Postal III


Postal III is a third-person shooter developed by Trashmasters and Running with Scissors, and published by Akella. It is the third game in the Postal series, being the sequel to Postal 2, telling the story of the Postal Dude's adventures in a town named Catharsis, following directly from the ending of the second game in which the town of Paradise was destroyed by a nuclear bomb. Postal III was released for Microsoft Windows in December 2011. Ports for OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 were announced, but ultimately canceled.

Gameplay

Postal III, like Postal 2 before it, changes up the perspective, this time acting as a third person shooter as opposed to first person. The core of the gameplay is more linear and story-centric as opposed to the open-world of 2, with mission-based objectives pushing the plot along. However, it retains the same sense of wild abandon action and combat the series is noted for.
There are two paths the player can follow depending on actions performed in the game, as well as how far the player's Karma Meter reaches; if the player wantonly attacks and kills innocent people, the Karma Meter will be affected, changing from yellow to red and guaranteeing the player goes down the "bad path," where the plot and missions therein change accordingly and ending with a text statement asking the player if he/she is "disappointed" that they didn't get to "waste them yourself?", telling them instead to take the "good path, which will allow the player to see the story through to its logical conclusion.

Plot

Postal III includes performances by a wide array of minor celebrities, including Ron Jeremy, Jennifer Walcott, and Randy Jones. The game also contains characters depicting Uwe Boll, Sergei Mavrodi, Osama bin Laden and Hugo Chávez.
In Postal III, the Postal Dude emigrates to Paradise's sister town of Catharsis as he previously blew up Paradise with a nuclear bomb. Due to the economic meltdown, the Dude drives into town and becomes stranded because he can not afford a tank of gas. He must then find work and do various odd jobs to escape the town.
Through the course of the game, the player can choose one of two paths: the "bad path", which includes joining in on the schemes of Mayor Chomo and Uncle Dave, or the "good path", which involves the Dude joining the Catharsis Police force. The game plays out in a fairly linear and cinematic way, although the player's actions affect the outcome of the story and the game. Although the "good path" is more difficult to play, it offers more story line and a longer campaign.
There are three endings to the game as Postal Dude must escape from the impending Venezuelan invasion with Hugo Chávez leading the charge.
Regardless of the endings, the Postal Dude's final words are "I regret nothing!"

Release

The game was set to be released through the digital distribution platform Steam on December 20, 2011. However, the main release was delayed; some users were able to obtain the game through the GameFly storefront. The game formally released on December 21.

Reception

Postal III received "generally unfavorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.
GameSpot gave the game 3/10, while Game Informer also lambasted the game, giving it a score of 1/10 and saying that "the people behind Postal III don’t have the writing ability to back up their gutter-dwelling mouths. As it turns out, they also don’t have the design or programming chops to create a stable game. This makes it one of a handful of games to ever receive such a low score."
In a much more positive review, QJ.Net stated that the game was "one of the most interestingly written, psychotic and harmful games I've ever played" and that the developers had "ended up with a product that looks good, sounds great and is often funny", but also complained that their "experience was marred with constant crashing and a lot of graphical glitches" as well as complaining that it often comes off as "mean spirited and lacking in heart".
Original Gamer also gave a positive review, giving the game a rating of 7.5, deciding that it was "a good game, just not a great one". The reviewer praised its storyline, wide variety of weapons, and creativity while deriding the game's "linear level design and gameplay" and complaining that it takes "a while to get to the meat of the title". It also called out the game's use of good and bad paths, which he believed unfairly favoured the good path, deciding that the game "punishes you for being bad, by being bad itself". That said, it concluded by saying that the "fun is there in Postal 3, you just have to work a little for it."

Developer reactions

In an interview about a month after release, Vince Desi, the head of Running with Scissors admitted that the "fan reaction has been mixed" to Postal III, as well as stating that most of the complaints centered around the game having "too many bugs." Desi acknowledged that it was hard for him to hear from "diehard fans and hearing their complaints", but did however emphasize that the developers have been "making updates to fix a lot of the problems" as well as stating that people who purchased the game at that time would have a "much better experience." He also commented that while Running with Scissors had "designed a very big challenging game with great variety", their development team and publisher "were under tremendous pressure and decided to release a different game, something that they could deliver." He did however note that he was "glad that the publisher has tried very hard to make the necessary improvements" following the game's initial reception. He also commented that they were committed to making "sure that gamers get the best value they deserve" from Postal III.
On August 25, 2012 developer and Postal franchise owner Running with Scissors removed Postal III from their store, stating that it was "in the best interest of the Postal Community" and encouraged gamers to instead purchase their earlier titles, stating that they are "a far superior product for a lot less money". This came after revelations that Running with Scissors' relationship with Akella had broken down and that they no longer had any real involvement with the future development of Postal III.
Running with Scissors explained the situation by stating that Postal III "was licensed to a Russian publisher and developer who were supposed to produce the game to our design, with a much bigger team and budget than we had for Postal 2. Even taking those facts into account, it didn't work out very well. It was a mistake and one we will not repeat." They also added that "after the disaster that was Postal III due to the mistake of outsourcing it, we have decided to make the next game 100% in house."
A later interview with Running with Scissors employee Jon Merchant further clarified the situation, with him stating that "Akella had vastly more resources than we had for Postal 2, so it seemed reasonable at the time they could produce a game that was at least equal to the game we made inhouse. Things started out well but I think they got hit pretty hard by the economic problems of 2007-8, and it all started to go downhill from there. The final product was very far removed from our original design, and horribly broken." He also commented that "the game is a broken mess and should not be sold. We stopped selling the game ourselves some time ago when it became apparent that neither us or the community would get the SDK tools. We don't regard it as the third POSTAL game, just a dodgy spin off that should never have happened."
Vince Desi summarized the situation in a 2013 interview by saying that "some deals work, some don’t, PIII failed for many reasons. Worst of all we lost control of the project and that was the beginning of the shitfest. Historically we had a great relationship with Akella, our Russian publisher, and for the record the folks there were good people and I consider them my friends regardless of the fiasco PIII... Again, it is a testimony to POSTAL fans around the world who have shown their loyal support beyond all odds and hurdles that allows us to keep on going."
In Postal 2: Paradise Lost, a 2015 expansion for Postal 2 developed by Running With Scissors, the events of Postal III were retconned as being part of a dream sequence the Postal Dude had; he accidentally crashed his car into a stop sign and entered an 11-year coma from the trauma.