Combat Arms (PC) Review

Posted by Chris Vicari on 10.27.2008

Fierce gun battles, small games, and outcries of hacking are what you’ll find in this F2P Online FPS.



Combat Arms
System - PC
Developer - Nexon
Publisher - Nexon

For those currently involved in free-to-play online games, Nexon America Inc. should be a household name for you by now. For those unfamiliar with the company, Nexon has published a variety of online games including the famous Maplestory side-scroller MMO, the online RTS Shattered Galaxy, and now their most recent project, Combat Arms. Released this past July, Combat Arms now boasts one million registered users and it’s one of the few F2P online FPS MMOs available.

Gameplay

Combat Arms is a relatively straight forward online FPS, but it does include various RPG elements as well. Upon first installing the game and logging in with your free Nexon account, you are given the opportunity to make your character and you can choose from a few basic looks. Every character starts with the same kit containing the same primary weapons such as an assault rifle and machine gun, a sidearm, knife, two grenades and some starting cash. When you’re happy with the way your character looks, merely join a server and duke it out with your fellow players. It’s as simple as that.

There are currently four modes of play available with a new one soon to come. The four current game types are your traditional FPS fare and ranges from team deathmatch, one-man army which is just free-for-all deathmatch, to capture the flag, and demolition. The last mode, which will be implemented sometime in the near future, is a bounty hunter mode. Here, one person randomly becomes the "bounty," who will be the target hunted by other players. The longer the bounty stays alive, the more in-game currency that player will earn. According to Nexon, this mode has never been introduced into an FPS before.

The RPG elements come into play when you kit out your character. To do this, you’ll need GP, also called Gear Points. GP is awarded at the end of every round, along with some experience, based on how well you performed. The GP you receive can then be utilized to purchase new gear or modify existing weapons with scopes, silencers or extended clips. You have around 40 primary weapons to choose from, and you can alter your character’s uniform, armored vest, headgear, and so forth. Sadly, purchases are not permanent and will only last for a set period of time depending on how long you designate. Longer time will of course cost more money. Some weapons and gear will also have a rank requirement and can only be purchased when the proper rank is attained. These aren’t permanent purchases either.

Recently added to the game is the Black Market. Here, players have the opportunity to spend their real-life money and turn it into Nexon currency, or NX as players call it. Similar to Maplestory, NX can be used to purchase exclusive weapons, looks and gear. Thankfully for Combat Arms’ sake, the NX purchases aren’t immensely better than their free counterparts, but that hasn’t stopped people from purchasing them. The trouble is, this gear also has a duration of 90 days and will have to be repurchased to use again.

That’s pretty much all you do in Combat Arms – get money, get paid and do it all over again. The gunplay itself is entertaining for a little while until you realize how ridiculously easy it is to reach the top of the killboard. Players respawn after three seconds and are immediately tossed back into the fray. One-sided matches happen frequently and there is no guard against spawn camping, despite being invulnerable for the first three seconds after respawning. Snipers rule for a majority of the maps as most are open area, and the one-shot AWP from Counter-Strike makes a return. The rest of the gunplay is purely run and gun with no point to seek cover or conserve ammunition.

Combat Arms also suffers from a severe hacker problem and because of this, players will fling the insult around with little hesitation. On my first day of playing, I was called a hacker no less than three times. If you’re a veteran of FPS games, you’ll tear through people like nothing. Through my experience, many players had a tendency to camp the same locations over and over, but then call you a hacker for killing them repeatedly at the same spot. Practically every other game I joined contained a hacker or a glitcher.

Teamplay is practically non-existent in Combat Arms and that puts a hamper on the whole thing. Players are far more concerned with darting straight for an enemy to kill them than watching your back. Coupled with a three-second respawn time, there is little point to play conservatively. There isn’t any VoIP in this game either and that’s surprising in this day and age. While there are voice commands, people rarely use them except to spam “F#ck! I don’t want to die!”

Oh yes, I also forgot to mention that you can’t have more than 16 players in a server at one time. There is no “epic battle” feel because of it and ironically some of the maps are large enough to support more than 16 people.

All in all, Combat Arms has a ton of potential, but it fails to deliver. Nexon needs to deal with the hackers and figure out how to reward players for working together as well as putting a little more substance into the combat. VoIP certainly couldn’t hurt either.

Graphics

Combat Arms’ graphics are by no means poor, but you can tell the game is free to play by just looking at it. The player models aren’t too well detailed, the guns are plain looking and the animations are jerky at times. The game does have some low system requirements and that helps draw in more players, but utilizing some of today’s technology may draw in even more.

Sound

Similar to the game’s graphic engine, the sound is a one-note tune as well. Most of the guns sound the same and at times are indistinguishable. Other sounds for reloading, walking, running and climbing are all rehashes found in other games. There is no music to comment on except for the game’s title page. The voices are of average quality and are not worthy of any praise.

Lasting Appeal

Due to the game’s lack of substance, you’ll tackle everything the game has to offer in a matter of hours. For the rest of the time, you’ll respawn and kill ad infinitum until you have enough cash to purchase what you want and then do it all over again. If you enjoyed doing it in Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 though, you’ll have a fun time here. Because of the game’s accessibility, Combat Arms is a good stress reliever, and it plays well in small doses. Nexon does add new content every couple of weeks, but it’s usually nothing more than stuff you can buy at the shop.

Fun Factor

Combat Arms is certainly not a game you’d play for extended periods of time. The gunplay is fun for a little while, but then gets boring quickly because of how easy it is. Since purchased items have a duration and are quite expensive depending on how long you wish to keep them, you’ll need to grind enough cash to afford everything on a near-constant basis. On top of that, you’ll only receive 200-300 GP per game, and that does not help make the game any more fun.

The 411

Combat Arms is a good game to play if you’re bored or waiting for something else to come out. Don’t expect it to hold your interest for an exceedingly long time though. It’s an entertaining game nonetheless so give it a shot. The game is free and practically everything in it is free as well so you have nothing to lose.

Graphics	7.0	The game looks like it's free to play, but it's nothing to snub your nose at.
Gameplay	7.5	Engaging at first, but it gets dull and repetitive fairly quickly. No VoIP and nobody works together.
Sound	6.0	Lackluster at best.
Lasting Appeal	6.5	You'll experience everything the game offers in a few hours and the rest of the time you'll grind for GP to buy more gear.
Fun Factor	7.0	It was fun to play the first few hours, but I tired of the monotony not long after.
Overall	6.8   [ Average ]