During the early days of 3D accelerated PC games, Interplay’s Kingpin was a pretty big deal, usually found alongside the likes of Quake II, Carmageddon 2, and Half-Life on store shelves. There was something beautiful about big box PC retail releases, wasn’t there?
Over the years, however, the crime-ridden PC exclusive seems to have been forgotten. Perhaps the fact that it was never brought over to consoles has something to do with that.
For the unfamiliar, Kingpin dates back to 1999 and takes the form of a gory, profanity-filled, first-person adventure with light innovations. Cash can be used to purchase new items and recruit gang members, while conversions with NPCs can either result in gaining new information or end in a ruckus depending on the responses given.
Enemies were ‘blessed’ with deformable skin too, showing area-specific damage, while making headshots all the more impactful. Cool in 1999.
Kingpin: Reloaded – due December 5th on PC via 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks – isn’t just a simple 4K remaster. It’s an enhanced version with new quest and conversation systems. The original and improved visuals can be switched between at any time as well.
Never mind a white Christmas – after a mere scuffle, the streets in Kingpin run red. Red is at least a festive colour, we suppose. The trailer can be found below: