Postal 2
Released April 2003
Developer: Running With Scissors
Publisher: Whiptail InteractiveGraphics/Sound/MusicYou should know by now that anything using the Unreal engine has the potential to be a gorgeous looking game, and Postal 2 is no exception. While the engine isn't quite up to the 'everything is a dynamic, interactive object' state yet, you can break windows, move crates and containers, etc. Most of the 'levels' (sections of town) are done quite well. It's a far cry from the original Postal, which had the gameplay, but not they eye candy.There are like 100+ NPCs floating around town, women, men, cats, dogs. Virtually all of them are well done, with acceptable detail. There's even a mod floating around replacing the girls' panties with, well, something more 'au natural'. I didn't have any meaningful negative feelings concerning how the character models turned out.
Weapon models were great - very well done, and all having very good visual and sound effects. I'd like to use some of these weapons in my regular UT 2003 games, especially the Napalm Launcher, Machine Gun (beats the hell out of the UT 2003 minigun) and the grenades. The Rocket Launcher is also pretty sweet, although the single rocket concept wouldn't play well in UT 2003.Buildings were hit and miss in Postal 2. It's difficult, at best, to do convincing buildings with convincing contents. The store, where you have to go buy milk, is one of the weakest buildings in the game, due to how the contents of the shelves were handled (one big texture per shelf, pattern repeated endlessly). Still, it doesn't take away from the gameplay, and, well, you get the idea. Some of the buildings were quite good, including the Paradise Mall (in general), the Post Office and the church. In general, the interiors of buildings were way too empty.
The music and ambient sounds in Postal 2 really set up the proper 'whacky' envioronment well. There was a lot of attention to detail, with cats purring, dogs growling, lots of 'natural sounds' around industrial sites, outdoors, etc. There was one thing that bothered me, though - while you could clearly hear birds chirping, RWS didn't bother putting any birds in the game! How silly...Machinima (scripted cinematic sequences) were nicely done, and quite good looking. Standing out for me is a sequence in the Napalm factory, where you can see a chain reaction of events that leads to a huge explosion within the plant, extending your stay in that particular facility.