Postal Redux is a slightly peculiar game. On the one hand, it’s a fairly simple shooter that uses an isometric perspective. You enter a level, there are a certain amount of enemies, you need to kill 96% of them. The game couldn’t be more straight forward. At the same time, it’s a game that goes out of it’s way to be edgy. Part of this is because the developers had hitherto been working on children’s games. So for them, Postal 1 was a way of letting off steam.

And to their credit, Postal 1 and it’s remaster Postal Redux are certainly as far away from a kid’s game as one can get. You play as the Postal dude, and you go postal across the course of 22 levels. You can shoot yourself, and indeed are encourage to shoot basically everything that moves. Animals, civilians, the police, clowns, it doesn’t matter. Now you can play through levels without killing civilians, but I think that’s missing the point really.

As for the gameplay itself, it’s fairly enjoyable if a little basic. You do get access to a whole host of different weapons, although ammo tends to be limited. You just run around shooting everything that moves. There are some health kits to pick up, and that’s about it. Every level is largely the same, at least in terms of objectives. The whole thing should only take you around 3 to 4 hours to complete. Once you’ve finished all 22 stages, the game is pretty much over. Fortunately you can play through every stage with a friend, if you know any sick puppies.

Regarding the rest of the game, there isn’t much to say. The soundtrack was extremely minimal even if the soundscape is appropriately mad. The graphics are decent and have certainly been touched up since the original release. The performance was alright considering this is an Unreal Engine 4 game. The plot barely exists. One thing to note is that the camera is a bit all over the place, with the perspective changing between levels. Also the train station level is weirdly hard. Oh and the AI bots (the clowns) are beyond useless.

And that’s about all I have to say about Postal Redux. I know it’s a short review, but this is a short game. It’s nothing special, but it is nice to see a remaster/remake that adds some new content for a relatively niche release. The gun-play is fine, nothing special but the weapon variety does help. I do wish that there was a bit more to do, that the bots were better and that the OST wasn’t so minimal. Otherwise what you see is what you get. Namely a isometric shooter for people who want society to EAT LEAD.

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Quick Note: As the Sega 60th Anniversary Collection bundle of games were released as part of a promotional effort to celebrate Sega’s 60th Anniversary, the store pages for them have been taken down and so they’re seemingly no longer available. Fortunately there’s a work around (Credit to //ennui_72826 on Steam for this fix) that lets you tell Steam to download them anyway and as they’re free they’ll be added to your library forever more. Just open your browser on a computer where your Steam account is signed in (or open the Windows Run tool) and enter the following command(s);

• Armor of Heroes: steam://install/1368440
• Endless Zone: steam://install/1368450
• Golden Axed: steam://install/1368460
• Streets of Kamurocho: steam://install/1368430
• Bonus related game, 8-Bit Bayonetta: steam://install/1368460

Despite being synonymous with the relatively young videogames industry, Sega much like Nintendo has been around for far longer than you might initially expect. While it’s first true home console might have only hit Western shores in the early 1980’s, Sega itself has been around since 1960 and as a way of celebrating it’s longevity the company released a handful of free promotional games back in 2020. Now these games are far too short to deserve a review each, especially as two of them can be beaten in around 15 minutes! Yet after browsing through my Steam library I remembered that I had received these games years ago and thought that I should give them a try, just to see whether they were of any interest. To my surprise they were each cool in their own way, although unfortunately the one I was most excited about (Golden Axed) is also the shortest one here. So without further ado, I’m going to take a quick look at each game and then briefly conclude with which one was The Best

Golden Axed

Starting off with the one I was most excited to try, Golden Axed is a resurrected proof of concept for a Golden Axe remake that was in development around 2010. There was going to be a couple of remakes in this vein for the 7th generation of consoles, but for better or for worse they were all scrapped and the Australian development studio working on them was closed down. As such Golden Axed is an insight into what could have been, albeit a fairly short one as there really isn’t much going on here. You get to play as the Ax Battler class, with a couple of different attacks that you can use to face off against two enemy types across a single level. The combat itself is fairly faithful to the original games, as you only have a jump, light attack and heavy attack but there is still a surprising amount of depth to the move as various combinations of movements and attacks will unleash multiple different moves. As it’s just a proof of concept demo, there are still some rough edges to this combat including how easy it is to abuse the light attack “combo” (just mash it) to prevent enemies from being able to deal any damage. In spite of the limited amount of content however, the game is still able to demonstrate that there was a concerted effort to make the concept of a remaster work. You can see this in the elements of this demo that illustrate what can be done on modern systems, including the appealing visuals and large amount of enemies to fight on-screen. Plus the game has been able to recreate some of the more amusing elements of it’s predecessors, including the ability to knock enemies off the stage or the prospect of a magic system. As a consequence it’s disappointing that this little teaser as all that was ever seen of this game, as with some time and energy it could have been a decent game. Instead the Golden Axe series has languished since this project was cancelled.

Streets of Kamurocho

The next one I dove into was Streets of Kamurocho as I’ve enjoyed the Streets of Rage games in the past and this is essentially a (sanctioned) knock-off. While that might sound like a criticism, I don’t intend to disparage the game as it’s enjoyable if brief and manages to accurately capture most of what makes the Streets of Rage series enjoyable. You’ve got a similar combat system, with light attacks, heavy attacks, weapons you can pick-up, jump attacks and a constant barrage of enemies with different attack patterns. Even the smaller details such as how health items are picked up, the UI, the number of hits that different enemy types take and so on are almost identical to the Streets of Rage games. This includes the handful of boss fights, which are dangerous but manageable and culminate in a final boss fight that can be pretty tricky as he has goons that respawn multiple times. Unfortunately much like Golden Axed the whole thing is very short indeed, and once you’ve cleared the first stage it loops (unlike Golden Axed which goes straight to the title screen). With that being said, both the soundtrack and visuals are well polished and when combined with the combat provide an enjoyable if brief experience. Once you’ve cleared the only stage on offer, you unlock Kasuga alongside Kiryu and Majima but aside from this modest goal there’s nothing to aim for outside of a higher score. There are online leaderboards available for the game, which is a nice touch but that’s about it.

Armor of Heroes

Perhaps the most unusual game of the bunch is Armor of Heroes, an ostensibly Company of Heroes themed game that has absolutely nothing to do with the series or indeed the RTS genre. Instead it’s a top-down arcade-y multiplayer game where you control a tank across a variety of game modes and it’s playable with up to 3 other players, 3 AI bots or a mixture of the two. Despite being arcade-y, there are still some sops to realism as the tanks don’t handle particularly well and so you need to slowly rotate your vehicle instead of just being able to turn on a dime. Similarly, the stages are cluttered with debris some of which can be shot through (or driven through) and some of which is more resistant to your efforts. Shots also have a degree of bullet-drop, although you don’t have to worry about shot angle and armour penetration so there are limits to the realism. The game is therefore in a slightly odd position, as it is far too fast paced and liberal with the simulation elements to be considered anything but an arcade experience. Yet it also has some elements that get in the way, for want of a better way of phrasing it. To make matters even more complex, there are a handful of game modes such as Survival, King of the Hill, Deathmatch and so on but there are three variants for each mode which are essentially Arcade, Hardcore and a somewhat balanced middle. The tweaks are mainly related to fog of war and how shots act, alongside tanks being easier to destroy on the non-Arcade difficulties. This is solely a party game however, as there are no progression systems and no single player content (aside from matches against the AI) to speak of. The game does at least have a handful of maps, so there’s enough new content to support around an hour of playtime before it starts to get stale. With that being said, much like the other games this is more of a novelty due to the relatively lack of content even though it supports local multiplayer.

Endless Zone

Last but certainly not least in this collection is Endless Zone, an attempt to emulate the Fantasy Zone series made by the team behind the Endless Space 4X games. Much like Armor of Heroes, this is a pretty abrupt change of pace on the part of the developers but unlike Armor of Heroes, Endless Zone is close to being an entire game! Of course that is a backhanded compliment at it’s core, but I was still surprised by how much depth was packed into what is a throwaway promotional piece of software. Not only are there multiple stages, each with their bosses, but the game also has a full shop interface just like the Fantasy Zone games which provide access to a multitude of different weapons. The caveat is that these weapons have very limited amounts of ammo, so you’ll need to choose wisely and be prepared to return to slumming it with your default blaster before long. Fortunately the upgrades to your bombs and thrusters are permanent, plus you’re able to buy additional lives which always helps! To access the shop, you’ll need to fly into a beacon which appears roughly once per level after you destroy a certain amount of targets and then you’ll be able to buy what you desire. Be careful though, as weapons and lives get progressively more expensive as you buy them and so extra lives will quickly eat up vast amounts of currency. Now this wouldn’t be an issue, but you die in one hit so this is a surprisingly challenging little experience. To win all you need to do is shoot down 10 floating orbs that are spread out across each of the 4 stages, while dodging or shooting down all of the infinitely respawning enemies and then dealing with the boss. That’s easier said than done however, especially as the enemies spawn more and more frequently as the time you’ve spent on a stage increases. Don’t let the difficulty curve get you down though, as each stage has it’s own unique ambiance, visuals, soundtrack and most importantly enemies to deal with! As such this is a great looking shoot em’ up with plenty of depth and a decent amount of challenge, although once you get used to it (and learn to save your money for the missiles upgrade and the thrusters upgrade) it shouldn’t take you too long. Just don’t be surprised if you see the game over screen a few times more than you’d like!

And the Winner is…

So after playing through all of those games, I had to confess that I had inadvertently left the best for last. While Golden Axed was a cool insight into what could have been and Streets of Kamuchoro was probably the most fun I had, the clear winner here is Endless Zone. Not only was it the longest game of the bunch, but it was also the one with the largest amount of challenge and perhaps most important the most strategy involved. It’s hard to lose Golden Axed or Streets of Kamuchoro before they’re over, and honestly I found that Armor of Heroes was entirely random as despite having the same AI the bots were incredibly unpredictable when it came to the final scores. Endless Zone on the other hand is a concise but challenging game that requires you to learn it’s systems to succeed, as it’ll let you keep blasting away at the infinitely respawning enemies or waste money on the wrong upgrades. But once you have an understanding of how everything works, the game itself isn’t too hard and I was able to clear the last few bosses without any real trouble. Then add a great OST and visual presentation, alongside plenty of enemy patterns to learn and the end result is a great little game. That’s not to say that the others aren’t worth a look as I enjoyed them all to varying degrees, with Armor of Heroes being my least favourite but it was still pleasant enough to mess around with. But with that being said Endless Zone is an actually enjoyable free game that you can still add to your Steam library today, and I would highly recommend you give it a try. Then again, you may as well give the others a try at that point as the whole batch will only take you maybe an hour to see everything once you’ve been able to beat Endless Zone.

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Quick Note: As of the time of writing (July 2023), Killzone: Liberation has multiple levels locked behind a free DLC delivery service that no longer works. While there are workarounds available, you’ll either need to locate the files and manually install them on your modded PSP or download a specific pre-patched .iso to enable them to work on an emulator of your choice. Unfortunately emulators cannot easily install the DLC due to a bespoke patching system that was used, so if you want to play the final chapter you’ll need to do some digging ahead of time. Alternatively honest and law abiding citizens can buy the shiny new remaster

Killzone Liberation is a great and relatively unique game in the sense that it manages to feel like a standard Killzone game without taking place in a first person perspective. Instead of following in the steps of other FPS games on the PSP (such as Syphon Filter), the developers at Guerrilla decided to transport the series into a cover-based isometric shooter with generally positive results. Despite only having one thumbstick to play with, the control is by and large perfectly acceptable and camera issues are rare in spite of the scale of the game which features multiple large (for the system) levels. The game itself is set two months after the original Killzone and has you controlling Templar, a captain in the ISA (Interplanetary Strategic Alliance) and one man army in the fight against the Helghast forces on Vekta who are still attempting to subjugate the planet in spite of their losses in the first game. The use of recurring characters and the way that the game is closely tied in to the rest of the series is somewhat surprising for a portable “spin-off” game, even if the plot is largely nothing special. Essentially the Helghast are the baddies, as denoted by the fact that they have nazi-motiffs, brooding commanders and seemingly innumerable hordes of grunts that scream about how they want you to suffer or that they’re going to slaughter you. As for the ISA, they’re a fairly generic sci-fi America with the standard issue amount of quips and allusions to “liberty” and “freedom”. Fans of the series will probably be aware of how these concepts were toyed around with in the other killzone games and media, but for the purposes of Liberation they are played entirely straight which is honestly fine. I can’t imagine anyone picked this game up for the plot, myself included.

Instead most people picked it up for two reasons, the gameplay and the visuals both of which have been heavily refined and hold up pretty well (hence why it got a re-release on PS4 and PS5 relatively recently). Starting with the visuals, they’re surprising good for a handheld system and are light-years ahead of anything that the DS could put out and frankly are seemingly beyond the reach of even the 3DS which came out years later. Now I did play this on an emulator (as my PSP is in my parent’s attic in a box somewhere), but even allowing for the various upscaling and AA that was applied it is still a visually impressive game that seems more akin to a PS2 release than a PS1 game. While some finer details are lacking, the game is able to successfully present a variety of different enemy types and environments while still packing CGI cutscenes and in-engine cutscenes that look great. There are also plenty of nice touches including splash effects for water, glass shattering during shoot-outs and even the visual cues related to the awareness level of enemies (yellow eye-visors for oblivious, orange for alert but hunting, red for actively pursuing you). Guerrilla have always been capable for showcasing the potential visual fidelity that various PlayStation systems have offered and Killzone: Liberation is no exception to the rule.

And while I’ve personally found Guerrilla games to be a bit hit-or-miss in the past, I can confirm that Killzone: Liberation is my own personal exception to the rule as it is in my opinion the most enjoyable game in the series. The reason for this is simple, the isometric gameplay system they’ve adopted is punishing but at the same time highly engaging. As much as I yelled at this damn game and cursed the various people who worked on it, I can’t deny that everything just clicks in a way that so many other developers can’t match. Templar is a one man army, but he is always on the brink of getting overrun and a snap judgement will either save his bacon or condemn him to an abrupt and inglorious end (and you to the load checkpoint screen). The reason for this is simple, you don’t have that much health or that much ammo at any given time and the various Helghast you’re up against are specialised and quite often gluttons for punishment. Even the simple soldier can be a pain to deal with as you’ll need to use up a whole magazine to deal with them, assuming you land your shots (which is finnicky) and that they aren’t in cover and that you don’t get flanked by their comrades in arms. There are also so many types of enemy to deal with that they’re constantly getting introduced throughout the game, all the way up to the midpoint of the final (non-DLC) chapter. In addition, the game utilises elevation and cover to block shots meaning that you’ll need to make use of the R-shoulder button to duck lest you get shredded by the barrage of enemies. These enemies also make use of cover, alongside strategic use of the elevation and melee attacks which knock you on your ass.

Once you add in the boss fights, the dastardly way that the developers just love to screw with you sometimes (e.g. putting bombs in the hitherto safe supply crates) and the fact that the various enemy types can synchronise in brutal fashion you have a real fight on your hands. To give a brief example, the game often likes to send one or two regular goons your way and a specialised trooper (such as a sniper or shotgunner). If you focus on the specialised trooper you’ll get mown down by the regular goons, if you focus on the goons you’ll get flushed out of cover by the specialist or just killed near instantly depending on their type. Oh and there are turrets, mines, tripwires and the occasional vehicle to deal with as well. The Helghast are legion and you’re still trying to be the “One Man Army” for better or (frequently) for worse.

Well that’s not entirely true, one part of Killzone: Liberation that I wasn’t expecting but is actually mainly well handled is the fact that multiple missions have you teaming up with another character from the first game. There are a handful of one-off “buddies” as the game calls them, such as a general packing a revolver and some scaredy-cat VIPs that don’t do much, but you spend around half the game working with either Rico or Luger who put in serious effort to steal the spotlight from you. Rico has a machine gun and a propensity to call the enemy ASSHOLE (seriously he says it almost every time he starts shooting a new enemy), while Luger has a crossbow that shoots explosive bolts. Just be careful as your buddies are so keen to be the hero that they’ll shoot you if you get in the way of their shots and will take damage if they run in front of you while you’re shooting. They’ll even get pissy and punch you if you hurt them too much, apparently oblivious to the fact that there’s a game over screen tied to your health bar.

Both have their own health pool that can be replenished via a healing syringe, and if they’re reduced to 0hp then you’ll need to give them a shot in the arm within 20 seconds or they’ll die FOREVER. Fortunately these syringes are fairly plentiful and so you don’t really need to worry about their health, unless they get stuck directly in front of a turret or are getting bullied by the shield-toting melee Helghast enemy type. They’re invaluable for splitting the enemies attention and can hold their own, while essentially doubling your damage output. Unfortunately they’re never there when you really need them (like in the boss fights) but I guess the developers wanted you to work for that taste of sweet, sweet, victory. One last thing worth noting is that they can also be bossed around via an orders overlay, which lets you tell them to focus on a specific enemy, use their ability to make the level proceed (C4 for Rico, grappling hook for Luger) or take cover in a specific spot. You rarely have to use this, but it can be very helpful to have them distract certain enemies while you flank for an easy kill.

And those kills can be made even easier if you opt to gather the optional collectibles or attempt the various side-challenges which unlock as you play through the campaign. The collectibles themselves are fairly straight forward, each level has a set amount of cold hard CA$H hidden within it in the form of suitcases that are tucked away in wooden crates. As you gather more of them, your total funding increases and more weapons unlock alongside upgraded versions of those weapons should you earn enough. You don’t need to dip into your funding to unlock new weapons or upgrades as they’re unlocked automatically once you’ve reached a certain level of funding. As for the side-challenges, these provide “points” which are used in a similar manner to unlock various abilities such as the ability to hold extra grenades or to have double the amount of HP. These abilities can be very powerful, although your first playthrough of the campaign will be relatively normal as you can only gain these points through challenges which are tied to clearing each act of the campaign. As such you’ll need to have cleared most of the acts to unlock the most overpowered abilities.

And once you’ve cleared most the acts, the game has a few more bits and pieces of content with which to incentivise you to keep playing. Unfortunately the multiplayer servers and community don’t really exist anymore, so the multiplayer mode isn’t much of a draw these days. To my knowledge you will still be able to take part in local co-op though, presuming you can find someone else with a PSP and a copy of the game. This will let you play through any missions you’ve completed in the single player campaign, but with a buddy. Of course both of these modes are still a factor if you pick up the remaster (which is “free” on PS+ platinum) so those looking for the most content might want to take a look at that version. For everyone else, you’ve got the Jukebox to enjoy the OST, the collectibles mentioned above and uh… that’s about it. Therein lies the flaw with the bold new online age that the 7th console generation (and to a lesser extent the 6th) ushered in, namely that a lot of Killzone: Liberation content just doesn’t work any-more. You can’t get the last act of the game (and there are only 4 in the release version), you can’t play online and co-op is more tricky to utilise. As such those of you who stumble upon the game at a very low price for the original PSP version are advised that you’ll be missing a good chunk of the game. Fortunately what’s there is still great and I’d recommend it to any player looking for a challenge, but be aware that you’re not getting the full experience as the developers had intended.

To conclude, Killzone: Liberation is a fun but challenging Isometric cover-art shooter that is a great showcase of what the PSP is capable of. While many of these capabilities have died out, what remains is a visually impressive and faithful adaption of the Killzone series to a handheld system. There are myriad enemies and features contained within the single player experience, and between the (admittedly short) campaign, the collectibles and the challenge modes there is still a healthy amount of content on offer. No doubt the best experience would be to play the remaster, but to my knowledge you can’t own that on disc so as the industry marches on that version of the game will be lost to time. For those of you who don’t own a PS4/PS5 and a PS+ subscription, I would have no issues recommending the base game with one important caveat – this game can be unforgiving and you should be prepared for a short but brutal campaign.

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