Kingpin — Life of Crime on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Kingpin is a tale of revenge. Take control of a street gang and order your recruits to attack, defend or even do a little safe-cracking to pick up some needed cash. Use that cash to buy nastier weapons and take down your punk enemies in this intense first-person shooter. Being the Kingpin is half attitude and all action.
Kingpin — Life of Crime is a action, fps and classic game
developed by Xatrix Entertainment
and published by Interplay Inc..
Released on August 19th 2009 is available only on Windows
in 2 languages: English and French.
It has received 444 reviews of which 354 were positive and 90 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.5 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Kingpin — Life of Crime into these genres:
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System requirements
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Windows
- OS: Windows
- Processor:233 Mhz
- Memory: 64 MB
- Graphics: OpenGL
- DirectX®: 7
- Hard Drive: 350 MB
- Sound: DirectSound
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Kingpin: The Life of Crime is a first person shooter/”Tarantino Dialogue” simulator developed by Xatrix Entertainment, a studio whose previous work included the first person sci-fi action game series Cyberia alongside the first person shooter series Redneck Rampage and the Quake II expansion pack “Quake II: The Reckoning”. The reputation for their previous games would come out to mixed reception generally, though the Redneck Rampage series (which includes a hunting simulation spin-off and a racing game by another developer) would go on to have a decent amount of a cult following in the many years to come. As for the development of Kingpin, I haven’t really been able to find too much in terms of actual stories other than the obvious with rap group Cypress Hill’s involvement with the game’s sound design and an apparent tie-in with clothing maker Diesel at the time. However the actual story surrounding this game was the post Columbine era, an era which was marked down in infamy due to a violent and tragic school shooting. Outraged at the horrific nature of this senseless tragedy, parents and lawmakers would try to find any and all forms of excuses that could lead to such a thing: curse words, metal music, gangster rap and the topic here being video games. The likes of DOOM, Grand Theft Auto, Postal and more would be listed in various congressional hearings to be sure, as was Kingpin due to its level of violence and consistent use of profanity. Despite numerous calls for cancellation by members of Congress, the game would stand tall, all in spite of stores deciding not to stock it due to the controversy. With this in mind, how did I even hear about this game as a young, impressionable teenager at the time? Kingpin: The Life of Crime was one of those games in my library where I was unsure of where I don’t truly remember where I “learned” about it per se, just that I’ve known about it’s existence since before High School at least. I of course used to watch ScrewAttack Top 10 lists to learn about games though it’s possible that it could’ve been anywhere else. What I do remember about this game was just how electric it felt. A violent and edgy first person shooter where you play as a gangster trying to take over a dieselpunk criminal underworld, quoting Quentin Tarantino (whom I loved as a youth and still have a liking for his movies despite him being an IDF jester now) and soundtracked by the likes of Cypress Hill? What wasn’t to love as a youth and even now as an adult? It looked like a great time and having wanted to play it to fulfill my gaming “gangster” fantasies, I would purchase it on April 25th 2017 in a bundle with Quake II alongside Blood & Bacon before kind of playing it on and off for the next several years due to getting quite frankly stuck in terms of where I was supposed to go. I would eventually finish the game in February of 2021 having streamed it for some buddies, and now it’s one of the games that I just wanna go back through and talk about because I know at some point I’ll pick up the awful remaster because I’m stupid as hell. Still, before I talk about a horrible port, let’s talk about why you should play the original game first! For most of review: https://backloggd.com/u/gamemast15r/review/4254632/ Now it breaks down to the gameplay: how does it hold up compared to other first person shooters? Is there anything that differentiates it from others? Well yes, other than the first person shooting as expected for a game of this type on the old Quake engine, the game portrays itself as more of a “hub” based shooter with NPCs to talk to. You have a main objective for sure, but there are side quests you can do for money, weapons and health and using the aforementioned money to hire bodyguards and modify your weapons/buy ammo. I think this aspect is cool, and while it sucks I can’t hire more than two bodyguards, I do appreciate the idea of hiring goons to help me fight other mooks on the crusty streets as a part of a sort of gang war. You can mainly hire these guys at the local dive bar, though you’re not allowed to shoot anyone inside so expect to holster your guns until you get back out. These guys can carry anything from pipes to machine guns later on and it feels pretty damn good, and I valued currency alone just to get these guys and some good weapon mods, which luckily you can get money through looting dead bodies in case you’re in need of some extra dough. I like the idea of a little hub like this, it makes the game feel more RPG-like even if it’s technically not, and it’s even cooler that some of these guys have different roles (i.e. “safecracker” for example). That being said, I should really get into the actual meat of the gameplay: shooting, A.I. tracking, level design. Starting with the aforementioned A.I. movements, I feel that it’s both good and kind of bad in the sense that everyone can jump around and climb the environments the same way you can, which is rare in a time period where games just wouldn’t let NPCs move around in the same way. Having your goons climb up ladders to follow you around and jump on ledges to keep up with you and it’s genuinely a fascinating feat to witness, especially when I learned that the guy who programmed the A.I. also programmed the “EraserBot” for Quake II? Holy Hell. That being said, there are limits such as when they’re stupid enough to block your way every now and then (resulting in me getting stuck to where I had to shoot/kill them sometimes or reload a previous save in certain areas) or when they don’t come with you to another area due to loading screens unless they’re right next to you which is frustrating. Also the shooting is satisfying in some ways due to the weapon mods and bodyguard action alongside the admittedly great weapon sounds, you can kind of tell that it gets a bit spongey if you don’t keep up with your stuff and they can whittle you down REALLY quickly. On top of that there isn’t a full body armor system as much as there is a limb based armor system for your head, chest and legs, which is cool as a concept when you’re blowing away dude’s limbs but got really annoying quickly from what I remembered? Nothing was as frustrating as the level design, which I had mixed feelings for in a lot of ways. I’m not sure if it was just me or not, but I remember getting lost several times trying to figure out where I was going and what I was supposed to do and would look up Youtube playthroughs to get a sense of any direction at all. That being said though, I do feel like Kingpin is a fun time once you get in the groove of things as shooting bad guys and rummaging through corpses with your hired goons is a feeling that not a lot of games can give you. It’s just a bit janky and spongey, though before I finish this section off I’ll give some advice: stick to the shotgun, Tommy Gun and Heavy Assault Rifle if you can, and avoid the melee weapons and definitely the flamethrower. The Melee Weapons are okay if you have no ammo in anything but it’s still spongey and the flamethrower is hit or miss with it’s frames ironically enough, to the point where I got more burnt than anything. Links: https://web.archive.org/web/20011111115759/http://www.gmistudios.com/Friends.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20020205103557/http://www.gmistudios.com/Story.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingpin:_Life_of_Crime https://tcrf.net/Kingpin:_Life_of_Crime https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kingpin-returning-to-a-life-of-crime/1100-6093647/ https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/KingpinLifeOfCrime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Matter_Studios https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_93Rux9-pvU (Trailer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttL62YRUfvs https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/kingpin-life-of-crime-original-soundtrack-1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN4UqwN3iSw https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301511/ https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/04/16/new-kingpin-coming
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I played Kingpin: Life of Crime back around the year 2000 and I have to say it left quite an impression. The game doesn’t pretend to be polished in all respects, but it has an energy and rough charm that made it fun to dig into. In Kingpin, you take on the role of someone rising up through the criminal underworld. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWdFJCN0aCQ You can recruit members from the streetsand order them to attack or defend, even do safe-cracking in order to get cash. That cash is VERY essential: you use it to upgrade your weapons and gear, enabling you to take on tougher enemies which are otherwise very hard to manage. Eventually your goal is to challenge the Kingpin himself. Along the way you move through gritty urban levels, dealing with rival gangs and making decisions about whom to trust (or eliminate). What I appreciated most is how the game balances action with strategy: it’s not just running and shooting, but deciding when to build strength, when to move forward, and how to manage your gang.
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Kingpin — Life of Crime is a pretty worthwhile experience if you like old school shooters. I found myself really impressed by the AI several times. Towards the end of the game I had two goons get in an elevator by themselves and kill a bunch of guys on the floor above me. On occasion you will have to go back to get them to follow you, but most of the time they do a really good job at keeping up. They even climb ladders and jump across gaps. I really wish your friendly AI would have voice lines, it would give them some much needed character. They are pretty useful if they are equipped with good weapons. I wasn't a massive fan of the street level at the end of the game, I got quite lost on how to progress. The story is pretty non existent, it is really just there to give you an excuse to shoot a bunch of guys. Love how grungy everything looks. The design of the characters are fantastic. Credit to the legendary Viktor Antonov (RIP) for his amazing work. Level design isn't that interesting, but that is probably mostly so that the AI can utilize the space without getting stuck. There is rewarding loot to be found if you explore optional areas. I found the game on normal difficulty pretty brutal towards the end. Enemies are no push over. The game can be pretty frustrating at the start because there is no tutorial. I recommend you look at your keybinds for some help. The steam version for some reason does not include the soundtrack for the game. I was able to add it back, but there is no way to lower the volume so I decided to play without it. The game is extremely charming, dialogue can be pretty hilarious. It's a shame they f*cked the remaster. Highly recommend using the pcgamewiki to download the MH Kingpin Patch.
Expand the review
Had this game when i was like 10 - still recommend in 2025 for that old school half-life/quake feel but with more neo noir vibes.
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This is a really surprising game for me. I did not own Kingpin when it first came out in 1999 but I remembered the controversy surrounding it. A friend of mine recommended I check it out last year and I am really glad I did. I discovered an unusual but very interesting singleplayer campaign whose lacklustre story is made up for with some really cool game mechanics and fantastic environmental design (Viktor Antonov of HL2 and Dishonored fame was the art director). With MH's patch (very easy to install) you not only benefit from a bunch of fixes and modernizations but you'll also be able to join multiplayer games. Kingpin games are played every Thursday and Sunday. I can confirm that the KP community is a great bunch. In addition to deathmatch and the amazing Bagman mode, the community had added tons of maps, new game modes, and they even host seasonal events. Highly recommend you give Kingpin a look if you want a unique Quake engine game experience.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Kingpin — Life of Crime is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
Kingpin — Life of Crime is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.50€ on Steam.
Kingpin — Life of Crime received 354 positive votes out of a total of 444 achieving a rating of 7.50.
😊
Kingpin — Life of Crime was developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay Inc..
Kingpin — Life of Crime is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Kingpin — Life of Crime is not playable on MacOS.
Kingpin — Life of Crime is not playable on Linux.
Kingpin — Life of Crime offers both single-player and multi-player modes.
Kingpin — Life of Crime offers both Co-op and PvP modes.
Kingpin — Life of Crime does not currently offer any DLC.
Kingpin — Life of Crime does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Kingpin — Life of Crime does not support Steam Remote Play.
Kingpin — Life of Crime is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Kingpin — Life of Crime.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 14 March 2026 22:35 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 10 March 2026 21:59 |
| Steam price | 15 March 2026 04:45 |
| Steam reviews | 14 March 2026 07:49 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Kingpin — Life of Crime, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Kingpin — Life of Crime
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- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Kingpin — Life of Crime compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
1
Developer
Xatrix Entertainment
Publisher
Interplay Inc.
Release
19 Aug 2009
Platforms