Narco Terror Review

Call for backup. 

Narco Terror is a twin-stick shooter in which you blow things up. A lot. That’s really the most apt description I can give. As far as twin-stick shooters go, it doesn’t add much to the formula, but its premise of focusing less on precise aiming and more on strategically causing things to explode is a welcome twist. At its best, Narco Terror is a fun distraction, particularly when played with friends. At its worst, it’s a nearly unplayable storm of death after death. Fortunately, it’s much more commonly the former than the latter.

The moral of the story is that doing drugs causes explosions.

As its title suggests, Narco Terror puts us in the role of an FBI agent on a one-man offensive against a major drug cartel. This is, however, the only element of the story that is ever really expanded upon, and Narco Terror throws extra characters like his daughter or best friend (who have never been mentioned before) in when it needs an excuse to change backdrops. The meager story serves as an effective enough backdrop to what quickly becomes an over-the-top explosion-fest.
Narco Terror goes all out with making sure none of what happens is remotely believable, and that’s perfectly fine. There was never a time when something on my screen wasn’t
exploding or on fire, and the avalanche of points that ensues from lobbing a few grenades at one of the thousands of destructible objects never disappoints. While the enemies tend to all look the same, the two player characters are easily distinguishable amid the chaos in almost every environment. For a twin-stick shooter, there is some nicely done level design here, especially in the larger, tropical-themed levels that take place in South America. Each of the five main levels is large and detailed, each with several unique areas peppered with special objectives and sections featuring altered gameplay to spice things up. Despite the good quality of the graphics, the PS3 version never suffered from framerate dips or clipping errors. On PC, on the other hand, performance was inconsistent and prone to slowdowns.
The voice work is funny, though only because it’s bad. The main character spouts campy ‘80s one-liners about whatever he blows up, and curses just about as often as he fires his weapon. Initially this added to the humor, but as he continued to shout random and unfitting streams of four-letter word after four-letter word, I felt like it would have been better without them. The music is passable, and the effects are nice and loud, just like you want them when you’re blowing things up good.
The normal run-of-the-mill top-down elements aren’t really expanded upon past some minor added mobility with jumping and dodge-rolling, but neither of these mechanics are implemented well. Rolling often causes the character to go in the wrong direction, and jumping is only feasible while completely stopped and doesn’t allow you to move for some time afterward. Luckily, you don’t have to do either that often, except during the occasional and unwelcome platforming segment. There are, however, some fun areas of special gameplay, such as Battle of Midway 1942-style airplane missions and several sections that give us command over high-powered machine gun turrets or the ability to call down airstrikes from a helicopter above.

1942, is that you?

Unlike the mobility elements, the shooting mechanics are well done and fun to use. Both of the sticks are responsive and accurate, and with new weapons and ammo modifications being consistently unlocked, there is plenty of variation and fun to be had. This fun is amplified even more when you have access to outrageous weapons (e.g. a laser beam or rocket launcher) and the ability to upgrade your weapons on the fly with cash earned from explosions and kills.
Narco Terror’s biggest draw is also its biggest drawback. It features a couch and online multiplayer co-op mode, with a drop-in, drop-out system that never takes you out of the action. When playing with a friend, it becomes a much more fun experience. First and foremost, Narco Terror pulls no punches on making sure it doesn’t become too easy. You will die, and you will die often, and if your friend isn’t quick enough to revive you he’ll find himself bullet-ridden or blown up soon as well. Unfortunately, that difficulty doesn’t scale back when it comes to playing single-player, so it becomes nigh impossible to survive an onslaught of enemies by yourself. Most of my victories in single-player were a result of dumb luck, or simply avoiding any and all conflict.