There's been a lot of hype surrounding the release of Kingpin and since then there have been a few people who have come out and said it's not nearly as good as they thought. No way!! Interplay and Xatrix have taken the Quake 2 engine and done wonders with it. The basic graphics are similar, but there's a lot more detail in Kingpin. It's almost like a cross between the Quake 2 engine and the Half-Life engine.

It's hard to tell exactly when the game is suppose to take place, but it's set in a dingy, run-down area of a city. The developers have done a fanatastic job on the scenery. It really looks like a seedy, unpleasant and generally crappy part of town, complete with winos, deliquents, pimps and hookers.

Unlike Quake 2, not everyone is out to kick your ass. It all depends on how you approach people. If you walk up to someone with your weapon out, they'll attack. If you approach them emty-handed, you can talk to them, although if you start talking about their mother, they'll probably attack you anyway.

The weapons are pretty cool. You start off with just a piece of pipe, but can soon upgrade to crowbar. Initially, it can be quite difficult to win fights, especially when you're bringing a crowbar to a gun fight, but once you've managed to get yourself a pistol (that looks for all the world like a Desert Eagle) things get a bit easier. From there on you can get mods for your pistol (silencer, rapid fire, faster reload and the Magnum conversion which gives more stopping power) all of which can be bought at the local Pawn-O-Matic (your friendly arms 'n ammo supplier). Then it starts to get good. Your next weapons up are the shotgun and then the tommy gun, both of which are very useful right through the game. After that come the HMG (3 bullets will take an enemy down), the grenade launcher (don't get too close to the explosions), the rocket launcher (not as potent as the HL or Q2 one, but still very cute) and finally the flame thrower, which looks great, but becomes a bit irritating after you've set fire to yourself 2 or 3 times.

The language in the game might be considered a bit harsh by the prudes and other cretins who have nothing better to do except bitch about things that don't concern them, but it suits the game perfectly. It's hard to imagine a pimp going up to you and saying "Excuse me, my good man. Would you mind not looking at this young lady?". Let's face it, "Yo, don't be lookin' at ma bitch!" is much more realistic. Come to think of it, that's about the nicest thing anyone has to say to you during the game.