Half-Life 2 vs Postal 2
Half-Life 2 is an FPS horror game (2004) while Postal 2 is an FPS open-world game from Running with Scissors (2003).
Quick answer: Half-Life 2 rates higher, 9.0 to 7.8 on the GamingPickz Score.
What each one is
Half-Life 2 is filed under FPS and Horror. In contrast, Postal 2 under FPS and Open-World.
Reawakened from stasis in the occupied metropolis of City 17, Gordon Freeman is joined by Alyx Vance as he leads a desperate human resistance. Experience the landmark first-person shooter packed with immersive world-building, boundary-pushing physics, and exhilarating combat.
Live a week in the life of "The POSTAL Dude"; a hapless everyman just trying to check off some chores. Buying milk, returning an overdue library book, getting Gary Coleman's autograph, what could possibly go wrong?
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Michael Shapiro (2007) and Merle Dandridge (2019) provided their voices to the characters of G-Man and Alyx Vance respectively After the alien invasion at the Black Mesa Research Facility , a multidimensional alien empire known as the Combine has conquered Earth. Approximately twenty years after being placed in stasis, Gordon Freeman is inserted into a train bound for City 17 by the G-Man ( Michael Shapiro ). Helped by the undercover Resistance member… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Half-Life 2 received widespread acclaim upon release. On Metacritic , it received an aggregate score of 96 out of 100 for the PC version, based on 81 reviews, while the Xbox version received 90 out of 100 based on 35 reviews. 1UP , GameSpy , The Cincinnati Enquirer , The New York Times and VideoGamer. (Wikipedia)
Plot
In Postal 2 , the player takes on the role of the Postal Dude, a tall and thin red-headed man with a goatee , sunglasses, a black leather trench coat, and a T-shirt with a grey alien's face printed on it. Postal Dude lives in a dilapidated caravan trailer on land behind a house in the small town of Paradise, Arizona, with his wife, who is identified in the credits as "The Bitch". The game's levels are split into days of the week starting Monday and… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Postal 2 received "mixed or average reviews" according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Some of the game's better reviews came from PC Gamer and Game Informer . On the other end of the spectrum, GMR and Computer Gaming World ( CGW ) both gave Postal 2 scores of zero, with CGW deriding Postal 2 as "the worst product ever foisted upon consumers. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Half-Life 2 | Postal 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 9.0/10 | 7.8/10 |
| Steam rating | Overwhelmingly Positive (98%, 278,618) | Overwhelmingly Positive (97%, 137,344) |
| Critic aggregate | 96/100 | 59/100 |
| Price | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| Install size | 6.35 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | verified | verified |
| Released | 2004 | 2003 |
| Developer | — | Running with Scissors |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Half-Life 2 vs Postal 2, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Half-Life 2FPS horror gamePostal 2FPS open-world gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Half-Life 2FPS, Action, Sci-fiPostal 2Violent, Dark Humor, Open WorldThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Half-Life 2 ✓Score 9.0 · 98% on Steam · 96 criticPostal 2Score 7.8 · 97% on Steam · 59 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Half-Life 2278,618 reviews · 1 add-on · 6.35 GBPostal 2137,344 reviews · 2 add-onsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Half-Life 2$9.99Postal 2$9.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Half-Life 2VerifiedPostal 2VerifiedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Half-Life 2 takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueHalf-Life 2 and Postal 2 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Mobile
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Half-Life 2 (GamingPickz Score 9.0)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Half-Life 2 (278,618 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
FPSActionClassicSingleplayerShooterFirst-PersonAdventureMultiplayer
Where they differ
Sci-fiStory RichDystopian AtmosphericZombiesSilent Protagonist
ViolentDark HumorOpen WorldMatureFunnyComedy
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Half-Life 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Postal 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Half-Life 2 | Postal 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | DirectX 8.1 level Graphics Card (requires support for SSE) | 32MB GeForce 2 |
| Minimum CPU | 1.7 Ghz | Pentium 3 1133MHz |
| Minimum RAM | 0.5 GB | 0.1 GB |
| Install size | 6.35 GB | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Half-Life 2 · Postal 2.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 9 accessibility features for Half-Life 2 and 1 for Postal 2. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Half-Life 2 and Postal 2 in scope?
Half-Life 2 has drawn 278,618 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 6.35 GB. Postal 2 has drawn 137,344 Steam reviews and ships 2 add-ons.
Is Half-Life 2 or Postal 2 better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Half-Life 2 rates higher (9.0 to 7.8). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Half-Life 2 or Postal 2?
Half-Life 2 is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $9.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Should I get Half-Life 2 or Postal 2?
Half-Life 2 rates higher, 9.0 to 7.8 on the GamingPickz Score. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.