Graphics

Monolithic

It's strange how every graphics engine has a completely different style. It's impossible not to tell one engine from the other. No one would confuse Half-Life for an Unreal engine game, for example. The reason is that there are features and characteristics of a graphics engine that are retained no matter who makes the game based on it. The LithTech engine isn't as good looking as Quake III or UT, but it's impressive enough nonetheless. Note that all screenshots were taken with the Voodoo5's 4X FSAA turned on.

OMG I'm wearing platform shoes

Magma Gun

LithTech games always have a light cartoonish touch, the textures tend to not have that nitty-gritty feel that comes with Unreal or the characteristic Quake styling. KISS is no exception, though that probably shouldn't be much of a surprise given its comic book origins. Yet the textures are highly detailed and the world keeps to one style per episode, always full of gloom, grit and doom. The world is a dirty place, each plane infested with evil creatures adapted to them. A Headless in the Water realm is blue and smooth, but one in the Earth realm is green-brown and feels more rugged. The styling definitely has modern comic influence, with all the extra details you might see in Spawn or X-Men.

Plasma spitting thingie

Eww their eyes are sewn shut

Character Modeled Environmental Texture Effects

Character models are excellent. Mirrors appear at the end of each level, which you use to get to the next level. However, it gives you a good look at your character. When you turn, first your head turns then the body. You can lean down, up and crouch with natural, fluid motions. Critters, too, are detailed and "natural" feeling. You can hack limbs off a Headless, or part of limbs. Since they have segmented arms and legs like an insect or arthropod, any of their joints is vulnerable to a quick swipe or bullet. "Gory Intestinal Limb-Ripping Bloodbath" is a good description of KISS. It isn't the fine art of gun-induced, limb amputation that Soldier of Fortune was, but more of a DOOM-like carnage. Other monsters might not fall apart as nicely as Headless, but none of them are boring. From demonic hellspawn to corrupted circus inhabitants, it's all there in a twisted MacFarlane-esque glory. If you were scared of clowns as a kid, Psycho Circus will justify your fears.

Skyline

An educated man

KISS also has some of the best level architecture that we've seen since Thief II and Wheel of Time. Psycho Circus's levels are not quite on the same level as the ones from those two games, but it's close enough. Throughout the game you'll experience many things, like being shrunk and fighting on a bookshelf or invading a corrupted Cathedral, or going through underground caverns, but never will you feel "oh, same-old, same-old".