Disappointing.
I can absolutely see why this game was considered a cult classic at the time, but looking back at it now, I struggle to find any enjoyment in it. And that's besides the fact that you need fan patches to make it work properly on PC. Yes, it sucks, but I play old games on Steam all the time, it's not something I'm not used to.
The stealth is janky as fuck. I am not expecting Hitman levels of detail, but the AI is clearly very bare-bones and easy to cheese. They never felt that threatening, my strategy often devolved into baiting them into the shadows and just quickly killing them off, and that was on the higher difficulty. Using sound and objects to distract the enemies felt like it had very random levels of effectiveness, and never felt like I could do it consistently. The combat itself is clearly intended to be the last resort, but it feels like it's rather easy to abuse as well, and can be the easier way to get past. The first couple levels I did get past felt incredibly linear and not really remarkable in any way.
Perhaps it's the disturbing feel and context of the game that is intended to be the real hook, but I have not felt even remotely absorbed in it. It all feels too scripted. The basic AI aside, the enemies just sometimes feel like they're explicitly lined up for you to be killed. I know the setting is that you're basically helping a guy record his snuff film, but with how everyone seems to be right in for the show, it almost feels like a silly battle royale or something. Maybe I'd be more accepting if the game wouldn't feel so fucking pleased about how "disturbing" it is. Also, while I'm not advocating vigilante justice, when you're explicitly told most of these people you kill range anywhere between a serial rapist and Hitler, it's a bit hard to find this game that morally questionable. The most messed up thing I did was kill a bunch of pretty much objectively evil dudes, which sums up almost every violent video game I've played.
In summary, I've played Postal 1 before, a game with even more basic gameplay, fewer graphics, even less narrative and detail, and it managed to feel more disturbing and morally questionable than this game, which I see as proof that it's mainly the fundamental design decisions that aged like rotten milk.
I can absolutely see why this game was considered a cult classic at the time, but looking back at it now, I struggle to find any enjoyment in it. And that's besides the fact that you need fan patches to make it work properly on PC. Yes, it sucks, but I play old games on Steam all the time, it's not something I'm not used to.
The stealth is janky as fuck. I am not expecting Hitman levels of detail, but the AI is clearly very bare-bones and easy to cheese. They never felt that threatening, my strategy often devolved into baiting them into the shadows and just quickly killing them off, and that was on the higher difficulty. Using sound and objects to distract the enemies felt like it had very random levels of effectiveness, and never felt like I could do it consistently. The combat itself is clearly intended to be the last resort, but it feels like it's rather easy to abuse as well, and can be the easier way to get past. The first couple levels I did get past felt incredibly linear and not really remarkable in any way.
Perhaps it's the disturbing feel and context of the game that is intended to be the real hook, but I have not felt even remotely absorbed in it. It all feels too scripted. The basic AI aside, the enemies just sometimes feel like they're explicitly lined up for you to be killed. I know the setting is that you're basically helping a guy record his snuff film, but with how everyone seems to be right in for the show, it almost feels like a silly battle royale or something. Maybe I'd be more accepting if the game wouldn't feel so fucking pleased about how "disturbing" it is. Also, while I'm not advocating vigilante justice, when you're explicitly told most of these people you kill range anywhere between a serial rapist and Hitler, it's a bit hard to find this game that morally questionable. The most messed up thing I did was kill a bunch of pretty much objectively evil dudes, which sums up almost every violent video game I've played.
In summary, I've played Postal 1 before, a game with even more basic gameplay, fewer graphics, even less narrative and detail, and it managed to feel more disturbing and morally questionable than this game, which I see as proof that it's mainly the fundamental design decisions that aged like rotten milk.
SkelterHelter
1 year ago
Also from your review it's pretty obvious you only played the very early segment of the games, because the game amps up the difficulty very fast and melee combat will become much more rare and difficult, by the way the Postal comparison makes no sense.