Film

Games

Lame Game, Friend Prices

by Bradley Steinbacher

Just when you think nothing new can come from the endless stream of weak Grand Theft Auto imitators, along comes a game like Midway's Narc, which steals GTA's beloved open-ended crime sprees and manages to toss in a little innovation: the kind weed.

Actually, it's not just pot; an entire pharmacy of illicit drugs are available in the game, and any number of them can be confiscated from dealers and used to alter your character. Fire up a J (the most entertaining of the video drugs; just dig the use of The Strangler's classic "Golden Brown" on the soundtrack) and things slow down, allowing you to aim with better precision. Pop speed and you can run down the fastest of perps. Smoke some crack and you become a "crack shot," able to kill your targets with a single bullet. This doped-up officers gimmick is a leftover from the original Narc arcade game, which first appeared at the height of '80s war on drugs hysteria. In that oldie--which at the time was as subversive as video games could be, perverting Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" slogan into an all out massacre--strung-out enemies chucked needles your way in self-defense; if they nailed you, your man's health took a hit, and he was suddenly much more difficult to control. The refurbished Narc takes this idea and turns it into a matter of choice. It's a nice idea: Do you get high, which gains you ability but may also lead to addiction (complete with withdrawals), or do you play it straight, thereby elevating your good cop rating?

As entertaining as smacking out your character may be, however, it doesn't add enough to rescue the game from what is essentially another bland spin around the GTA design. Playing it straight is a bore, and once the initial high of getting high fades, what's left is barely enough to keep you interested. Narc's story is some weak shit (new super drug on the street, two morally challenged cops try to stamp it out), which means depth is nonexistent. And without an engrossing storyline to fuel the uninspired missions (go here, follow him, kill that guy), chances are you'll find yourself kicking the game aside soon after purchasing it. Gunning down brain-dead thugs in a Miranda-be-damned freak-out can only hold your attention for so long, even if you're doing so in a crack-induced rage. Even at a "friend price" of $19.95, Narc is a lame high.