Postal 2: Paradise Lost

Postal 2: Paradise Lost is the third expansion to the wildly violent and politically incorrect FPS, Postal 2. Once again featuring “The Postal Dude”, an angry protagonist with a chip on his shoulder and a tendency for violence, Postal 2: Paradise Lost puts players in control of the mayhem. Similar in style to the original Postal 2, players must explore the seedy city of Paradise over five days of the week. Paradise Lost features a variety of new zones, many themed after the apocalyptic fallout from the previous expansion, Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend. Using a zany variety of weapons and guns, players complete errands and eradicate the undesirable population of Paradise as they see fit.

Main Game Features

• Five stages of FPS antics
• Ten new weapons/guns
• Four new zones to explore

Story

Paradise Lost takes picks up shortly after the events of Apocalypse Weekend, with the Postal Dude and his dog Champ narrowly escaping death from a nuclear explosion. After seeing a cat trotting down the road, Champ runs off after it, forcing the Postal Dude to give chase. Not long after, due to his previously sustained head wound, the Postal Dude passes out behind the wheel, crashing and succumbing to a coma. Awakening over a decade later, the Postal Dude treks into the unrecognizable Paradise and begins to look for his dog.

Spread over the course of five days, you'll explore Paradise and the surrounding area, checking off objectives on your short errand list. The story is often tongue-in-cheek and purposefully offensive, packed with off-color jokes and shocking content. If you played the original Postal 2, none of this will come as a surprise and is an expected part of the package. In terms of narrative quality, Postal 2: Paradise Lost isn't exactly high-brow storytelling, but it's entertaining and offbeat in its own unique way.

Gameplay

Paradise Lost offers players an open world to explore, with a few objectives to accomplish each day. It's up to the player whether they want to complete objectives using violence or peace, although combat is usually unavoidable. When you do decide to let some bullets loose, there is an impressive selection of weapons, including pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, and more. Paradise Lost adds in a few wackier weapons, including the Weed Whacker, the Bean Bag Launcher, and even a sword. The Postal Dude's journey to recover Champ and heal up from his coma takes him to a variety of familiar and new locations, including several new areas introduced in Paradise Lost. These include several environmental zones, such as a desert, a forest, and snow-barren fields.

In terms of potentially offensive content, Postal 2: Paradise Lost is packed to the brim. Just like the original game, Paradise Lost pulls no punches in poking fun at sensitive topics and capitalizing on shocking material. As always, players can attack innocent civilians, gruesomely executing NPCs at will.

You can also give characters the finger, urinate on them, and even kick them in the nuts. Objectives are also darkly humorous takes on controversial topics, ranging from terrorism to toilet humor.

Conclusion

Postal 2: Paradise Lost is unabashedly loud, violent, and offensive, which surprisingly works from time to time. As an expansion to an FPS with one of the biggest cult followings around, Paradise Lost adds more of what fans what to see. There's wackier objectives, more ridiculous weapons, and a continuous spew of racy jokes and touchy topics. If you're a longtime fan of Postal 2, Paradise Lost will absolutely please.

Pros

• New weapons are inventive
• Open-ended gameplay provides replayability
• Cleans up the events from Postal III

Cons

• Humor is hit and miss
• Some objectives are annoying to complete