The Postal series is really like no other. The release of Postal: Brain Damaged on the Nintendo Switch makes it a debut for the Postal series on the console. The game is an addition to the ‘boomer shooter’ genre which essentially means it’s an unrealistic shooter where you are given a massive weapons arsenal at your disposal. It is almost impossible to review or discuss this game without mentioning gruesome or explicit adult content. So, readers, you have been warned.
Postal Brain Damaged is pretty much the realisation of what strict anti-gaming parents imagine when they forbid their children from playing violent video games. It is so insanely violent, bloody and gruesome yet in a way that does not take itself seriously at all. You can literally burn people alive by urinating on them (after consuming a hot sauce) as well as a bow that shoots dildo’s rather than arrows. In the first mission, you’re introduced to the game as a character who hates the suburbs and is quested with pretty much murdering everyone, hounds included. It’s not going to be easy though, red necks with pump shot guns as well as floating fat Americans, armed with pizza and burgers, will do their best to stop you. “Not in the Sister!” They cry after you successfully blow their brains out.
The majority of gameplay Postal Brain Damaged offers is through its campaign. You play as the Postal dude who in his sleep commits various atrocities. It deviates from previous open-world instalments of the Postal game series and is played through missions. The Missions themselves feel somewhat open-world and explorable though. There are various secrets to discover, and the Game incentivises you to defeat all enemies rather than speeding past them with an online leaderboard of mission performance. While there is some absolutely hilarious edgy/ironic humour in this story, it’s not really the game’s defining characteristic.
The game also has a survival mode which is a fun spin-off mode. You use all the weapons and perks in the game and fight most of the enemies in the game wave after wave. The usual round-based survival stuff. You get to play on 3 different survival maps which vary in size but are all pretty fun.
Overall, the fast-paced ‘shoot everything you see gameplay’ is admittedly lots of fun and doesn’t feel repetitive. The weapon variety is great. I never got bored of one of the first weapons you unlock which is a double-barrelled shotgun which allows you to hook onto enemies. The soundtrack is excellent and plays upon the general humour of the game, as the peaceful jazzy soundtrack quickly becomes heavy metal when you enter any combat scenario. The gameplay is as funny as it is enjoyable, as long as you have a taste for a gruesome combat style. It may be my inexperience with this style of shooter showing, but I found the game very difficult. I was met with a challenge even on the lowest difficulty. However, that only adds to the satisfying gunplay when you do get one hit kills and survive an onslaught with a single digit in your health bar. The movement is very sensitive. I found even on the lowest sensitivity setting, I was moving in very quick movements. This means for Switch owners, with Joycon drift, the game can be almost unplayable at times. I would personally recommend getting this game on another platform if you can. In total though, that did not detract much from the positive experience I had with this game.
