Combat Arms - The New Modern Warfare PC Game - Beta Review

The Combat Arms closed beta began May 30th and we were quick to download our access keys and give this "Free To Play Multiplayer First Person Shooter" a try.

My Gaming Community & I have been playing a few new installments this week, The Battlefield 2142 -1.50 patch, The Call Of Duty 4 Map Pack, and The Combat Arms closed beta to name just a few.

We have put most first person shooters to the test over the past 5 years, including yet not limited to Day of Defeat, Counter Strike, Battlefield 2,Battlefield 2142, Call of Duty 4, F.E.A.R, Frontlines Fuel Of War, Crysis, and Team Fortress 2. As with most violent games containing blood and combat situations we expect on release this game will be rated "Mature" and targeted for an audience over the age of 18.

Combat Arms is in development by Nexon, a company that has specialized in multiplayer games in the past , however MMORPG has previously been more of their claim to fame and I believe this is the first , FPS title they have put on the production line.

Combat Arms (In Beta Form) is most similar in game play and appearance to Counter Strike in comparison to other first person shooters. It is built on a solid multiplayer engine which contains a fantastic "GUI" interface. We love the method of server creation and the ability to easily locate our friends in game.

The action is quickly paced utilizing modern weapons which you purchase and upgrade based on experiance earned in previous games. There are so far two modes of game play (Elimination or Search and Destroy). The closed beta includes 4 maps (Warhead, Junk Flea, Pump Jack , & Gray Hammer) All are small modern maps located in industrial settings.

The models are smooth and the game play is addicting. The weapon sounds are beefy and the frames per second have been quite high for us. Our experiances with Call Of Duty 4, and the Battlefield Series have caused us to be somewhat critical of new games as they frequently have not lived up to the standard we have recently enjoyed. In this respect we feel the graphical detail could be improved somewhat however we are keeping in mind this is a beta and not a final release.

The included multi player mode of this game makes up the majority of content in this release. It offers real world combat locations, and small maps containing up to 16 playes (8 per team)

I am currently running an AMD x64 dual core rig with 2 gigs of ram and an 8800 GTS (640mb) graphics card and was able to run with graphic settings on the highest setting, with no lag or glitch problems.

After playing Call of Duty 4 over the past several months, I still miss the squad based play of the Battlefield series, however the multiplayer featured in Combat Arms is by nature much more run & gun than team oriented strategy work.

On a scale of one to ten I would give Combat Arms a 6.5 for it's multiplayer mode, most points given to the game interface and availability of options. It should be said, I've never rated a game 10 however I rank Battlefield 2142, or Call of Duty 4 an 8 or 9.

The closed beta is available now for download from Fileplanet . After playing . We are enjoying the multiplayer to pass time in spite of it's run and gun game play in the scope of longevity we feel only time will tell within our group especially now that we have new maps to explore in Call Of Duty 4 this week.

If you want an easy on your hardware,quickly paced, Counter Strike-ish multiplayer game with a great developmental concept & rewarding weapon customization options. You might consider picking up a copy of Combat Arms.

Right now the game is in free beta version so start downloading it today!

The closed combat arms beta has come to a finish, check back here for the open beta/demo expected in the very near future !

OPEN BETA NOW AVAILABLE!

FilePlanet - "This phase is open to the public; no Beta Keys are needed. Game servers will be available 24/7. Please be advised that there may be unscheduled patch updates during Open Beta. If servers are down, check the News section of combatarms.nexon.net of the Combat Arms forums for details. "