Postal 2
By 1997, violence in video games was common practice. Even so, the nature of Postal’s indiscriminate violence and brutality caught many off guard. Postal is a game in which killing innocent people is encouraged, and the practice of murdering frightened civilians glorified. The pressures of modern life have so often been cited as cause for many tragic shootings, so it’s no wonder then that “going postal” was always going to be a sensitive subject for a video game.
As a concept, Postal was considered highly distasteful, but its top down gameplay meant that the events in it still felt somewhat removed. Postal 2, however, put players in a first person perspective, face to face with the men, women and children that you butcher and decapitate.
The level of realism and immersion was instantly intensified, and Postal 2 suddenly felt far more realistic than its predecessor. Postal 2 is the epitome of mindless and sadistic violence, killing for killing’s sake. It is easily one of the most controversial games of all-time, and, indeed, it remains banned to this day in New Zealand, where it is a crime to own or sell the game, punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.