Developer: Rare Publisher: Acclaim Released: 1990 Genre: Action
I will forever remember NARC as the game with the aggressive anti-drug message. There is nothing wrong with that of course; it means their message was effective if I still remember it thirty years later. After seeing clips of it in the first TMNT movie I wanted to play it badly as it looked cool. The arcade lived up to my expectations as I blew up junkies and drug dealers with rockets with reckless abandon. The NES port however is a different story. They tried, I will give them that. But in the end this is a bad version of a good game.
It will be hard to believe for the younger gamers out there but the war on drugs of the 80s had a huge impact on the video game industry. Literally every arcade game for close to a decade told you to just say no. Cartoons had their very own special episodes to warn kids of the dangers of dope. Mind you these were very over the top but their hearts were in the right place. I’m supposed to believe the Headman is so bad G.I. Joe and Cobra have to team up take him down? Sure dude. But I digress. NARC was over the top with its gratuitous violence and such and seemed very adult in my eyes. Sadly the NES version is censored, has awful graphics and unresponsive controls and overall is not worth bothering with.
The controls are the worst aspect of NARC. The arcade cabinet used four buttons for shooting, jumping, crouching, and rockets. Obviously the NES only has two and needed to be adjusted to compensate but they have gone about in the worst way in my opinion. First of all the game commits the cardinal NES sin of reversing the A and B functions. I won’t go on a rant but those that know know what I am talking about. To fire your machine gun you hold down the A button. To fire rockets you tap A. In practice it is very unwieldy and leads to wasting ammo a good portion of the time. To crouch you hold B while tapping it leads to a jump. This is similarly awful but at least there is only one stage where jumping is necessary.
Although NARC has the look of a brawler like Double Dragon it is not in that genre. The best way to describe NARC is as an endless warzone, one in which dealers and junkies fight the cops on a daily basis. Sort of like Detroit in the 80s. You can kill every enemy that walks in your path or bust them. Most enemies you shoot will drop ammo, rockets, or drugs for bonus points. Busting perps leads to bigger point bonuses toward extra lives. Unfortunately you need to stand still while doing so, leaving you vulnerable and the trade-off is not worth it.
The game does not know the meaning of the word restraint. Almost immediately multiple junkies attack simultaneously and it never lets up. Enemies spawn endlessly and they never stop their pursuit. I suppose it makes it easier to rack up much needed points but it is frustrating, especially with the less than ideal controls. While you can easily run for the exit most stages feature a second half. Here you kill enemies until one drops the key card needed to progress. The design isn’t bad by itself; it is the complete lack of balance that ruins the game.
In the arcade NARC was a brutal game that swallowed quarters. The NES port is no different. This version does not reach the ridiculous levels of the arcade but it isn’t unheard of to see five or six enemies approaching at once. With no health items it is easy to be shredded to death in seconds. In most cases it is better to run for the exit. With limited ammo pray you never run out as just like Rolling Thunder you get one bullet every few seconds. If you stick with the game for some reason prepare to punch the screen in anger as the final boss battle features some of the worst hit detection I have ever experienced.
NARC was one of the earliest arcade games to utilize digitized graphics. While it pales in comparison next to the later Mortal Kombat and Pit Fighter it was still striking for its time. The NES version uses hand drawn graphics that do their best to mimic the arcade’s look. It captures it somewhat but this is still an ugly game. The color palette is flat out hideous at times and I think the system could do better. A large number of enemies were cut from the game so you face the same two or three ad nauseum. Surprisingly a good bit of the gore and blood is intact which is incredible considering Nintendo of America’s stringent censorship guidelines at the time. But it is not enough to save this game.
In Closing
On every possible level the NES version of NARC is a disappointment and a bad game. Whether it was rushed or no one gave a damn the game deserved better. There are better action games and arcade ports to spend your time with, go for those instead.
