Nearly five years after releasing on PC, the remake of the original Postal is finally out on PS4. Find out if it was worth the wait in our Postal Redux review!
This is a double review for Postal Redux. ThaRaven403 and EdEN played the game, and this review presents what they both had to say.
POSTAL Redux is a high definition remake of The Postal Dude’s infamous first foray into the world. Prepare to experience his psychological journey with faithfully recreated high resolution visuals, remastered music, sounds, and dialog, and revamped and modernized gameplay. Crazed gunmen out for your blood await you around every corner. The only choice is clear: Get them before they get you. Fight back with a devastating arsenal as you make your way through a violence-stricken town.
You’ll be playing Postal Redux from an isometric perspective, although some levels offer more of a top-down view. As in other twin-stick shooters, you move around with the left joystick while you aim with the right one. To fire your weapon, you can press the R2 button. The L2 button is for items such as grenades or Molotov cocktails. Apart from your main machine gun with unlimited ammo, all other weapons and items you find will be in short supply until you find some extra ammo. The Circle button allows you to crouch to avoid things like missiles – which are bad – while the Triangle button allows you to perform an execution on your enemies.
In terms of content, the game offers two modes to play. Rampage Mode is a new addition to the game’s HD version, where you’ll play to try and reach the highest score possible. We have Campaign Mode, which allows you to take on the game’s story from way back when. As a bonus, for Campaign Mode, you can pick between the original 17 levels story, the Super Delivery campaign that consists of the six levels that were released as add-ons, or the Excess Postage one, which brings both sets of levels together. There are also four difficulty levels to choose from, with the hardest one being required for one of the trophies. In each level, your goal is simple: eliminate a certain percentage of the hostiles. There are also non-hostile people in the levels, and the choice is yours as to whether you let them live or not.
Even though my memories from playing the original are pretty vague, I found myself slowly reminiscing about what I played about 20 years ago. The developers did a great job of preserving the game’s look and feel while giving it a more than welcomed visual boost. What I think hurts this game, though, is that gameplay, in all genres, has certainly evolved a lot over the last two decades. After a few levels, I found myself mostly doing the exact same thing I did on the previous level without trying anything different and, thus, nothing to keep me hooked. On the other hand, if you’re a fan of the genre or even the original, you’ll definitely find something of interest in the game. I was also a bit disappointed to see that there was no coop mode like on the PC version, as this would’ve definitely made things more interesting.
In terms of trophies, there’s definitely some replay value for this one if you wish to get the Platinum, as there are quite a few challenging trophies in the mix. You’ll have to complete the Excess Postage Campaign on Nightmare difficulty, which will be a considerable challenge. Then there are two opposite trophies where you have to complete the Campaign Mode while leaving no survivors and then a second time with only killing hostiles. And if that wasn’t enough, you’ll have to speedrun through the game’s Original Campaign to complete it within 30 minutes. If you can achieve all that, then the other trophies shouldn’t pose much of a challenge.
Postal Redux has finally landed on PlayStation 4! The game is a revamped take on the 1997 classic – and controversial – PC twin-stick shooter with hand-painted backgrounds from Running With Scissors, releasing on Sony’s console by way of MD Games. You play as someone who’s gone crazy after being evicted from his home. He thinks that the US Air Force is releasing poisonous gas in his town, and since he’s the only one who is not affected by this, he must go and try to save everyone else before it’s too late. Since he’s now “gone postal,” you’ll be playing with a weapon with unlimited that deals low but constant damage to those trying to stop you – or the civilians who get in the cross-fire – picking up more powerful weapons with limited ammo.
You’ll get to play Postal by selecting one of four difficulty settings – Easy, Medium, Hard, and Nightmare – by taking either on the original Campaign, taking on the add-on stages as a six-level set, or go all in and play all 23 levels in one go, as an extended Campaign of sorts. Or you can just go into the score-based Rampage Mode to try and prove that you’re the best there is by getting as high a score as possible, as you give it your all to try and survive for as long as possible to boost your numbers.
As TheRaven403 mentioned, you’ll move your character with the left analog stick, aiming your weapon with the right one – hence the twin-stick nature of the game. You can select between weapons with the L button and can fire it with the R2 button. You can crouch with the Circle button as needed. Items can be selected with the D-Pad, and you can then use said item with the L2 button. If, for some reason, you need to end yourself, you can press and hold down the Square button. On the other hand, if it’s someone else you want to quickly get rid of, you can do this by pressing the Triangle button.
There’s a bunch of special effects that you can add to make the game look a bit different on the screen, with colorful names such as Screen Door into the Mind, 1987, Hercules Approves, Game Dude, 1997, Bordering on Insanity, Heaven, or Hell?, Seeing Spots, How do you Pronounce GIF?, Developer’s Room, Cyber-Warfare, Not in Kansas Anymore, Drugs are Bad, Mkay, and Like That Other Game. There’s also, you know, the option of having no special effect added to how the screen will look.
Postal Redux sets out to give us an HD version of a game that was released over 20 years ago, and it certainly succeeds in doing that. While the game will feel a bit simple to some of you who never got to play it during its original release, it’s a game that might feel dated, but it’s part of the twin-stick genre and a game that has its charm – controversy and all. Postal Redux is out on PS4 with a $9.99 price.
Disclaimer
This Postal Redux review is based on PlayStation 4 copies provided by MD Games.
