"Winners Don't Do Drugs!"

NARC, the only game where it's OK to kill thousands of people for using drugs. This game's over the top depiction of the war on drugs truly makes this game rise above all the other side scrolling beat 'em up games. Except in this game you wear color coded space suits and drive a red Porsche armed with dual machine guns and a rocket launcher.

This game is of the "beat 'em up" genre, except instead of beating up the enemies, you're blasting them with rocket launchers, and confiscating the drugs that fly out of them for bonus points. You can also "bust" the criminals by standing on top of them for a few seconds. You'll know you've done this successfully when you hear your character say "YOU'RE BUSTED!" or something to that effect. Although you get bonus points for doing this, it's just not quite as fun as blasting your way through endless waves of druggies.

The enemies in this game are drug users, and are obviously not portrayed as real life drug users. These over the top enemy designs range from bald guys in trench coats (Who have a strange resemblance to Dave Attell) to a machine gun toting fatsos in a wheel chair! These over the top enemy designs truly make the game. Who wants to fight regular street punks, when you can battle with knife-wielding clowns, or hulking guys hopped up on PCP who can lift metal garbage cans and hurl them at you? No one, that's who!

While the graphics and music are nothing special (except the song when you're entering your initials), they're certainly not bad. Let's just say, they get the job done. The sound, on the other hand, is amazing. This game is filled with hilarious quotes, whether the creators intended them to be or not. If you don't laugh when you hear the roar of the PCP addict, then I don't even want to know what you would consider funny. Probably, this game's most famous quote is "You're busted!" which your character will exclaim when you bust someone or shoot a rocket. I guess blowing someone up with a rocket is technically "busting" them according to the DEA.

This game is just a blast to play through alone or with a friend. It never gets old. The character designs are absolutely ridiculous(in a good way), and the gameplay is near-perfect to boot! If you ever see this arcade machine anywhere, don't hesitate, go play it immediately!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/05