I have never watched Narcos, the television program about bad drugsmen with guns being stopped by maybe-not-as-bad lawsmen with guns. After playing the recently-released turn-based tactics ’em up Narcos: Rise Of The Cartel, I have little desire to. I mean, this could be one of those times where TV is all nuanced and considered, while videogames just toss out lines like “pick off those rats one by one until the country is free of vermin,” then hope you delight in shooting Colombian gangsters in the face – but I wouldn’t bet on it.

In any case, watching the show would only serve to remind me of the miserable few hours I have now spent shooting Colombian gangsters in the face. The main problem (of many) is that you can only boss around one unit on each turn, and I’m struggling to imagine a version of this that works.

(more…)