Narc is a 1988 arcade game designed by Eugene Jarvis for Williams Electronics and programmed by George Petro. It was one of the first ultra-violent video games and a frequent target of parental criticism of the arcade game industry. The object is to arrest and kill drug offenders, confiscate their money and drugs, and defeat “Mr. Big”.
It was the first game in the newly restarted Williams Electronics coin-op division, and features their notable use of digitized graphics (later made famous in games such as Mortal Kombat). In fact, the quality of the graphics in terms of number of colors would not be surpassed until the game Mortal Kombat II (released in 1993). The game features what in arcade terminology is termed a medium resolution monitor — higher resolution than televisions and normal arcade monitors, although often in a smaller physical size. NARC was also the very first arcade game to utilize the TI TMS34010, which is a 32-bit processor. The game was also notable for the numerous voice samples used during and between levels.
Narc was ported to the NES and several home computer systems in 1990. In 2005, the franchise was re-launched with a brand new game for the Xbox and PS2.
Gameplay
The game’s main characters are Max Force and Hit Man, who have received a memo from Spencer Williams, Narcotics Opposition chairman in Washington, D.C. dispatching them on Project NARC. Their mission is to apprehend Mr. Big, head of an underground drug trafficking and terrorist organization.
The player controls either Max Force or Hit Man, who shoot or arrest junkies, drug dealers and organized crime kingpins. Max and Hit are each equipped with an automatic weapon and a missile launcher. When an enemy is dispatched using the latter, they explode in a torrent of scorched and bloody appendages. Some enemies can be arrested after they surrender and then float away with “busted” over them, this is then added to a tally at the end of the level along with drugs and money confiscated from other enemies that they dropped when killed (the game actually awards more points at the end of a round for arresting enemies without killing them). The game’s objective is to reach and destroy various drug dealing ringleaders.
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