Warning: this game features extreme violence and gratuitous language. Excellent! Usually, when a game is hyped up for all the wrong reasons, it turns out to be a pile of pants in the playability sector. Kingpin proves to be an exception to that rule: technically slick, cool gameplay and, of course, lashings of naughty bits. The game is set in a neighbourhood where taking the dog for a walk is dicing with death. Women of ill repute hang around on street corners, aggressive men with ominously thick necks spend time polishing their pet baseball bats - lordy, people even smoke. You start the game as just one more punk, having taken a good beating and aiming to make his way across town to a rendezvous with the boss. With only a piece of lead pipe and no cash, your work is cut out for you.
Kingpin is a Quake-style game is some ways, indeed it uses the Quake 2 engine, but there's more character interaction and puzzle-solving than most games of this type. You can manipulate objects by moving or smashing them, letting you jump onto higher levels, or uncover ventilation passages. Other devices can be used with the action key. An early puzzle in the game sets the tone - using a sound cue you have to wait for guards to be attracted by a radio before sneaking past them.
The character interaction bits are limited but surprisingly cool. While not holding a weapon, most people will exchange a few words with you, and you can be broadly positive or negative in your approach. In mature mode, the language here goes beyond the mere impolite. You can gauge how likely someone is to pull a piece out on you by the colour of the face icon that appears when they respond. Some homeys can give you information, or objects and some will offer to be your heavy, for a price. Taking him into a rumble will increase your firepower, but they are not invulnerable.
The weapons start with humble pistols and the like, but soon your packing enough for a one-man turf war: bazookas and flame throwers: all courtesy of Pawn-O-Matic, outlets everywhere across the city. The graphics are as hard-hitting as the language, with lots of ketchup spurting everywhere, and dying hoods racked with pain.
Special mention must be given to the visual setting for Kingpin, which is a fantastic use of the Quake 2 engine. There's an ever-changing backdrop of warehouses, alleys, dens and bars; grime and seediness around every corner, and it all adds to the tense, squalid atmosphere.
