In Kingpin you start out with nothing but a bruising from the henchmen of the local crime boss. After that it's all about revenge, and surviving the roughest parts of a gritty urban environment that has elements of a historical past, but never quite existed.

As you work your way up you win the respect of those you need to help you, as well as do what it takes to acquire the wealth needed to keep rising through the ranks until you're the top dog. Among other things, cash is useful at the "pawn-o-matic" found in each chapter as a means to purchase weapons and ammunition.

The game is bloody, vulgar and relentlessly violent, and has received criticism over this. When installing, you can opt for a reduced level of violence and swearing, although that seems contrary to the inevitable objectives of the game.


The game features nine deadly weapons ranging from lead pipes and pistols to grenade launchers, bazookas and flamethrowers. Multi-player support is provided for both LAN and Internet and offers customizable pre-game options such as time limits, flag limits (maximum death toll) and a cash limit. Up to 16 players can bully and bludgeon their way through an online game at any given time.

Also featured are soundtrack music by Cypress Hill, clever level layouts, an intuitive and fully customizable gui, "area specific damage" to characters, blood, and a gritty, urban ghetto feel through carefully crafted and performed dialogue, sound effects and the artful use of haze and custom textures to achieve the best possible looks the Quake 2 engine could produce at that time.

Developed by Xatrix Entertainment on the Quake II engine, Kingpin: Life of Crime was published on June 30, 1999 by Interplay.

System requirements: 233MHz Processor, 64Mb RAM, OpenGL 3D Graphics card