By Joshua Temblett, Onrpg Writer
Combat Arms is the latest game from publisher Nexon. This First Person Shooter aims to revitalise the stale and pretty much absent free online FPS genre. With its fast Call of Duty 4 style gameplay, host of weaponry, modes/maps and new features in the pipeline, CA is really looking to be a success with its constant updates. However if the core gameplay is lacking, is there any point on expanding on it?
Um storyline?
Now normally I would start up this second paragraph by talking about the storyline of the title. Combat Arms doesn’t have one, so it makes my job slightly easier. Do we really need a background to this game though? No. You give us guns, we don’t need reasons, and we’ll shoot things. This is the way of the human race, as horrible as it sounds. Whilst the (American) website does boast a very exciting CG cutscene which could lead into some sort of tale, the game does not feel the need to play on it. After all this is a free online fps, what more do you expect? Boy, these weapons look good!
Graphically this title isn’t so superior, however when compared to other Free to Play FPS’s on the market it definitely looks good. The game retains a semi realistic style (which isn’t fully realistic due to its lack of graphical power) which suits the game well as it attempts to provide the gamer with “real life” guns (yes the AK-47’s there) and the modern day war time experience. These guns aren’t necessarily easy to handle though as each gun is different in its weight, size, recoil and feel. This uniqueness for each gun, and a bigger emphasis on the stats of each gun, is very refreshing as not only does managing the guns require skill, but experience. Fighting against the recoil is always fun.
Get ready to aim…fire!
Running and gunning is always exciting however if you have broken controls, which don’t work, the fun is no doubt ruined. Combat Arms doesn’t have broken controls though, so don’t worry. The controls are generally very responsive, and the W,A,S,D keys for movement enable fast responses to situations. The gameplay is generally very quick, however not so much so that you’ll respawn, and then seconds later die, however swift reflexes are needed. You’ll certainly need to learn on the job for this game, and if you haven’t played a lot of FPS’s you better get ready for a long ride, but it is certainly worth it.
Speaking of a long ride, guns cost money and getting cash in this game isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world as you’ll be earning it pretty slowly. You’ll also need to obtain experience to be able to unlock new weapons and items. With every level up you do obtain large sums of GP (the local currency) so it’s not much of a problem as long as you keep playing however if you’re a bit more casual this could become a problem as leveling up and getting the money is a long and hard process. Also when you buy weapons, you have a choice of how long you purchase them for (I.E. one day, one week and so on), with the price increasing with the more days you wish to keep your weapon for. This can create some issues as to get fully kited can be expensive. Once you get good at the game though, it’s not so hard to remain well equipped.
So, is it good?
Combat Arms is shaping up to be a hit, however the US version has been hit by a variety of hackers, so there is a fear that the same will happen here (which it probably will as the hackers always feel the need to use aim bots as it’s their way of compensating for something), what with a weak hack prevention system. It’ll be interesting to see how the game progresses as they add the clan ranking system and various other interesting features. I’m interesting to see how this game will evolve, as I think it’ll definitely bring some awesome new features to the genre, and I certainly look forward to them.
