Post 4 – No Registration, review

You know Sharknado, an unthinkable 2013 movie where cute sharks jump off a trumpet and terrorize the streets of Los Angeles? It was undoubtedly the most striking example of a work “too bad to be beautiful”. Postal 4 fits right into the first part of the famous phrase, but will the usual doses of rudeness and violence be enough to complete the sentence and enter the Olympus of video games?

Reading the comments about the early access version, it seems, we will try to offer a more critical perspective in our review. Postal 4 review: No Records.

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That’s not a typo, you read it right: Postal 4 starts from the wrong place from the title. Shelved the unfortunate bracket of the renegade Postal 3, whose realization was only entrusted to an external team (which was just bad, with an enviable 3 given by our Tommaso), Running with Scissors He started working on the fourth episode three years ago. The skeleton of the game remained similar to Postal 2: The title is divided into five days (Monday to Friday), and in each of them our Postal Buddy will have to try his hand at increasingly epic successes. Leaving the city of Paradise, the scene of previous raids, the dirtiest hero in video game history is taken from his camper while fulfilling his physiological needs with his loyal dog Champ.

Without a dollar, but with a great desire to climb the social ladder, he arrives in the town of Edensin, where he will start with the most modest jobs: maintenance of the sewer system, dog hunters, prison guards. It is clear that any task can be completed by clearing (perhaps paying attention) the traffic jams of the sewers by throwing grenades into the pipes, with the attitude of those who go to the post office, where fights in prison will be suppressed by shooting. so as not to be crushed under the rubble…), fines for regularly parked cars by destroying parking meters. so there is multiple ways to solve tasks, but in most cases you will prefer the faster and more severe. Why waste time catching cats with kibbles when cats can be shoveled and used as a Kalashnikov silencer in spite of themselves?

Weapons and other amenities

In this regard, the arsenal of the game Running with Scissors proves to be among the most creative (and vulgar) designed: In addition to the classic weapons, we will find verses (including the red flare gun) to those of PUBG. , pigeon cages, mop for floor cleaning, spray cans up to the precise Spurt’N’Squirt 9000 whose name needs no explanation. This trivialityThe particularly sexual nature is inherent in the game’s DNA, but they’re probably no longer as devastating as they were at the turn of the millennium with Postal 2, either because they’ve absorbed the shock effect or because of that flash of madness. this had characterized the first two episodes. One of the greatest merits of designers is that they fill the hero’s days with a series of hilarious tasks, such as sabotaging carnival rides or petitioning every Edens to install a bidet in their home. Of course, the most reluctant citizens will be happy to sign with a gun pointed at the temple…

However, the main reason for the success of the series, numerous quotes, from series to movies to video games. On Thursday, for example, Postal Dude has to deliver catnip in the basement of a pet store in a clear allusion to Breaking Bad, but here it is messy and also homage to Throne of Swords, Harry Potter, Demolition Man. it also refers to other games, notably the first id Software titles, Half-Life, Duke Nukem. In short, you will spend most of the exploration phase for the pleasure of finding all the easter eggs, some of which are in strange places, hidden by the developers. The floor design is one of the most interesting aspects of Postal 4, with its locations developing over two floors and containing numerous secret passages.

a disaster everywhere

From a “cultural” point of view and level structure, if the new chapter of the saga proves to be at a good level,Technically a complete disaster. We’re dealing with such a poorly optimized and graphically poor title that any suspicion that a certain insult was artfully laid out is more than legitimate. Postal 4 uses its fourth versionunreal engine, it’s a toolkit that until now should have no secrets, even for less experienced programmers, let alone those that have been on the scene for over two decades. Still, the game is marred by incredible load times: even the login logo just crashes! You will only be able to fly a few tens of meters in your electric wheelchair, after which Postal 4 will pause for about ten seconds to load the next part of the map. To be generous, it’s a smaller open world map than the first Assassin’s Creed 2008 that didn’t have such issues at the time. And that’s despite Corsair’s 32GB of RAM and the ultra-fast SSD (MP600 Pro XT) used in the editorial reference system.

It’s not just bad optimization, on the contrary: It’s just the tip of the iceberg. For example, speaking of physics, you will immediately understand that “hitbox“random: hit a passerby on the waist with a machete-boomerang and you will find him decapitated, throw a grenade at him and he will not jump, sprinkle gasoline on him and the wall next to him will catch fire.

On the other hand, there are many rumors.

Let’s talk a little bit about that, as we love turning a knife into a wound, as did Postal Dude. artificial intelligence. Here we enter the realm of metaphysics: the behavior of the inhabitants of Edensin does not change at any level of difficulty. You can shoot a protester in a parade and the other five around him will remain motionless as if nothing had happened and also some prison rioters who would freeze to await their execution after implying a backlash. To compensate for this, try to fine a parked car and it will subtract 22 in a tenth of a second even if the owner is navigating the neighborhood.

It’s a shame for the graphics, too: In Arizona (the developer’s state) the calendar must have stopped at the turn of the millennium, as the Postal 4 struggles to keep up with the first GeForce-powered games. Sorry to be too strict, but to give an example, the Blood Spear tech demo, tested a few months ago and made by a group of novice high school students, looks like a triple A title by comparison.

It seems that all the effort, dubbing: Originally by Jon St. Played by John, Postal Dude (same as Duke Nukem and Serious Sam) can take on the historical voices of Rick Hunter (Post 2) and even Corey Cruise, who were acclaimed by fans after their initial rejection. He lent his vocal cords for the third part. This is probably a real record.