"Despite some of STP's shortcomings you have a fun, funny, brutal, and gritty game experience."
Share the Pain's gameplay is quite unique and stands out from other FPS games in many ways. Beginning with the storyline: there is none really. There is no clear-cut and discernable storyline to this game in hardly any way. What you do is, playing as the lovable bigot the "Postal Dude" as you'll come to know him, is run these sometimes little errands which are written down on a little sticky note for you. The game actually spans a whole week, and each new day after you complete the present day's errands new errands will be assigned to you. Errands range from going and picking up this carton of milk from an Arab-run grocery store to getting an autograph at the mall from Gary Coleman. These errands will often trigger a major shootout in which you must blast your way out whether it be against a bunch of turban-clad terrorists or shotgun-toting rednecks. The cool thing about the errand thing is the uniqueness of their setup as they allow a little freedom for their completion. Like when you go to buy milk you can either pay the measly $5 or try to run without paying for it-- which can be lethal as the store owner attacks you and you get the cops on your tail. You can also take your time completing the errands so that allows you to do some exploring which can net you some items, some cash, and even new weapons. Speaking of weapons, this game boasts the most disturbing and fun collection of toys for you to use to kill people with and often in graphic ways. You have a simple melee attack which is a kick by pressing a button which can be used to break windows, kick corpses, or kick open doors-- just experiment with everything with the kick. Another "attack" would be the ability to urinate anywhere. Press a button to unzip your pants then aim then fire away. Urinating is another experimental "tool" used by the Postal Dude, and in this case peeing is good for putting out fires. Try going into a restroom, stand in front of a mirror, and unzip your pants. You'll find an example of STP's crude humor because there's a big "CENSORED" patch over the exposed area. Early in the game you will find a simple shovel, which can be used to jab or slice which can result in a very bloody decapitation. From this point the earlier weapons are standard to FPS games like the pistol, the shotgun, and the assult rifle. After that things get very, very interesting-- like with the gasoline container with matches as the secondary fire. Using the gas can is extremely fun to use though it can be hazardous to your health if you're not careful. The gas can can be used to create barricades of fire, long lines of fire, and it's especially good for burning corpses. The game is geared toward one's pyromaniacal tendencies as we have the gas can with matches and the extremely dangerous napalm gun. As the best gun in the game the napalm gun shoots canisters of napalm either bouncing around with napalm dripping out or it explodes on impact. Shooting a couple of these little babies will whittle down a crowd very quickly. Aside from fire-based weapons you can use an assortment of other neat weapons as well. Like the dismembered cow head which when thrown, releases toxic fumes that make bystanders vomit blood all over the place. Another weapon worth noting would be the pairs of scissors you can find later in the game which can be thrown like knives or as ninja stars which ricochet against hard surfaces. Weapons in general are just so much fun to use and they seemingly never get old-- especially the napalm gun. The game provides for the player a whole truckload of difficulty settings so it will never be too easy or too hard to play well. On the subject of difficulty in the shootouts you will generally find yourself outgunned and outmanned, but the enemies carry guns 90% of the time so ammo is quite plentious. Health packs are sparse but never too difficult to find if you just do a little digging. Gameplay in general is superb in most aspects, though running the errands can get a little tedious running from one end of town to another with often but usually quick loading times. The errands provide something new to be seen or done, or some new weapon to pick up, or some new radical group to watch out for. I'd have to say the best aspect about Postal 2 Share the Pain is the sheer fun and desire to kill tons of people with the Dude's array of unique weapons. You can even kill yourself by shoving a grenade in your mouth and getting a juicy third person view to see your innards decorate the landscape.
Graphics here are remarkably lush and colorful, though some work could have been done with the character models. The female models usually are designed to appeal to the male's sensual desires as they sometimes have suggestive clothing on or have really large breasts-- or both. Male models are pretty uninspired, though from time to time you'll come across a guy with a "kick me" note on his back. Despite the lack of variation in simple pedestrian models enemy models come pretty varied. Enemies are all a part of some radical support group like "parents against violent video games" or some psycho postal workers. Pedestrians move kinda odd sometimes as they'll walk up to a counter backwards or they do this funky jig down the avenue. There are certainly a few goofs with this element but more often than not it's humorous. Animals have a prevalent presence in the game as you'll see cats, dogs, and elephants which are all rendered well. There are also vehicles in the game which range from simple cars to tanks, and while the cars don't look super good the tanks actually look decent. Vehicles can be destroyed by means of machine gun or napalm gun and when they do it's spectacular; they fly into the air and land hard and they do so according to some nice realism. Gun models are the most impressive in STP. They are sharp, accurate, and when fired they act like real guns like with the kickback. Needless to say visuals like fire and burning corpses are rendered very well. Urinating also seems to be done well whether you decide to pee on the floor or on the ceiling. The funny thing about urinating on the floor is that the longer you do it the larger the greenish puddle will become, and when you pee on the ceiling it will drip. And if you decide to relieve yourself on somebody it may induce them to vomit all over the ground. Blood is another thing done outstandingly obviously because of the game's content. Blood comes in the form of vomit or big smears on the floor after killing someone. There are buckets of blood and guts spilled throughout the week in this game. Overall graphics are done very well regardless of a few dumb NPC goofs. Sound is something I have to rant on for Postal 2 STP. The Postal Dude has this deep and monotone voice he uses the whole game, and it's very funny to say the least. During gunfights he'll make quips like "Ah, so that's what that feels like" or "Now I can't feel my legs." In his monotone voice these quips are just that much funnier. Aside from gun battles the Dude will talk to people, and generally the conversation is filled with four letter words. The most common phrase he'll utter is "You gotta be f'ing kidding me" except he doesn't say "f'ing" like that. Since you can urinate anywhere in the game the Dude will say things like "Ah, now the flowers will grow" which seemingly never gets old. Guns sound very nice whether it be blasting off someone's noggin' or pumping a corpse with lead. Overall STP has great sound, and the Postal Dude's quips are absolutely rich.
Postal 2's value is fairly mediocre, but despite this the game offers plenty of moments to go "postal" on everything around you. You can go postal either during your errands or you can just goof off killing things and setting people on fire. However, even going postal can get a little old after a while, so you can always go back through your errands and beat the game again, unfortunately once you've played it through once a second time won't be as fun or funny. There are even cheat codes that make all civilians Gary Colemans toting assault rifles or turban-clad terrorists toting assault rifles, and a bunch of other things I won't spoil for you. So all in all Postal 2 STP's value is bordering mediocre, but very close to none. The game is, however, worth it totally to blast through once and maybe twice.
The game is difficult to find, but should you find it somewhere then picking it up is recommended because it's so unique. Despite some of STP's shortcomings you have a fun, funny, brutal, and gritty game experience. The sheer novel value of the game really stands out for a shooter because of not only the way you are able to dispose of people, but because of the simple and often funny errands you'll embark on. So while running with scissors may not be a good idea, but playing or picking up Postal 2 Share the Pain is a great idea.