Kingpin: Life of Crime

Will always have a special place in my heart because it was my first online multiplayer game. Besides that it simply is one of the funniest CTF variation there ever has been. Especially, because your "flag" (money) spawns in the middle of the map in multiple instances and you can rob players of their doe or raid their safe to recover some money. Whta decides the game is the amount of money in the safe. Without teamwork (good defense + offense) you are screwed. Big minus is that there have only been 4 official maps and 99% of the custom ones suck ass.

This game is perhaps most famous for its gratuitous use of the word “f*ck”. Other games have since out-done it, by there are still so many F-Bombs in this game that you'll eventually stop noticing them. Thankfully, there are other things that make this game stand out at the crowded FPS bar. Regarding gameplay, Kingpin prevents itself from being a generic shooter a number of ways. First, it’s HUB-based. Second, there are some light adventure elements, such as NPC interaction, more exploration than your average FPS, thugs that can be hired to follow the player around, the ability to upgrade weapons and basic mission objectives. The setting is also quite unique. It’s some sort of cross between 50s and 90s ganglands, plus some steampunk thrown in. They did a fantastic job creating this atmosphereic world; it truly feels brutal. Oh, the game also has the best flamethrower ever. All these features combined prevent the game from being just another shooter, so if you're in the mood for a late 90s FPS with a few twists, check it out, but there are definitely better games out there. Oh, and a note about the difficulty; many people have said the game is too hard, and that’s true, but only at the start when the player has horrible guns and armour. Hire any muscle you can, search high and low for cash and ammo, save often, and always aim for the head and you should be able to get through the early levels easier. Once you get a gun that can actually shoot straight, the difficulty becomes much more manageable. For an interesting read, check out this article which documents what the game was SUPPOSED to be: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/05/03/retro-kingpin-life-of-crime/

Kingpin's single player campaign suffers from an inverse difficulty curve, confusing game mechanics, and enemies built like tanks that can spot you from a great distance and shoot you with pinpoint accuracy, even at the very beginning. It exhibits rookie mistakes, like requiring you to talk to NPCs multiple times before they cough up an important item. Any attempts at sophistication, like the shopping and weapons modding system, mysteriously vanish in the last third of the game. While Kingpin does give you the ability to hire thugs -- and to the game's credit, they actually kind of work okay -- you can only have two of them at a time, and they make you feel like a babysitter instead of an awesome gangster. They also have a tendency to block tight corridors. It's not surprising to find out that Kingpin was rushed to release. The original concept involved building up a gang and controlling turf. The final product is a Quake II style shooter that is marred with balance and interface issues. I will say that the setting and visuals are pretty interesting, the music's not bad, and the gibberish conversation system can be funny. But that doesn't make up for the single player campaign's shortcomings.

I was too young to play this game when I did... That said I loved every minute of it. The graphics were excellent at the time. Lots of blood and gore, and don't forget the over the top, Tarantino-esque swearing. Frills and chills aside, this game had some of the better single-player level design of it's time. The run down buildings, docks and factories all looked and played very well. Xatrix, I feel, always did an excellent job turning a real-world sort of area and making it work really well in a FPS. For more proof of that check out the Redneck Rampage games when they hit GoG here soon.

This game has always been an old favorite. Tough guy trash talkin, people bashing, blood and violence. What more could you really want with a classic? Kingpin is simply enjoyable. But it isn't as addictive as it could be, the difficulty could leave most annoyed, but to most of the hardcores out there, this game will hold a place in your heart.