You know, for the big, bad black sheep of the Postal franchise I was expecting something a whole lot worse. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some deluded apologist fan trying to convince you this actually a misunderstood masterpiece or even a good game at all. I'm just saying it's more a cheap and disappointing product than the unplayable affront it's known as. Honestly, I've played a little over half the property's entries and expansions at this point, and PIII is about par for the course in terms of quality. Sorry, not sorry.

Its biggest problem is budgetary, which has continuously proved to be the only thing that has been more detrimental to the series' reputation and reception than even its controversial content. Running with Scissors passed development of the project off to Akella, the company responsible for publishing their works in Russia, and one of its internal studios fittingly named "Trashmasters" because those guys had deeper pockets. Unfortunately, the country's Great Recession from 08-09 completely mucked up any chances for the potential greatness that you can still catch the occasional glimpses of while playing.

The whole package was built around the idea of replayability, featuring a branching storyline that will lead you to one of three possible endings depending on your choices and behavior. The notion of getting to see entirely new content in the form of different missions and cutscenes is as compelling in this format as it is in your typical Western narrative RPG, although it's more than a bit weird that they decided for outcomes to be determined by a morality system. I mean, actively encouraging players to be upstanding, law-abiding citizens in a Postal game?! What sense does that make?

Ultimately however, I didn't find the gameplay enticing enough to pull me back in to go for another ending, and not simply because I feel I happened to pick the most interesting path of the bunch on that first playthrough either. The financial struggles behind the scenes led to this being nothing more than a generic, linear third-person shooter. Admittedly one that can be mindlessly entertaining due to the fun gore and silly guns, even if some weapons don't seem to work (I'm convinced it's impossible to hit anyone with the fire axe). Might have earned a cautious recommendation were it not for the plethora of technical issues. As if long levels without checkpoints weren't enough, I experienced multiple crashes to desktop and repeated instances of critical doors inexplicably failing to open that forced regular mission restarts.

Never knowing if something was about to go wrong and cause me to have to replay possibly lengthy stretches of a stage if I didn't remember to manually save every few minutes is what really kills this for me. I legitimately enjoyed the return to a more grounded style and tone after Apocalypse Weekend, and found the writing fitfully amusing by virtue of how nasty and vulgar they were willing to be with the shock humor in their blatant efforts to offend. It is perhaps worthier of the Postal name than the vast majority give it credit for. Regardless, while I believe the overall general vitriol this has received over the years is a tad overblown, I wouldn't recommend the curious members of the fanbase check it out. The dev's lack of proper funds led to this being too unstable and lackluster to be a fulfilling use of your time. It may be too early to tell for sure as I've still got quite a few releases left to try, but based on all I've gotten to thus far I'm beginning to suspect this property doesn't have anything consequential to offer after its second outing.

5/10

Ratchet gladiator or deadlocked in america
is a tps shooter where ratchet has to fight to the death to earn his freedom in a far away region of the galaxy that wasn't expanded upon.

The sidekicks aren't a real replacement for clank, but I didn't absolutely hate them. Ratchet other allies don't get used much, they are just there. The other heroes that get mentioned in this game are only used for skins and it's disappointing.

the concept is exciting at first but mid way through it falls flat and just becomes another ratchet saves the day thing and it loses its appeal.

the game has a lot replayability if trying to max out all the weapons, but some weapons are better than others and u can go through the whole game only using them.

The villian is kinda forgettable, Vox is just another soulless business man and has nothing over Dr. nefarious who ironically has a cameo at the end.

the commentary can be really annoying. I think this game would be better without the tropes and edgy aesthetic. The maps and soundtrack are passable but nothing special. the draw distance on one of the maps is really bad but that might be a 1 off example.

it has online multiplayer if you don't mind the tps camera angles.

I just feel like this game is overrated after playing through it 3 times, it doesn't hold up as well as the other games like up your arsenal, going commando, and tools of destruction. It's ok for mindless fun if you just want to shoot things and feel cool while doing it, but since almost every ratchet and clank game includes a gladiator section this isn't a must play.