Narcos (NetEnt): Review

It’s finally here. Nearly a year and a half after its big reveal at the London iGaming conference, Narcos—one of the most hotly awaited branded releases—has at last moved from development into full release across NetEnt casinos. From the first spin, it’s obvious why the wait was so long. Calling Narcos “ambitious” barely covers it. In NetEnt’s adaptation of the American crime series Narcos, the cocaine-soaked drama is expanded into an online slot experience where the line between videogames and slots keeps getting thinner.

Everything we’d heard about Narcos—and previously shared exclusively on our site—proved accurate. It really does use 5 reels, 3-rows and 243 ways to win. It’s a strong setup, and also a slightly uncommon direction for NetEnt.

As expected, there’s no shortage of action-packed mechanics. In the base game, you can trigger the Locked Up feature, a win-streak style mini bonus that can produce some respectable payouts. There’s also the Drive-by feature, where bullets spray across the reels and randomly convert high-value symbols into wilds. Appearing in both the base game and free spins are Walking Wilds, reminiscent of the mechanic popularised in Jack and the Beanstalk, another well-known NetEnt slot. And then there’s the main event: Free Spins. It’s annoyingly difficult to activate, but it’s the gateway to the game’s real potential. Betting is available from 0.20 and 400€ per spin on all devices.

Created by Gaumont for Netflix, the first two seasons of Narcos focus on druglord Pablo Escobar, who became a dollar billionaire through cocaine production and distribution. NetEnt’s version drops you into the busy streets of Medellín and throws you straight into the firefight. With Grand Theft Auto-style visuals, the reels show J, Q, K and A royals alongside stacks of cash, grenades, machine guns and handguns. You’ll also spot flamingos and Cessna’s, plus key characters from the TV series: José Rodríguez Gacha, Connie Murphy, and DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peña. Those two agents are the top-paying symbols, awarding 15 times your stake for 5 across a full payline.

The wild is the DEA badge and matches the value of the agents. As usual, it substitutes for all regular symbols except the scatter and other special symbols. When it forms part of a winning combo, it activates the Walking Wild feature. The concept is familiar: the wild remains on the reels and shifts one position to the left after each spin. This keeps going until no winning wild symbols remain.

Narcos (NetEnt): Features

During the base game, the Drive-by feature can activate at random on any spin. When it hits, a short scene plays where a thug fires a barrage of bullets from a getaway car into the reels. After that, premium symbols are randomly turned into wilds.

You’ll also find a mini-bonus called Locked Up. It triggers when 3 or more Locked Up symbols (showing Pablo Escobar) land on the same row. Once the feature begins—played on a separate set—the Escobar symbols are pulled together and given a win value ranging from 1 – 10 times your stake.

At its core, this is a win-streak, cluster-style mechanic. You begin with 3 spins, and only Locked Up and Golden briefcase symbols can appear. When 3 or more symbols connect, they create a winning cluster  – if an Escobar symbol joins a winning cluster, you receive a random prize of 1 – 10 times your stake. If a Golden briefcase connects instead, one of the following outcomes applies:

• Multiplier – all coin values connected to the cluster are multiplied by x2 or x3.
• Upgrade Symbols – multiple upgrade values in increment of 1 times your total bet are added to the symbols.
• Big Starting Value – the Golden briefcase symbol is given an extra starting value.

Whenever a symbol attaches to the cluster, the spin counter is restored to 3. The round ends once no additional symbols join the cluster. With a hit frequency of 1 in 124 spins, the Locked Up feature appears much more often than Free Spins, which in comparison lands with a hit frequency of 1 in 351 spins. Locked Up can award up to 271 times your total stake.

Finally, we reach the big dramatic Free Spins finale—a shootout triggered by landing three scatter symbols on reels 1, 3 and 5 in the same spin. You start with 10 free spins, and the Drive-by feature is active on every spin, meaning the Walking Wilds feature can also show up. As mentioned earlier, Free Spins is tough to reach, but it’s also where the biggest rewards are found. When it’s all over, you could walk away with up to 1506 times your stake.

Narcos (NetEnt): Verdict

Narcos arrives with plenty of firepower, yet it feels like the magazine is half empty. NetEnt continues to stick with these modest max wins, and in the end Narcos slips into the familiar NetEnt pattern—especially disappointing because so much else is done right. The visuals are superb and the overall production is genuinely stunning, but the game simply doesn’t hit hard enough.

Beyond the flashy in-game cut-scenes, Narcos is also packed with features, as you’ve seen. The downside is that the Free Spins feature seems to appear even less often than the D in Bonanza. And unlike other long-wait bonuses, the comparatively low upside here doesn’t really justify the patience required.

It’s not a conclusion we enjoy reaching, but NetEnt’s Narcos ends up feeling more like a small-time dealer than the powerful drug lord it set out to become.