Narcos: Rise of the Cartels

The hit Netflix show becomes a fun, if functional, turn-based strategy.

A mediocre XCOM-like in the form of a deeply worrying depiction of militarised police.

Narcos: Rise of the Cartels succeeds completely at just one thing: It makes me interested in watching the Netflix series. The game had a lot of potential, and at least superficially it looked like something that may be better than the standard advertorial we’ve come to expect from this kind of tie-in game.

Considering how integral the back-and-forth tussle between El Patron and DEA is to the show, recreating such a violent game of chess in 'tactics' form seems like a match made in heaven. But even with some welcome gameplay twists – namely those real-time Kill Shots and Counteractions – the slow nature of its single-unit turn mechanic and the totally unremarkable AI makes this generous offering of missions far less exciting than it should be. As a genre, a turn-based tactics setup really suits the cat and mouse nature of this real-life-inspired cartel war; it's just a shame certain elements let it down.

Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is the perfect example of one decision ruining any chance a game had of being reasonable.

It should be noted that in order to be able to finish the game at all and thus "besiege" the game crashing, I had to use the trainer and literally fly through the missions without passing the NPC's turn. I can understand if someone in a single player game uses cheats/trainer to have unlimited ammo, life and just go kill NPCs and that's how they react. After all, games are made mainly for relaxation and entertainment. However, if I have to use a trainer in order to finish the game at all (because otherwise the game crashes), then something is very wrong.

When Fire Emblem: Three Houses released in the second half of 2019, it thrust tactical RPGs into the spotlight once again. Named in many Switch owners top three games of the last 12 months, fans new and old enjoyed all that Fire Emblem had to offer. It’s only natural then to see interest rise in similar titles that are subsequently released. Queue Narcos: Rise of the Cartels.

An inadequate tie-in game for the Netflix series Narcos that pales in comparison to its source material.

A fun, but simplified take on the turn-based strategy genre, think "baby's first XCOM" and you're on the right lines. Its flaws are obvious but easily overlooked for newcomers to the genre. If you're a die-hard strategy fan, consider giving Narcos: Rise of the Cartels a pass, it won't have much to offer you.

Your enjoyment of Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is going to be heavily based on whether you can accept its strategy game conceit.