Kingpin starts with you getting spanked by these 2 gorillas
The game has plenty of _very_ violent scenes...
Bad guys are all around!
Kingpin has been waiting on the CD box, for almost two weeks, so yesterday I decided to try the game that is selling with the "MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY" tag. Despite selling with such a warning, Kingpin can be played on a very clean mode, without the bad language and much of the gore, such as bloody footprints from wounded persons... However, I do advise you to try it with all the nasty bits turned on, so you can really experience the software that the programmers intended.
Kingpin is my first XATRIX game, and it does look & plays great! When I first played it, I did the same mistake I did with Aliens versus Predator - I chose the hardest difficulty setting, and that brought me to a very slow progress, cutting much of the possible fun, due to the relatively long time that it takes to reload a game-save. I will restart the game in the normal setting, so I can have time for the many other affairs that need my attention :)
Technically, Kingpin highlights the concept of "body location", by being able to make a distinction on what part of the body the hits happen. This is more interesting and unusual than what you might be understanding right now, since, for example, it will not be wise to shot @ a leg protected by heavy armor... Textures can change on realtime, meaning that the damage will show, as it occurs.
The game's audio is great, very atmospheric and surrounding. Voices are very precisely located and everything else sounds real.
Graphics are high on the detail, and the storyline is much more irresistible than what people normally expect from a first person shooter where your first words are "I am gonna bury those two motherfuckers", if you play with the gore, sure.
Interaction with personages is of extreme importance: for example, if you kill a drunk guy that asks for a whiskey, you will never know a certain safe's combination [36 26 36 Left Right Left], where you will find $100, enough for a pistol, a magnum and faster shots modifications... and without that hardware, it will be absolutely impossible to advance on the game, at least if you are playing on the "Real" difficulty setting.
Unlike games such as Quake 2 and Quake 3, ammo and health do not exist on every alley and corridor... they have a price and they are to be bought on special sales points. You may be lucky to grab some on the free, but there will be occasions where you will have to make use of precious money.
Despite the action taking place in sceneries with high walls, the spaces are wider than with most Quake clones, although not as ample as in UNREAL, for example.
For short, _hell_ of a game. Unless you have all the time on the world and no other game to play, DO NOT play it on the "Real" level... it will cost you hours for every minor progress.