Kingpin :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Kingpin, one of my favorites

2007-01-23
This is a great first person shooter, one of the classics. Although it's obviously dated in terms of graphics and performance, its still fun to play. Some of the objects are tough to find. It took a long time to get the battery for the motorcycle. Once you get into the game, it moves right along. It does get tedious waitng for the next segment to come up as you enter a long hallway or door, but you can tolerate it. Its a very satisfying game to play when you are in a bad mood at the end of a tough day.

The sewers will run red with the blood of my enemies

2006-11-29
Way back in 1999, long before the days of Grand Theft Auto, Kingpin assumed the mantle of the most controversial game out there, raising the ire of censor-trigger-happy panty-waists everywhere with its combination of graphic violence and even more graphic language. Kingpin is basically the Andrew Dice Clay of computer games, lacing every line of character dialogue with profanity. News flash to all the haters there: inner-city thugs on the make tend to use strong language. It's called realism, people. Do we really want to hear mafia dons saying things like "I say, old chap, whatever are you doing with that gun in your hand?" or "Dear me, I do believe I shall have to exact a modicum of revenge on that brash young man who helped himself to some of my cash holdings"? Uh, no. That would not be a good thing. And it's not as if the makers of the game, Xatrix Entertainment and Interplay, were sneaking this game into Santa's bag for little Johnny. It's got a great big red sticker on the front that says "Parental Advisory: Contains Graphic Language and Violence." Kids could never buy this game on their own. Going even further, the makers included the option of installing the game without all of the explicit language.

What about the game itself? Well, it's a darn good first-person shooter built on the Quake 2 engine. It does require a 3-D graphics accelerator, but that pretty much comes standard with any decent PC built in the last several years. In terms of player control and perspective, it is quite similar to that of Quake 2, which should be second nature to virtually every gamer out there. Yes, you'll see more than a fair share of warehouse settings, but you're looking at 34 individual levels in single-player mode, each of which is quite atmospheric in a film nour-ish kind of way. I do have to turn my brightness up to about 80% in order to see everything in the darker environments, but you're really looking at a fairly elaborate arena to exercise your thirst for virtual blood here. As for the violence, much of the shock value has disappeared since the game was released, but it's always cool to blow some schmuck's head clean off - and you have a decent variety of weapons with which to wreak your havoc: pistol, shotgun, Tommy gun, grenade launcher, flamethrower, etc. - all of your typical weapons.

As you start the game, you're basically a worthless thug with a chip on your shoulder, having just been beaten up by some of the Kingpin's henchmen. Naturally, you vow revenge on the bloke who made the mistake of leaving you alive and able to come after him. It takes time, patience, some puzzle-solving ability, and a lot of ammunition to work your way up to his high rise building and leave him laying in a pool of his own blood, but you don't mind because you get to do tons of damage along the way. It isn't all about killing people, though, as some of the NPCs can provide you with helpful information and others will back you up if you have the cash to buy their brawn and bullets. Being the thug that you are, you have a pretty limited vocabulary, but you do at least get to choose between friendly and decidedly unfriendly approaches to each character you talk to. Now, if you're like me, you always want to shoot first and ask questions later, so it can be hard to temporarily holster your weapon - but, there's no rule that says you can't ice your informants after they've told you what you want to know.

I never tried the online multi-player component of Kingpin, so I can't tell you anything about that. One thing I can tell you, though, is that this game installs and plays flawlessly on Windows XP, unlike most games released in 1999. Having just played the entire game again recently, I think I actually had more fun with it now than I did when it was first released.

Gives new meaning to the term "Ghetto-Blaster"

2006-06-17
#@!$%*! ^&*&$#%!

That's the censored version.

Its the most vile 1st person game I've ever played. Not in terms of violence, just in the language. That in itself, makes this game a total riot to play.

Where else can you use cuss-words in practically every sentence in a game?

Well, there's that, the interaction with characters, various weapons and upgrades and the "buying" of "muscle for hire".

On the downside, the graphics are blocky and ugly and there is no MANUAL SAVING!!! That is the biggest upset of all.

The other issue is that this game is RIDICULOUSLY HARD! You shoot your enemies in the face five times and they won't go down! It gets to the point of sheer frustration.

There's the fun sound fx and music from Cypress Hill that give it an extra boost of pulp fiction.

You'll have a f***in' great muth*****n' time you ***holes! ;-)

Addendum: After much aggravating gameplay I stopped playing this and unistalled it. It's just ridiculously hard in any setting and annoying.

Subtract 1 "fun" star from my original review.

Help

2003-11-25
Can anyone tell me if this game works on Windows/XP. E-mail at: Atan5@netscape.net.

Fun

2003-06-03
OK, i bought this game thinking that it would be dumb, and after i played it for a while it became, a lot of fun, so yes i do recommend this game!!!!!!!!

Awesome Game - Even in 2003

2003-04-03
Despite the immense amount of attention directed toward violence in media and games, computer game developers continue to push the proverbial envelope, particularly in the first-person shooter genre, where each game seems more violent than the last. The latest envelope pusher is Kingpin: Life of Crime, a "gang simulation" created by Interplay and Xatrix Entertainment, developers of the infamous Redneck Rampage action game.

Players assume the role of the appropriately named Thug, a relative lowlife in the large crime world that comprises the Kingpin universe. Similar to other games in the shooter genre, the player views the world from a first-person perspective and carries a diverse arsenal of weaponry: pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers, and a visually impressive flamethrower. Game play consistently retains the player's interest, despite Kingpin's rather bland environments (yet another warehouse?) and dialogue that consists mostly of profanity. Levels include objectives that aren't always "kill everything at first sight." In fact, often you need to befriend rather than destroy; offer money (collected from corpses) to other gang members and they'll assist in combat. Pawn shops scattered around the levels offer another twist to the genre by allowing players to buy whatever weapons they want, limited only by the depth of their wallets.

Once you've completed Kingpin's single-player game, you can hop online and compete against other human players in death-match and Bag Man (similar to capture the flag, but you capture the money instead) games; however, Kingpin's multiplayer network code isn't as smooth as the latest first-person action games. --Doug Radcliffe

Pros:

Interesting "gang-oriented" missions not normally found in the genre
Effective gangland atmosphere
Diverse selection of weaponry with nice sound and visual effects

Cons:

Too much reliance on profanity
Sluggish multiplayer without the latest patch

GOD ITS SO GOOD

2003-03-27
YO its the best damn game i have ever played its really good n all i need now are just a few people to find n play online with any1 outhere wiling to play?

Whatcha expet? Faggeddaboutit...

2002-07-29
1. Profanity: If you don't like profane language, don't buy this game. Also don't go into any inner city ghetto, don't join the US Navy or more important the marine corps where they actually insert profanity inside other words. guarran-...-tee it.
2. Bleeding: Enemies don't bleed per se but when they run away having been shot they leave blood trails to follow.
3. Gangs: In the single player you can only hire 2 guys at a time and in one episode once one of two guys in a bar is hired the other won't work for ya. [even if ya got room]
In the multiplayer there is free for all [everyone for they selves] and bagman [2 gangs] and ya don't really hire them they just join ya. safe's can sdtore your loot until another gang rips you off.
4. Maps: Multiplayer version has many arenas available, and even stategies like 'the sniper' up in a high place while your opponents blindly walk below you. [note you have to download lots of maps or design your own (game includes a map design tool)

5. Rats: if you're beaten pretty bad and hiding 1 point of health can hurt more than just healthy exploring a warehouse.
6. Trains: you heard about the train? well there's an episode wher you have to dodge trains - worse than the guys shooting at you. almost as bad as avoiding molten steel pits, and be sure not to drown in the water...but sometime you need to dive in to get stuff.
7. Gullible: You can hire a guy to come with you, lead them away to nowhere and the off them [boy, are they shocked!]. And if you search their corpse, you can get the money you paid to hire them back! [great for gratuitous violence]
8. Postal: you can keep on shooting people [blow their legs off] of course if you shott their corpse all away, anything they might have been carrying is gone - so be careful before going postal.
9.Ladies: The single player version is a man's world and all the women tend to be a ...well, "...". The multiplayer version allows the player to be runt or thug [male] or ... [female] many skins for all are available. i like the cheerleader and homer simpson goon. hey if profanity, nudity, and violence aren't your cup of tea, then don't buy it, don't play it, and don't even think about making a popular movie these days.

my favoite maps [not supplied, but available]:

chinatownbrawl
goldeneye
old desert dog
[forget name off hand but it was a prison]
pirate ship
cemetary and church

many others are available
the only disappointment was when looking over files in the demo, lamont's woman has two phrases she never uses in demo or retail.. "Could you gimme [money] for my hormone shot?" and "Why thank you very much. You so sweet" both in a 'different voice'
I truly wanted to get her to say that. she only talks about lamont and lenny until ya attack lamont, then she just curses you and tries to kill you. also note her to search the dog's carcass.
i suppose a mapping function would have been nice, but in this environment, real men don't use a map. they don't ask for directions either.

Everything about KINGPIN, Good and Bad. 2002-04-07
In Kingpin you start out as a guy just like everybody else, but then you get this "reputation" as this bad [guy], who doesn't take [anything]from anybody and is basically unstoppable. There are alot of good, and BAD things about this game, and this will deffinetly be the review you need to look at because I like the game more than I dislike the game, or vise versa.
The Pros for the game are: The graphics are Great in some aspects (people, explosions, fire, and sometimes surroundings),
also realisticness plays a big part in the game at some points, for instance, the blood, the blowing off of limbs, it's not like those other games where you shoot someone in the face 50 times with a bazooka and bleed a little! The language is also GREAT, most people think that the language is "terrible" or cursing is way overused but if you think that then you shouldn't even have bought a game like this! I mean what do you expect? This is a game, where people almost ALWAYS have a gun. Live in the WORST area of anyplace that I have ever seen and have box's at the best as homes. So I really doubt the people in kingpin are going to care about their language! I also seen someone complain about how long it takes to reload the shotgun, that is bullcrap, it is almost the exact same speed of realoading a real shotgun! Another thing is, the enemys have to reload! Thats right!! When they run out of ammo you can blast them and they can't do anything about it! The lighting is also good in the game! When you shoot a gun liek the tommygun it will definetly light up the room! It's also great to be able to hire people or "thugs", which basically only help you kill people or unlock doors or safes! There asre also diffrent gangs in kingpin! You can spot them by their attire. The Sewer rats, the scorps, the dragons, and the jokers. You later in the game even get a chance to join the Jokers! which all have a joker head tattooed on their arm. The cons of the game are, first of all, like another review said on here. What the Box of kingpin says is a COMPLETE LIE!!!! First of all it says, Recruit a gang of thugs, LOL, NO, you can have up to 2, yes 2!!! thugs at one time, if you try to hire any more then they'll say something along the lines of "sorry, i can't run with ya" or "you gotta make room for me", the box also says about what the thugs do, and it says something about them hanging back to guard your turf, what turf???!!!! You have no area of your own, you rarely ever go back to a spot you've visited before in kinpin! So if you tell them the stay put then you'll never see them again! It Also says, shoot a snitch in the knee caps, there are no snitches, and if you shoot anyone in the kneecaps, your going to catch a cap in the face and lose 60 health! It also says shoot an enemy with a single head shot and watch them bleed! No again, in the later levels of the game it is EXTREMLY hard to kill people you can sometimes go up to an enemy at point blank range and shoot them in the face with a shotgun and they will just shoot you back! Another thing, enemys don't ever acutally bleed! They just have red marks. Another completely moronic thing about this game is that the RATS can hurt you!!! They can set there and bite you and take off 1 point of health each time they bite you! thats just dumb! Another thing about the enemy is they sometime are just stupid, they'll set there and run around in circles until you kill them, even if they have a gun! And that is kingpin, thats a long review but it is basically everything about the game!

Kingpin: Life of Crime 2002-02-20
Kingpin: Life of Crime is a dark fps with a great gameplay set in the real bad world. You play a unnamed guy just called Thug. The game opens with thug badly beaten up and left in an ally by Nick's men, Nick works for the kingpin, Thug vows to get revenge, but he does not have anything besides a small pipe, so he has to kill people for money, he kills people takes their money and weapons, buys more weapons, hires goons, rides on a stolen bike, jumps into a moving train, finally he takes on the kingpin, kills him and he becomes the kingpin. The single player gameplay is a different and great experience, no boss levels, all the villans are humans but their weapons and toughness changes. Besides shooting the baddies you have to talk and get advise from people in night clubs, visit the pawn o matic, hire goons ect. The level design is fantastic, From a dark ally, a steel mill, railroad, bad streets ect. They are very fun and very enjoyable to get through. The level are huge and are in hub layout. The weapons are good, There is a pistol, shotgun, tommygun, grenade launcher, bazzoka and a flame thrower. The flame thrower looks as good as it is in rtcw, This same company did rtcw.

Kingpin is built on the heavily modified quake2 engine. I play it on the default OpenGL video mode and the game runs very smooth. The graphics are fantastic, look great even today. The charecter animation is good but thier flesh moves as if they do not have any skeleton. Sound is very good, weapon sounds and the music is great. The voice acting is averange and almost all the male charecters sound the same. The art direction for each levels is superb, artists who did it should get an award for their contribution, kingpin has the best art direction in a computer game even today. Wow! fantastic environments look real and the atmosphere is superb. Kingpin is a very violent game, you could see arms and limbs comming off, baddies injured and running away will leave a trail of blood. the level of violace and langauge make games like sof look like a kids game, you can reduce them by installing the pg-13 version. There are lots of bad words you will hear the f-word hundred times in the first level itself. The AI is quite good, villans react well in situation. Kingpin is a very good game, If you do not mind games with heavy violance and bad words then you will surely like it. It is one of the realistic and coolest fps i have ever played.