Developer: Kuju
Published by: Curve Digital
Available For: PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One (11/22), Nintendo Switch
2019 has seen some unlikely genre departures based on properties known for action. John Wick Hex came out earlier this year and surprised me by how much its focus on strategy and voyeurism still made it as much fun as watching those films. Now, Curve Digital and studio Kuju are hoping for their own success with Narcos: Rise of The Cartels. The game based on the Netflix action/drama gives players a turn-based combat game instead of a drug-fueled GTA clone.
Tactical turn-based games have mostly been in the science fiction and fantasy realms. Fans of the Netflix show know Narcos is anything but fantasy. Its a gritty portrayal of both sides of the war on drugs in Mexico. Rise of The Cartels uses characters from the show as you’d expect a game like this would. Drug kingpin El Patron and DEA agent Steve Murphy lead their respective sides. Meanwhile, characters such as “Primo” are battle leaders who control the five-unit types you place on the map before urban war.
It isn’t all a bird’s eye view of the action, during certain moments you’ll be able to control one of your soldiers in third-person view in order to try to swing the fight back in your favor.
Much like what the show does, the game will let you play through two distinct narratives that illustrate the story from each side of the conflict. It’s a Resident Evil 2 style of extending a story and is just as effective here.
A game based on a property known for intense bullet-riddled moments such as Narcos could have lived as a money grab clone of a big action game. Curve went in a bold direction with Rise of The Cartels. This turn-based strategy conveys tension in a way that a real-time action game could not. There’s an anxiety that comes with having to plan methodical moves in order to conquer a territory. It’s one you didn’t know you wanted until you see the correct moves play out in an all-out battle between DEA and Cartels.
Narcos: Rise of The Cartels delivers a level of intensity to real-time strategy which gaming hasn’t seen before. On top of that ROTC still boasts cinematics that feel as though they were pulled off your Netflix account. Whether you’re a fan of the show or new to the property it’s worth giving a chance.
