Combat Arms

Combat Arms is a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter developed by South Korea based developer Doobic Studios and published by Nexon. It incorporates the anti-cheat program HackShield made by AhnLab.

History

 * May 30, 2008:The closed beta started by exclusively through FilePlanet and ran for one week. It ended on June 6th. This beta was limited to users from North America, South America and Oceania. In the closed beta, 4 maps and 30 weapons were available.
 * June 26, 2008: Combat Arms went into in Pre-Open Beta Phase, whereby the game was open to the public, but it was still being tested and changed to prepare for Open Beta. Pre-Open Beta was also limited to users from North America, South America and Oceania.
 * July 11, 2008:The Official Launch of Combat Arms started.
 * August 8, 2008: Nexon announced that a Combat Arms service shall be started by Nexon Europe, for European Players.
 * October 28, 2008: Closed Beta of Combat Arms EU started; ended at November 11, 2008.
 * December 16, 2008: Nexon Europe launched Combat Arms EU Open-Beta exclusively through Euogamer.
 * February 17, 2009:The Offical Launch started for EU players, and is currently played by many countries in Europe.
 * July 11, 2009: The 1st Anniversary of Combat Arms is hosted by Nexon.
 * (February 3, 2010): Combat Arms undergoes a massive UI change.
 * July 9-11, 2010: The 2nd Anniversary of Combat Arms is celebrated by Nexon.
 * August 25, 2010: Combat Arms undergoes a massive HUD change.

Gameplay
Combat Arms is massive online FPS; solely a multiplayer game, with no single-player mode. It is one of the first of its kind, and is based similarly off of Counter-Strike.

Currently, there are playable Game Modes: Elimination, One Man Army, Spy Hunt, Fireteam, Quarantine Regen, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, Elimination Pro,Bombing Run, and Last Man Standing. (see Game Modes link for more modes). As of now, the game consists of 26 maps: The Training Grounds, Warhead, Pump Jack, Snow Valley, Gray Hammer, Junk Flea, Cold Seed, Two Towers, Brushwood, Waverider, Sand Hog, Death Room, Rattle Snake, Showdown, Desert Thunder, Overdose, Power Surge, Grave Digger, Roadkill, Cabin Fever, Kill Creek, Short Fuse, Vertigo, Dark Forest, Sector 25, and Dredge.

All the maps vary in terrain; some of which can change to suit the game mode. For example, in Quarantine, currently existing maps are given a more eerie feeling than they normally would have. While in CTF, flags are now present at either base.



Joining a Game
Once logged in, users can join various servers (all of which suit to their needs and ranks). From there, they can join rooms and start a match.

Players who start a room, known as the Room Master (those who have the elite moderator are displayed as Elites), are able to choose the map, game mode; while settting the score, and setting restrictions on which weapons other players can wield (for example, "Melee Only" or "No Sniper Rifles"). They can also allow other players to join mid-combat, and enable or disable Friendly Fire. If the Room Master has purchased Elite Moderator status from the Black Market, the Room Master can kick other players during gameplay and in the room lobby regardless of whether or not they are a teammate. Elite Moderators also do not need a reason to kick other players.

Players are also able to obtain in-game money known as Gear Points (GP) and experience (EXP) after a match, allowing them to rank up and buy and unlock new weapons and equipment, such as armor, uniforms, and backpacks, for their characters.

However, as opposed to most first-person shooters, the GP system rarely allows for permanent weapon purchase. Players may instead rent the weapons for a set period of time (although default weapon changes may be achieved through the Black Market. The rental periods are 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, and 90 days, with each rental period costing more in-game money but being a better deal. This rental period has caused much criticism to the game as players are upset that they cannot own weapons that they buy forever and that they have to keep playing to make up for the GP they used to purchase weapons and gear. This game design was based on a game known as Heat Project, a game made in Korea.

The game also uses a weapon-customization system where players can buy silencers, larger or faster-loading magazines, and different types of scopes to improve the modified weapon's capabilities.

History
During its first year, there have been drastic changes to the game. The game has been expanded massively, adding content such as the Black Market, Female characters, Voting and reporting system, and popular game modes and items. Other changes included loading screen changes, layouts of the menus and lobbies, and even the theme music (which didn't change until the end of September 2009).

Among all these gaming perks, there are also many disadvantages. The Combat Arms has been criticized for the inaccurate statistics of the weapons. It was also criticized for its extremely strict profanity filter. For example, if a player wishes to say "sniper", it will show up as s**er, filtering the "nip" out of the word (any profanity, no matter how many letters, shows up as **). The profanity filter is now less strict and can be turned off because of a recent patch. In August 21, 2008, Nexon's server maintenance also came under fire for the "witch-hunt" style player bans being put in place. While results are mixed, it is believed that all players confirmed to have been cheating were banned or demoted to the lowest rank, Trainee. Many of these players claim innocence, saying that they only did it once or by accident. The engine has also been known to ban certain players for no discernable reason, including those who are not even playing.

Many players claim that Combat Arms allows many capabilites of a "real" (meaning using money to buy it) First-Person Shooter game. However, the widespread use of cheat and hacking programs have frustrated old and new players alike and made the community of Combat Arms prone to "haccusating" every good player. But the new arrival of more content, events, abilities, and game modes have been able to revive some interest for new gamers and possibly some former players. Nexon proudly announced that more than two million accounts have been made since March of 2009, and the number of players has been growing since.