To start off my review I was thinking of referencing Duke Nukem Forever, a lot, in this initial draft but I found myself leaning more and more towards the lines of commenting on how much the game is not like Mr. Nukem's efforts. First of all, Postal 3's comedy is much darker than Duke's dated misogynist take on the whole stance of women in gaming and at only one point during my playthrough of Postal 3 was I truly offended by a sexist comment the Dude made.

So let's jump into Postal 3 and say that first and foremost it is funnier and darker than Duke Nukem Forever. I know this may only hook one person into playing the game, but hey, this is the second paragraph, I think I can be more convincing than that. The game came out last month and was made by the original developers Running with Scissors with help from Akella. The game is a third person shooter game in the style of Grand Theft Auto but with a lot more attitude, violence and satire.

I want to say to the guys at Running with Scissors that they have really outdone themselves from the previous Postal game and that the game looks fantastic. I do have to wonder and I know it was an Akella afterthought, but why why is there DRM, on Steam no less. I would take this a strike against the game but I do understand the prospects of people using DRM and it was not really RWS who did it. There are debates for and against DRM and I'm strongly in the latter camp. I actually think that it may have been a leftover bit from the official retail copy but still a strike regardless. 

The game starts off with some well-done logos.  An incredibly rude one by Thurstmaster sets some of the tone of the game that it is incredibly raunchy but somewhat censored. Then we open up the game to the Postal Dude himself, lounging, smoking and looking out the menu for the game on an old TV. This is a beautiful introduction to our character. Relaxed, fancy free, without a care or job in the world. The darkened room and drifting smoke just oozes sleaze and bleak from the get-go. I was quite excited to finally jump into the game.  Upon clicking new game I am met with an amusing anecdote about one of the games designers going mad and demanding the head of Justin Bieber. It's kind of funny, but not exactly rib-tickling. Oh and if you haven't guessed, I will be marking this game on humour as well as gameplay, graphics and sound.

I think one of the key points of the Postal series and something that keeps it existing on it's own merits is it's humour. The previous game was a lot more racially vilifying and media stirring than contextual satirical. So does Postal 3 come off as a funny and satirical as David Cross or just another Carlos Mencia of the gaming world?

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