Postal Redux Switch review

Postal Redux

Developed By: Running With Scissors

Published By: MD Games 

Date of Release: October 16, 2020 

Price: $9.99 

 

  In a world where highly offensive and politically incorrect shooters reign supreme, none can quite top the original granddaddy of them all, the original Postal. Released in 1997 by Running With Scissors, the original Postal was a gratuitously chaotic orgy of carnage. Starring a nameless protagonist lovingly referred to as "The Postal Dude", the dark and twisted events of this game sees players carrying out the Postal Dude's particular brand of "justice" on a town he believes to be stricken by a plague of madness.  TL;DR: Shoot shit. Shoot everything that moves. No survivors. Buttsauce.Postal has an incredible aesthetic, provided by it's hand-drawn background graphics, which were a big thing back in the say when games would generally use tiled textures in the backgrounds, which led to the environments feeling samey and boring. that's not the case with Postal, as the environments all have their own lurid charm, mired in an atmospheric ambiance of grit and grunge. Add to that a glorious mix of graphics filters that simulate everything from retro computers to cel-shading and comic books, and you have the makings of a 2D masterpiece. The polygonal characters and items that populate the levels are cleanly rendered, with a nice layer of antialising to hide the jaggies.The sound design is also excellent, with crackling flames, sharp gunshots, and the sounds of panicked citizens fleeing for their lives. Also worth noting is the game's performance, with the Switch version running at a smooth 60fps docked and in handheld. The controls are tight as well, with perfect twin-stick aiming and movement. Personally I think it even manages to top the original keyboard/mouse controls from the PC. The only disappointment IMO is lack of rumble, but perhaps that was just a minor oversight, it could always be patched in at some point in the future. The game works perfectly without it.So when it comes right down to it, Postal Redux is a glorious port to the Nintendo Switch, complete with all it's dangly bits intact. Nothing seems to have been censored at all, and that's damn impressive IMO when you consider how family friendly Nintendo has tried to be in the past. If Postal had been released on a Nintendo system in 1997 one can only imagine how many pairs of political pants would have been shat in over it. Bravo to Running With Scissors for bringing this classic shooter to the Switch. Anyone into classic PC gaming or top down isometric shooter fans should totally grab this when it releases on October 16th.

 Now how about Postal 2?