This week we take a look at the 1999 shooter Kingpin: Life of Crime. It's the one where you start off with a lead pipe and then proceed to use it in the sort of way you'd expect. In addition to becoming a poster boy for over the top videogame violence it's also one of the earliest shooters to blend role-playing elements with some questing, and other things.

From this week's entry:

In the early moments of 1999’s Kingpin: Life of Crime, the first weapon you come across after waking up in an alley is a lead pipe. A crude, blunt weapon that you can then use to violently bludgeon any character you come across. To death. And sure, we’re talking about a videogame here so the execution is by no means as realistic or as sadistic as that description makes it out to be. But in 1999 Kingpin: Life of Crime was one of the most visually impressive first-person shooters to date. The way in which the impact of the lead pipe would change the corresponding face or body texture to include new bruising coupled with the blood splatter effects that covered the surrounding ground had such a visceral impact, that the level of violence felt new. And slightly off-putting. Even though it really wasn’t.

Click here to read Throwback Thursday - Kingpin: Life of Crime (1999)