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Combat Arms Review April 14, 2009 |
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Summary: Nexon's Combat Arms is an online first-person shooter that's free to play, but based on microtransactions with items like additional weapons and attachments costing about $4/month if you choose to purchase them. How does it fare against conventional shooters though? Find out in today's review!
 Combat Arms Review | Page:: ( 1 / 5 ) |
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One company who has as history of free, micro transaction based multiplayer games is Nexon, developers of Maple Story and Combat Arms, a multiplayer only shooter. Combat Arms allows players to create a character through their servers and connect with other players around the world to engage in real world combat action. Combat Arms boasts some interesting features, from full clan support, to a ‘black market’ where players can go to purchase some time with new weapons that will give you an edge in combat.
Once you log into the game servers, you gain access to the configuration screen where you can not only rent weapons, but also attachments to any weapons you currently have equipped such as ACOG scopes or silencers. Upgrades can be purchased either by using the in-game currency, or game points which is earned by playing online with bonuses for headshots, nut shots, (not a typo), or leveling up. Each time you play through a complete match, you earn experience points based upon your performance and you level up to a new rank once you’ve earned enough XP. An important thing to note is that to earn GP, you have to play through an entire match. While you can join a game in progress, Combat Arms does not reward you for dropping early.
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The pricing of weapons in Combat Arms varies depending on how long you want to use them for. On average, purchasing a weapon for 90 days will run you roughly $12 or $4 a month. It’s strange that when you purchase a weapon or attachment, you only get it for a short amount of time instead of indefinitely. But since the game is based on micropayments, I assume it’s how Nexon pays the bills for bandwidth and server management. Given the MMO aspects of the game however, it’s still cheaper per month than the average $15 a month most MMO’s run you. However, we would like it if Nexon would throw people a bone at least every few levels; perhaps a free attachment or weapon every couple of ranks. Thankfully, the game doesn’t suffer as a result of people choosing not to spend money to play. The default rifle, an M16A3, can be quite deadly in the right hands and players can pick-up weapons dropped by fallen players.
Combat Arms has quite an impressive suite of community features as well, including full clan support. Once you achieve the rank Staff Sergeant, you can create a clan of your choosing. Clans can easily keep in contact, arrange matches or share NX points, the in-game currency which functions similar to Microsoft or Wii points. NX points can be redeemed by buying pre-paid NX cards or buying a set amount of points online in blocks of 5,000, 10,000, or 30,000. NX points are roughly $1 for 1000 points.
| Gameplay | Page:: ( 2 / 5 ) |
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Spy Hunt is an interesting game mode where 2 teams compete to gain access to brief cases containing some mysterious intel. Once one player grabs all 3 cases, he becomes the spy and must escape with the intel. There are 3 intel cases in all scattered throughout the maps, so once a player gets all 3 cases, Phase 2 begins. During the second phase of the game, the player who collected the intel must get the cases to a transmitter to upload the data to win the game. At this point, all other players are now teamed up against the spy. To help even the odds a bit, the spy becomes a super spy and is given advanced armor and weapons to help him to cut down the competition.
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Overall game modes are pretty diverse, although the one standout mode, spy hunt is underrepresented amongst most players who appear to favor traditional deathmatch and team deathmatch. Map design in Combat Arms is pretty good and goes a long way to make the game far more addicting than it has any right to be. Combat Arms relies on some wonderfully designed maps that make an extensive use of vertical movement to give players an advantage over their opponents. Wave Rider for instance, is a map with not only tight, confined alleyways, but also access to expansive rooftops where you can literally get the drop on other players. A majority of Combat Arms’ maps feature multiple access points to high venues and rooftops, which gives you a high amount of replayability.
The maps in Combat Arms are easily one of the reasons why I probably enjoyed the game far more than I originally thought I would. Being able to find a nice, high vantage point from which to pick off other players is incredibly fun. Most maps are asymmetrical as well, so knowing the layout gives you somewhat of an advantage. Thankfully, most of the maps are quite easy to learn, whether it’s the small Two Towers or the larger, more expansive Wave Rider.
| Gameplay (cont’d) Graphics and Audio | Page:: ( 3 / 5 ) |
I played against a few self-proclaimed “professional” gamers, who seemed to have mastered the ancient art of long distance bunny hopping shotgun sniping, something I thought we left behind many years ago. Also, there are quite few glitches in not only the maps, but ballistics behavior. One player I played against found a spot where he could shoot through a metal wall, picking off my team as we spawned. More frequently however, were the instances where I attempted to unload an entire clip at point-blank range into someone from directly above them, only to find I somehow missed. It appears the hit boxes don’t always register hits when firing directly from above.
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Graphics/Audio
By now, you have no doubt noticed from the screenshots that the graphical engine in Combat Arms is hardly state of the art. In fact, Combat Arms makes use of the Lithtech Jupiter Engine, first seen in NOLF 2. For the most part, the graphics are pretty meager and unimpressive and the bloom effect is way overdone. Instead of a nice variance of fuzzy that adds realistic optical effects, the bloom in Combat Arms looks like someone smeared Vaseline all over your monitor. Bloom is easily turned off thankfully, which we recommend lest you mistake your game for a Nicolas Cage inspired snuff film. Graphical annoyances aside though, Combat Arms gets the job done and runs well, as we would expect since it is running a 7 year-old engine.
Audio is passable for the most part, although gun sounds are bland and lack any serious punch. In-game voices are tolerable and adequate. The game does some feature some basic surround audio, which is helpful for determining an enemy’s location.
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| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 4 / 5 ) |
Pros
Free: It’s free to play and you can easily enjoy the game without spending a red cent. While those who do spend money tend to have an advantage in terms of weaponry, it was nothing I wasn’t able to nullify with some good old fashioned skill and cunning.
Old School Gameplay: Combat is fast, hectic, and pretty much thoughtless. It reminded quite a bit of playing QuakeTF or Desert Combat for BF1942. It’s kind of nice to jump into a game for once and just shut your brain off for a bit.
Excellent Map Design: The vertical map design in Combat Arms is really well done and gives the player quite a few options in terms of where he chooses to engage the enemies. If you can see a rooftop, chances are you can reach it with quite a few well timed jumps. This ability to stay on the move, which is key to success, keeps the game moving and you never feel like you are getting bored with the maps.
Cons
Outdated Graphics: The Lithtech Jupiter engine is pretty old and it shows, with its low resolution textures and overused bloom effects. Character animations are also stiff and lack any sense of life.
Glitches and Balance Issues: From the aforementioned inability to attack someone from directly above them, to the Vasily Zaitsev of shotgun users, Nexon needs to devote some time to balancing out new weapons as they are added to the game. The glitches (and exploiters who use them) need to be patched out, before it becomes a game crippling issue. As it is now, it’s still just a minor annoyance that is easily rectified by switching servers.
| Verdict | Page:: ( 5 / 5 ) |