Kingpin: Life of Crime

Kingpin: Life of Crime is a first-person shooter developed by Xatrix Entertainment (now Gray Matter Interactive) and published by Interplay Entertainment in June 1999.

Set in a quasi-retro time period, Kingpin features a mix of 1930s art deco crossed with modern technology and ideas. Many inventions are conveyed through an art deco style design, like helicopters and monorail networks. The setting is described by the game manual as a "past that never happened".

Kingpin revolves around crime and criminals. The game begins in the most desolate and deprived area of the city, Skidrow, a dystopia where rats and the homeless wander the streets. It is here that the player character has been left, after being beaten up by some thugs under the employ of Nikki Blanco, one of the Kingpin's lieutenants. For some reason not explained within the game, Nikki Blanco wants the player out of his territory for good, and the beating is a warning that should he ever return, he can expect much worse.

Kingpin is a game about revenge. Picking up a piece of lead piping as a makeshift weapon, the player plots against Nikki and the Kingpin himself. The player's rise to prominence, and his lust for revenge will take him through various areas of the city: from chemical plants through to steel mills and train yards, and eventually onto Radio City, home of the Kingpin's headquarters.

The game was influenced by the film Pulp Fiction and featured many lines of dialogue from the movie.

Source: Wikipedia, Kingpin: Life of Crime , available under the CC-BY-SA License.