Reviewer: Scott "Scoots" Smith
Date: 3/23/1999
Title: Kingpin: A Life of Crime
Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Xatrix

Gameplay

K

inpin is in many ways a typical First Person Shooter, where you fight your way through each level to an "exit" of sorts. I believe we'll continue to see pretty much the same style of gameplay until PC technology reaches the point that an all of a game's levels can be loaded at one time; reaching the exit point of a level will continue to be a landmark event in FPS for a few years yet.

Xatrix has added many features in an effort to enhance the single player aspect of the game, some of them successful. Ryan Feltrin, creator of the Eraser Bot is responsible for coding the AI in Kingpin, which should result in challenging, interesting single-play opponents. The Eraser Bot has been heralded as one of the most advanced bots to play against, and one of the toughest. Kingpin's characters are a little different than the Eraser, though... they approach you when you're near, they'll either run or open fire if you pull your weapon, and they'll even follow you through fairly complex environments. Non-player characters in Kingpin really seem to have a life of their own. As your round a corner you're often likely to find a couple of street denizens having a conversation of some sort,

Interacting with non-player characters in Kingpin is on an entirely new level for Quake-engine games. You're able to take positive, nuetral or negative attitudes, which affect the outcome of your exchange. Approach one of the thugs in the bar with a positive remark, and he'll offer to join up with you for ten bucks. A negative attitude is likely to start a bar-room brawl. This approach to character interaction can give players a sense of freedom, an increased sense of choice "free will" which most FPS's don't have. Although these choices only seem to affect the immediate situation (long-term affects on the story line development are yet to be seen in the full version of the game), they clearly add a new level of immersion.

Kingpin is mature game. The language pretty strong, with plenty of expletives exchanged during melees, although nothing you wouldn't find in a Tarantino flick. The graphics include run-of-the-mill gore, with a few added extras, including the ability to sever your opponent's limbs (if you're a good enough shot!) One of the female models pushes the game even further into the "mature" category, with a see-through mesh top that border on nudity (not that that's a bad thing!), but enough that some parents may not want their younger children playing.

Animated cut-scenes are used, giving you a chance to sit back and really watch the characters, and also develope the story line, setting the stage for the gameplay next round of gameplay.

On the negative side, level load times are long. About as long Sin before the patch. This is going to continue to be an issue as FPS games bring more and more detail into the levels. I'm sure there's some tweaking left to do in the loading (are levels being loaded in some sort of debug mode possibly?), so we'll watch for a solid improvement there. Also, performance seems to be a bit weak compared to other Q2-engine based games. A few scenes with multiple baddies and other scenery/props ran so slow that it fell into the "unplayable" category. There are plenty of detail settings in the display options menu to turn off the extra detail, but I'm one of those people who like to see everything in all it's splendor. Our test system isn't top-of-the-line, but it is current enough that I hope to see some improvement in the final release of the game.

I experienced no crashes or other problems with Kingpin. It's as solid as you'd expect (or hope) the final release of any title to be, and that's something Xatrix can be proud of.

Graphics

E

ven though Kingpin is based on an engine that's well over a year old, several updates have been made to make it current. Model textures are georgeous, and some of the most life-like I've seen, even though the actual design of the character's models is somewhat stylized--most of the NPC's you run against are quite bulked-up, even the women.

Animation is also excellent, with smoother motion in many of the models than most other Quake II engine games. Fog has been added which adds to the gritty feeling of the environment. Many "props" are located throughout the game such as broken bottles, newspapers, 2x4's, cans of paint, etc. I haven't seen so many "detail" items in a game since Trespasser. While these do little for actual gameplay, they enhance the environment a lot. While not terribly consistent, a lot of attention was obviously given to level design. Some areas in the game are among the most detailed I've seen in an FPS, but other areas seem very empty and bland.

Interface

C

ontrols in Kingpin are typical for an FPS. The default configuration binds the standard keys to move about, stafe, shoot, etc. But Kingpin adds a few new commands, including one to holster your weapon, loot corpses, and others for communication. the "Y" key starts uses positive attitudes, the "N" key is neutral, while the "X" key takes a negative approach to any non-player character interaction.

Other interface features, fairly new to the FPS scene, include the pawn shop, where you can buy your supplies with the cool cash you've picked during your travels. The interface, though a little on the slow-to-respond site, is solid, and works well. Reminiscent of Tribes' inventory station, you can scroll through a series of item menus for weapons, health powerups, armor, and more. There's a good selection of "mods" for each weapon, including silencers, auto re-load, and more. Most weapons aren't included in the demo, so forget about purchasing a Tommy gun, "he's sold out!" The pistol and shotgun show enough promise, though, that we can look forward to the remainder of the weapons.

Summary

K

ingpin is a solid entry into the FPS genre, with enough new features and an interesting storyline to make it a popular title. With the well-proven Q2 engine under the hood, the developers were clearly able to focus on things like gameplay and design rather than struggle with debugging a new 3D engine. The game is really fun--the setting is interesting, as is the story line. I found myself playing through the demo several times--there's plenty to explore, even though it's a demo. I look forward to the final release, with multiplayer that should really shine.

Multiplayer was not available in the demo, so watch for a review of that when the title is released.

Review Specs: Intel Pentium II 300Mhz, 192MB RAM, Creative Labs 12MB Voodoo 2 SLI, Creative Labs PCI64.

Scoring:
Graphics Engine: 8.0
Animation/Modelling: 9.5
Performance: 7.3
Audio: 8.9
Story: 9.3
Interface: 9.0
Overall: 8.66

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