Imagine a dark seedy world where it's always night and it's impossible to say something without uttering an expletive. Of course, if you don't like it we'll just send the boys round for a 'word'.
Ben Morris

It's all gone a bit pear shaped. After being on the wrong end of a good kicking you're left lying in the gutter with a warning to stay out of the city ringing through your mind. Naturally, the sensible option would be to pack your bags and ship out, but that just wouldn't be sporting would it? Time to grab a big bit of wood and boldly stride back into Poisonville to administer a beating.

Proving that you just can't have too much of a good thing, Kingpin has managed to escape the first person shoot 'em up breeding grounds and join its brethren on the shelves. It seems that everyone is trying to knock Half-Life from the throne and now it's Interplay's turn to have a shot at the title.

The ace up Interplay's sleeve is a fine selection of colourful language. As you'd expect in a 1930s gangster-filled slum, conversation isn't exactly intellectual. However, it does form a fairly large part of the game. In a pseudo-RPG way, you can slip positive and negative comments to people you see in order to gain more information or threaten them. People will react differently depending on your attitude and whether you're running towards them wielding a shotgun. While this seems like a good idea in principle, the execution is a little lacklustre.