641
The game has major optimization issues, to the point that RWS admitted they can't fix it and are bringing in an outside team experienced with UE4.
 

schru

Arcane
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
1,131
It does seem like they're no longer really comfortable with the basic theme of the first two games, what with their being named after spree killing incidents. The themes of angst, nihilism, misanthropy, or psychosis aren't there any more, just a ludicrous farce that puts the player inadvertently in hostile situations so as to facilitate ‘going postal’, but also making it rather incidental, with the option to start killing at random just being there on the side at all times like in GTA.

This structure was already established in Postal 2, of course, but it feels like the developers still had some more intention to be edgy at the time. They were indirect about the spree killing theme in the original game too, I suppose, as the player is only required to fight the police and military forces, I think.
 

toughasnails

Guest
That more or less agrees with what I saw in this guy's video


To be generous to them I think they had to walk a very thin line. Be offensive enough to be called as such by the press and achieve some infamy WITHOUT people going for your cancellation or accusing you of some unforgivable -isms. Don't insult the Left or seemingly make right-wing points which would lead to scenario from the first sentence but ALSO don't insult the Right and don't make anything that could be seen as too much of a left leaning critique bc that would turn your audience against you.
Now the talented writer could pull out something that both the Left and the Right leaning player could read as affirming of their position. They seemingly achieved this once here, one and the same bit was praised both in the above video as being "anti-SJW" and by IGN as "making fun of Karens" but that seems to have been an accident and not something these guys could pull off intentionally and consistently.
 

Riskbreaker

Guest
Tonally, this thing brings to mind Bad Day LA and that ain't something you'd want to be compared with, by anyone. And it doesn't look like possible comparisons end there either.

Anyhow, seems like they are still getting a fair number of positive user reviews by folks who mainly want to meme and Own The Libs Journos by leaving a positive review. We'll see how long that positivity lasts as more folks actually spend some time with the game.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
IF that review is true, then it's a shame, but understandable. Remember the upheaval that HATRED got in 2015? Nowadays they would be cancelled or worse as the letter groups are getting bolder every year. A Postal 4 nowadays is tempting fate by default, and trying to play it safe, as it seems to be the case here, doesn't guarantee they'll be left alone by the woke mob anyway.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
900
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I helped put crap in Monomyth
Managed to make it through Monday today. I entirely credit this to Rick Hunter, who singlehandedly elevates this game from "unplayable" to "not fun".

The one and only Postal Dude's voice's presence aside, there's really nothing positive I can say about this. You thought gunplay in P2 sucked? (Personally, I thought it was serviceable) Stay far away! Most of the weapons are recycled from 2, but they managed to make them feel worse. The shovel seems to have a reach of less than 10cm. Same goes for throwing matches. Fire looks way worse and doesn't seem to work anywhere as good as it did in 2 (When I accidentally set the Postal Dude on fire, running into NPCs didn't seem to have any effect on them at all). The world is much larger now, but there is not much interesting going on. The absolute worst so far are the missions: Much like the weapons, a lot of the missions are cookie-cutter rehashes of 2's missions. With one crucial difference: Missions in P2 were always to the point. And if a mission entailed annoying busywork (like standing in a long line), there was always the possibility to circumvent that by, you know, going postal. P4's Monday treats you to a boring-ass prison level that goes on forever and has nothing funny or interesting happening whatsoever. The big joke is that the warden tells you a wrong security code, resulting in a prison-wide riot, because he read the numbers upside down. If you reload the game and enter the "correct" code instead, it will produce the exact same outcome. You're then treated to a sewer mission that has you shovelling shit, changing lightbulbs and - joy of joys! the thing Postal fans were always craving! - a lengthy platforming section. I can remember exactly one platforming section in P2: a very brief bit in the Napalm Factory, which wouldn't take you more than roughly 30 seconds and comes across as a spot-on parody of scripted-to-hell, game-y level design conventions of games like Half-Life. P4's sewer level, on the other hand, goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on... And it's all so they can shoehorn in the obligatory Civvie-reference sewer count joke.

Just a side note, but I think it's worth mentioning, as it's the epitome of laziness: Most of the NPC chatter is recycled from Postal 2. I don't mean they had other voice actors redo the same lines - they straight-up copypasted P2's voice packs into this game. Playing the Early Access version, I figured that they were simply used as placeholders and that they would eventually be replaced with new dialogue. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Maybe the following days will be better, but I doubt it. Even if everything worked as intended (which it doesn't - bugs abound, in one instance a level transition would spawn me outside the level and then the game would do an autosave of me being hopelessly stuck in the netherworld for good measure), this thing would be pretty much unsalvageable. In order to make this fun, they would have to straight-up axe and/or redesign entire missions. In a way, this thing getting torn apart by the gaming journlolists is a badge of honor that the game doesn't merit. It simply sucks.

IF that review is true
If anything, the review understates just how dull the experience actually is. The lolrandom "humor" in this game consists entirely of outdated references, stale memes and pee pee poo poo jokes that wouldn't get a giggle from a third-grader.

My recommendation: If you're a hardcore Postal fan, wait for a deep discount. Maybe by that time they will have fixed some of the more glaring issues (but I have doubts, since the most glaring issue is the gameplay itself - and the mission design in particular). As it is, this is more something for people who enjoy stuff like Goat Simulator.
 
Last edited:

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom