Postal²: Apocalypse Weekend

The Good
Even though this is an add-on to Postal 2 and it continues directly from where Postal 2 leaves off, it feels like a very different game.

Unlike Postal 2, you're not allowed to freely wander the town of Paradise. There's one small town section where you can explore a little bit, but the freedom is short-lived and soon you're back on the one-way path. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just very different from the parent game.

The Postal Dude is suffering from a head wound he received in the last game and at certain points he will start to hallucinate. You then have to fight grenade tossing Gary Coleman demons. Once the hallucination wears off (usually when you cross a trigger point), everything goes back to normal.

Later in the game, people start turning into zombies. I thought this aspect of the game was very well done. The zombies are fairly creepy looking and except for sudden bursts of speed, they shamble along like classic Romero zombies. In fact, I'd love to see Running With Scissors make an entire game based around the zombie idea.

There's one section of the game where you have to make your way across a bridge. To say more would spoil it, but this was one of the most atmospheric sequences I've played.

You also have a couple new weapons to help you dispatch your enemies. My favorite is of course the machete. You can use it to chop people and zombies to pieces, or you can throw it like a boomerang, watching it slice and dice along the way. As the Postal Dude says "That's fing awesome!"

*The Bad
There wasn't a whole lot I didn't like about this game. Probably my biggest complaint is that it continues the long tradition of including a super-fun level where all your stuff gets taken away and you get locked up. These type levels are annoying enough, but Apocalypse Weekend then pits you against a seemingly never-ending stream of soldiers, all armed with assault rifles. Health items in this level are in VERY short supply and body armor is extremely rare.

Also, right in the middle of the game, it introduces a mission, then cuts to a grainy video of some guy in an office complaining that they don't have the budget for the mission. It then cuts back to the game and the Dude says that it was the most awesome thing he's ever done in his life. I know it's supposed to be funny, but it really wasn't.

The final boss battle seemed quite out of place.

The Bottom Line
If you like games that toss political correctness out the window, or you like zombie themed games, then you'll probably like this one.