Free, sounds good doesn’t it. Well Combat Arms, a Free MMO FPS from Nexon, is just that. Combat Arms is a free, fast-paced FPS. It plays sort of like a Counter-Strike: Source/ Call of Duty 4 hybrid. The basis of the game is you are a mercenary, with a gun. End of story plot. Then you get thrown on a map where you can play a variety of game modes. From standard Team Death match to the beloved Search and Destroy. There is also a newly added co-op game mode called Fireteam where you and a group of up to 8 other players try to move through a map. This co-op aspect really adds a lot to the online experience.
The weapons on this game are stunning, there are many, many to choose from. There is the standard M16, the Ak47 and variants, the AWP, and many others. Every single gun’s reload animation and sounds just feel right. The game wasn’t created to be a realistic shooter, but I feel it still has some realistic aspects.
The “free-ness” of this title is completely up to the user. You earn GP from getting kills, objectives, etc. You can also buy special weapons and gun crates with NX points, Nexon’s currency standard with all of their games (Maplestory.) I feel that the NX guns are balanced.
The game uses a rank up system that determines what server you can play in. The ranks are named after army ranks. The servers are really balanced because of this system, but there is always the occasional 2nd account-er. I really like the way the ranks are implemented in this game.
My worst point with this game is the slow reaction to hackers and glitchers from Nexon. The hackers in this game aren’t as bad as say Warrock, but it is an annoyance. You can submit hacker reports, but I feel they don’t even read them as nothing is done in a timely manner.
Overall, I feel this is a solid free MMO FPS. I believe that Nexon, of all companies, really made a great product here. I would recommend this game to anyone that loves CS:S or is looking for a good, fast-paced, high scoring shooter. I give this game 8.5/10.
