When I close my eyes and imagine a game based on drug kingpin Pablo Escobar’s life, Narcos: Rise of the Cartels isn’t exactly what springs to mind.
Whereas my imagination crafts a stealth-shooter with a bass-heavy soundtrack and slick bullet-time effects (yes, this is why I write about games and not for them), Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is an a more sedate affair, fusing an XCOM-esque strategy game with the true tale of DEA agent, Steve Murphy, and his fight to take down Escobar.
Narcos: Rise of the Cartels reviewDeveloper: KujuPublisher: Curve DigitalPlatform: Reviewed on PS4Availability: Out now on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch
This surprising choice of genre isn’t a criticism. The first game to hop onto the coattails of the wildly successful Netflix show Narcos, it could’ve easily slipped into the unsophisticated frame of a generic FPS and most of us likely would’ve been satisfied with that choice (well, we’ve all learned the hard way not to raise our hopes for TV spin-offs; personally, I’m still recovering from Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse).
It’s to the developer’s credit, then, that they’ve created something a little more adventurous. Though it often looks like the budget title it undoubtedly is – particularly in the non-FMV cut-scenes – the environments are crafted with care and the turn-based gameplay is curiously satisfying, albeit sometimes predictable.
Perversely though, this means Rise of the Cartels isn’t really for casual players curious to sample a new game set within the universe of their favourite show. Turn-based combat calls for precision and strategic planning in a way point-a-gun-and-shoot-now-games do not, so while it eliminates the need for quick reactions, it instead intensifies the need to always keep thinking one or two steps ahead. The permadeath of your squaddies brings a meaningful sense of peril into play, and while you’re welcome to cheese that with save-scumming, levels are usually long enough and complex enough to dampen the temptation to simply restart the mission each time a comrade falls.