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Every day we hear stories about drug barons and their henchmen ruining peoples lives. Unfortunately we have to leave it up to governments, police forces and even armies to sort them out. Which is a pity 'cos it'd be good fun to personally get hold of them by the short and curlies and engage in some hammer throwing related japes in the vicinity of an electric fence.

Anyway unlike Narco Police (reviewed later on) Narc takes place in the present day where we have enough drug problems, thank you very much. You play the part of a DEA agent (isn't Drug Enforcement Agency a strange name for a unit trying to stop people from selling drugs - it sounds as though they're trying to force people to take them!) out to force said barons to bite the bullet. A lot of bullets in fact.

There are loads of drug pushers, dealers and henchmen to take care of in the mayhem packed city. Luckily Joe public has retreated indoors so anyone you see you can shoot, ie. there's no screaming mothers parading around with prams for the baddies to hide behind.

There are twelve levels, which is a bit of a mouthful for the Spectrum, even though Narc's only available on 128K. Thus it's a big, big multiloader. Luckily though each level should keep you occupied for a while so it's not as bad as it seems.

The druggies hide in all manner of places such as hotels, restaurants, warehouses, and all over the streets. On each level there is an especially bad head honcho who is your main target. They will be assigned to you at the beginning of each level and you must apprehend them to be successful.

Narc is not an easy game to play. Based on the coin-op of the same name it has a lot of built in difficulty as you shoot down wove after wave of the enemy. There is a very entertaining two player mode which only slows the game down a little but enables you to get through levels marginally faster and with less damage.

Graphics are business-like without setting the world on fire for their stunning portrayal of a drugs war, and sound has plenty of grunts and groans to keep those who insist on turning their telly up happy.

Not the most original or exciting shoot 'em up ever but still one which provides plenty of moderately difficult action that'll keep you going for simply ages,

Reviewer: Garth Sumpter

Narc is a good looking, fast paced shoot 'em up, disadvantaged by its scale as a multiloader but worth a look nonetheless for fighting fans.