Foreword
I’d like to start this review off with a fun fact; did you know that NARC is actually a franchise reboot of an old shoot 'em up arcade game by the same name? This doesn’t impact the review, I just thought it was fun.
NARC is the product of giving a development team the free rein to create a gritty, buddy-cop game, but their only points of reference were Training Day, Lethal Weapon, and a little bit of Surviving Edged Weapons (highly recommend the JonTron video about this one). It’s an absurd, broken, occasionally impressive, dumpster fire of a game.
So let's talk about it!
The Streets - Why is There so Much Crime?!
Let’s start here: this game lets you cuff perps and just… leave them there. No due process, no transport, no medical assistance, just abandoned criminals stuck to the pavement like a piece of felonious gum. Your “training” happens in a six-spot-wide parking lot behind the station, where you learn to grapple because apparently the NYPD’s budget was slashed in favor of street justice.
Those “super busts” the game mentions? They’re essentially just violent murdering small-time offenders with illegal wrestling moves. Petty drug dealer? Suplexed into concrete. Looter? Arms ripped out of socket while being head-stomped. These aren’t arrests, they’re streetside executions.
Little does this marijuana user know, he's about to to meet God.
You forgot to manually save? Be prepared, because this game DOESN’T HAVE AUTOSAVE. I learned that lesson many times the hard way after losing over an hour and a half of progress because I accidentally tanked my reputation too far down and soft-locked my progress.
Yes, the reputation matters, and yes, it can totally screw you over if you’re not careful. I find that harassing street dealers, beating them into unconsciousness and looting them of their product boosts your reputation pretty quickly.
Kicking a pedestrian in the face is a prime example of what not to do, to preserve rating.
The Drugs - Turn in or Turn up?
One of the more infamous parts of NARC is that you can consume confiscated narcotics to gain temporary advantages. Me being a little goody-two-shoes, I opted to only take each narcotic once for the sake of the review.
Don’t blame me, I was just following the FBI’s rules from all those arcade machines in the 70s.
Lowkey, I kinda miss the era of PSA's being literally everywhere.
Anyways, not only is this mechanic WILD from a lore perspective, it’s executed in a surprisingly fun manner:
- Weed: It feels like you can find this one literally everywhere. Basically just slows everything down into bullet time. Also, the song Golden Brown makes an appearance? Can't imagine how they got the rights for this.
- Acid: SCHIZOPHRENIA SIMULATOR. This shit makes everyone’s heads swell up and then all you hear are their disembodied voices whispering to you, it’s terrifying.
- Quaaludes: You ever been to one of those tourist piers and pay 25¢ to look through a set of metal binoculars? Yeah that’s what this is like except everything stands still. Including you.
- Ecstasy: Peace and love, man. It’s cool for the first or second time, but the game’s mechanics vastly negate the positives.
- Crack: I now understand why Peter chose to smoke crack in that one episode of Family Guy, this stuff is grea- HOLY SHIT DID I JUST KICK THAT GUYS HEAD OFF?! Sorry, it’s great until the withdrawal hits (yes that’s a mechanic in the game).
- Speed: GOTTA GO FAST.
- I didn’t try Liquid Soul… I was under the impression it was of great importance to turn it all in for plot reasons.
Unlike the Hatman, you can gun down these narcotic-induced demons.
Being that it was 2005 corporate America, the devs clearly didn’t understand how many of these substances actually work, which makes every high hilarious. This is especially true when factoring in the distorted debriefing voiceovers.
Gameplay and Characters- Developed by 2nd Graders, More Difficult Than Med School
The aim controls are hot garbage and offer very little in the way of actually aiming your gun in the direction you meant to point it in. To take it one step further, your fists , kicks, guns, etc. can jump between targets whenever the game chooses. This means that you’re treated to the endless torture of trying not to murder bystanders so you’re not thrown off the case. In short, the difficulty curve - when it comes to gunplay - is wildly inconsistent.
No witty remark here, the aiming mechanic is dog water.
There’s that morality system I previously mentioned that lets you choose to be a straight-edge cop or go full rogue, which is honestly a breath of fresh air. I’ll give the game credit, there’s a significant amount of choice-making involved (for a PS2 game). For example, you are offered by redacted to betray the force and make a TON of money. This choice; however, has no direct impact on the ending, which kind of digs the grave deeper in my opinion.
Most of the boss fights in NARC are an absolute walk in the park, and can be easily cheesed by mindless punching. But weirdly enough, there are a couple standout exceptions. The fists-only monk fight is shockingly difficult and actually fun, and the final showdown with Mr. Big (he’s basically a Gundam now) delivers a solid challenge that forces you to think ahead. It’s like the devs briefly remembered how to design combat… and then immediately forgot again.
We then shift settings to Kowloon City, China - named after the real life Kowloon Wall, a city of connected structures made by and for the homeless - and this is where the wheels really fall off. The portrayal of Chinese characters is just downright offensive, with every NPC being bigoted towards Americans and calling you “round eye.”
At one point, this was the most crowded place on Earth.
The NPCs in general, are their own subgenre of odd. At one point, I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why I kept hearing cracking sounds— turns out every male NPC in the game compulsively cracks their neck every five seconds like they’re trying to grind their cervical vertebrae to dust.
As for the player characters, Jack’s your standard issue loose-cannon dumbass, if "standard" means a man who assaults furniture and has no filter. He’s got a checkered past, a never-ending supply of sex jokes, and the charisma of a dead fish. He’s basically just your older brother, with a firearm.
Hill, on the other hand, is the “by the book” cop… or as “by the book” as one can get in this game. His dialogue is mostly dry metaphors, sudden tone shifts, and weirdly timed comments, yet somehow he’s one of the most morally grounded characters in the game. Whether he’s counter-sniping for you on a mission, or saving Chinese ravers, Agent Hill’s got your back.
Cutscenes and Dialogue - Lots and Lots of Nothing
NARC, while having a considerable amount of dialog, is filled with pointless conversations and unnatural word-vomit. The writing veers wildly between buddy cop banter and a straight-up parody.
Here’s a real scene word for word:
*Jack learns they’re being sent to China to serve as NARC agents.*
Jack: “Kung Fu?”
Hill: “Yes, Jack. Kung Fu.”
*Jack then violently karate-chops a metal table.* Because of course he does.
The dialogue and cutscenes in NARC vary between unintentionally hilarious and bafflingly incoherent. You’ll go from a grim monologue about the war on drugs and innocent people being kidnapped, to a line like the aforementioned “Kung Fu?"— in seconds. It’s clear that the game wanted to be a cinematic and edgy version of cops & robbers, but the execution was so scatterbrained and exaggerated that it accidentally lands somewhere between Miami Vice and late-night Adult Swim.
Final Verdict:
NARC isn’t a great game - or a good one - but it’s a memorable one. It has the heart of a gritty crime drama, gameplay from your nightmares, and the writing of a high schooler’s Jason Statham fanfic. There’s a lot to be said about this game, and while I think I’ve said plenty, I’ll leave it at this:
A rare Midway L.
Pros
- + A wild, absurd concept that commits fully to the bit
- + Narcotics are both hilarious and mechanically interesting
- + Morality system adds depth
- + Some legitimately fun boss fights
- + The kind of chaos you don’t get in games anymore
Cons
- - No autosave
- - Aim and camera controls are borderline unplayable
- - Rampant racist stereotypes
- - Dialogue and pacing are a total mess
- - Game-breaking progression issues
3
Gameplay
5
Graphics
4
Story
4
Sound
1
Replayability
3.7
out of 10
Overall
NARC is the kind of game that feels like it was made on a dare; equal parts fascinating mess and chaotic ambition. Beneath all the broken mechanics, wildly offensive depictions, and terrible writing, there is a game here. There isn't much. I'll admit though, I had fun in the same way you'd have fun watching a bad action movie with good friends.
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