• Publisher: Nexon
  • Release Date: Jul 10, 2008
User Score
5.0 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 86
  2. Negative: 38 out of 86

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  1. Apr 24, 2013
    10
    PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE ASSUMING THE GAME IS NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    This game is indeed original, sure theres hackers but seriously what pc game doesnt have hackers? i was reading most of the reviews on here and tbh i was reading a lot of beginner reviews who didnt have a decent grasp on the game's perspective. YOU DONT NEED TO PAY TO WIN, a large amount of the GP (ga
    me points- earned by playing the game) are also powerfull. also this ISNT AN EASY GAME, most bigger games that people are relating to this one dont take as long to get used too. each and every single gun in this game has its own strengths and weaknesses, the pay for weapons are not that perfect and overpowered, many players that come to this game complain that they cant kill anyone and that their getting killed through walls etc. yes there might be hackers but maybe your connection to the game server isnt that great or your internet provider that you currently use isnt that great either you can check your connection to the game by pressing TAB, 1-2 bar ping your going to experience frequent lag, delayed bullet hit or being unable to move. THIS IS NOT THE GAMES FAULT, IT IS NEXONS FOR NOT HAVING ENOUGH MOTHER SERVERS CURRENTLY THERE ARE 2 MAIN SERVERS, EU (europe) and NA (noth america). AND LASTLY THIS GAME HAS RECOIL, dont expect this to be COD where the gun doesnt bounce. THIS GAME REQUIRES PATIENCE AND LEARNING by pressing F1 ingame you can try the tutorial and get used to standard recoil and bullet spread. Expand
  2. Apr 3, 2013
    10
    A lot of guns with constant updates, the game has improved over the last few years with increasing player base, never had any issues finding games, plus I can pay to win!
  3. Mar 2, 2013
    3
    Combat arms looked decent when i tried it out. Not really. The game seems pay to win, and almost no equipment is permanent. You have to keep buying items that last for X amount of days. The mechanics are horrible. I start a game of multiplayer, and my starter gun had a huge hipfire reticle, meaning i could only shoot stuff that was right up in my face. My team was getting spawnkilled, and i couldn't seem to kill anything. The graphics are pretty decent for a game made in mid-2008. I recommend not wasting the time downloading this, as it's not worth the time, downloading or playing. Expand
  4. Feb 21, 2013
    3
    This, this game is something. I used to play it when i was about 11 years old back in 2008-09. Oh man, i enjoyed it, i even bought some NX. But you know, i got banned, my KDr was 3. something. Still no idea why i got banned, even tried sending several support emails, never got answer. Now that i look back, this game WAS cool. I have tried getting back into it after i got banned, but never ever if i can, since the game has more hackers, more rich kids that trows money into it and more OP stuff to be bought with NX. The problems are the following:

    1. Hackers, biggest hackfest off all time! You just made a new account, congratulations, now you go into a recruit server and get your ass kicked by a hacker EVERY SINGLE TIME you join a game. Not only 1, but often several.

    2. Pay2Win. Another HUGE problem, you pay money, you win. The default weapon is absolutely horrendous, so is the pistol and everything you start with. IF you choose to waste your hard earned money on this, you will most likely start using alot (like i did). You will be able to buy the best gear, and you are almost unstoppable when playing against low-rank players.

    3. Ranking is incredibly slow. You earn ingame money so slow, that you will have to play for 3 hours to be able to buy a weapon for 1 day. Not only that, but all the good weapons are only aviable to purchase with ingame earned money if you have a high rank, which will take you a gazilion years to get.

    4. Elite moderator (*facepalm*), worst game mechanic put into a game in the history of gaming. You can kick players out of your game if you want to? Then hell, why not just kick everyone who kills me If you even show a tiny bit of skill, you will get kicked out of the game ASAP. Now, what about non elite/super(!) elite moderator games, now no one can kick me for being good, but hold on a second, HACKERS!!! 50% of games outside recruit server and without elite moderator has hackers. Jeez, what should i choose, getting kicked by an with no skill and money, or killed over and over again by bloody cheaters? I choose none. 5. Whiners and cryers. People CONSTANTLY complain and acuse you for cheating. Nuff said

    Dont play this game unless you have alot of money, even then, please, dont it up for us other playersd. Its a pain to play.

    Now, why shouldnt i give this game a 0? Its not only the devs fault, but the player base. Disgusting little bastards, crying because someone is better and reporting you. Final thoughts, stay. the. out. pls.
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  5. Feb 1, 2013
    5
    I played this game for a few years now so I say yes this game is very addicting and a great free to play fps game from all of its alright quality and simple game play, but this game also has its issues since no game can be perfect (in my opinion), It has many players that will hack, or glitch in order to win, so many players start assuming that the other players that do awfully well against them cheat so they constantly brag about you till your kicked, and may sometimes might stalk you or broadcast to try to ban you as well, so that much ruins it. That is why i rate this as a 5 it's fun and you can meet nice people to hang, or just talk, but their are haters of course that you can just ignore. I currently try not to play this game so often sometimes I may. Expand
  6. Jan 17, 2013
    3
    Rated purely as a multiplayer experience, Nexon's Combat Arms is among the best out there. A slew of gameplay modes, more guns than possibly any other game ever made, detailed, well-laid out maps, and in-depth character customization make a potent combination for any FPS fan. Sounds incredible, yeah? However, when looking at the tangential factors, cracks in this lovely facade appear, revealing the gooey mess of the game's core.

    The P2W model is a good starting point. There's good and bad ways to implement this model, and Combat Arms(abbreviated CA) has done poorly in this regard. Weapons that can be bought permanently with in-game currency (GP) are limited to extremely rare special events, and the prices are often beyond the means of most players. So you rent guns for fixed periods of time. A recent update has removed the option to rent for one day, which basically ties you to playing the game for at least a week solid to recoup your losses from rentals. Now, if you're willing to throw cash at the game, then there's awesome gear a-plenty for perm and rent available to you. I've personally sprung for a few guns during my playtime as a gesture of goodwill and appreciation towards Nexon back when I was more inclined to like them. As an aside, I consider buying gear with cash in a game to be like a tip. The devs have provided a product to you, said you don't have to pay, but if you'd like to thank them, buying a gun helps both you and them.

    Increasingly imbalanced gear, guns, and characters have been introduced, breaking the game quite badly in favor of paying players. Some of the gametypes introduce thoroughly frustrating situations, such as the horde mode Fireteam, where in the zombie maps you probably shouldn't bother showing up without the biggest backpack you can afford and at least three MGs, if not going in for a specialist, medkits, and a minigun. Oh, speaking of the minigun and spec weapons, the piss-poor netcode and optimization results in more than one person using the minigun per map to cause lag, and anyone using the flamethrower will drag the game to a crawl. Optimization problems are very prevalent in the game, largely due to the ancient Jupiter engine the game is sourced on, which was never meant to handle the type of game that Combat Arms is and has become.

    And then you have the hackers. There have been three great hacker wars so far, and a fourth seems to be brewing on the horizon. CA's dev team can't seem to patch all the holes in the engine, and to top it off, there are design issues on maps that have been repeatedly ignored.

    The community is also a sore point. CA, largely due to its age and marketing, is filled with the most obnoxious sort of online gamers. Griefers, hackers, potty-mouthed tweens, they're all here. There are good players who play clean, polite, and respectfully. But they're few and far between, and they often become just as poisonous as the other players as an insulation technique.

    In short, CA is a great concept with an African warlord's armory worth of firepower, let down by bad coding, hacking, a horrid community, and design that not so much nudges as boots players in the direction of the cash shop.
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  7. Jan 4, 2013
    0
    Combat Arms is an epitome of a broken game with the singular goal to make money, through selling overpriced and overpowered weapons compared to its GP counterpart. Its also alarming that Nexon has little to none concern to its community. Like all Nexon games, they are destined to fail.
  8. Dec 9, 2012
    1
    If you pay, you're God; if you don't, you're just a poor noob. That's all what you need to know when you play this game. You need to pay to get some weapons, which may expire in some time! Is that a joke? Apart for this, this game would get a 3, because it's still bad: boring and very bad gameplay, as well as the multiplayer, graphics and sound. Also, MP is very closed.
  9. Dec 4, 2012
    2
    this game is very laggy for ALL users and yet people still willing to play this game, despite it's huge amount of hackers, poor design and not to mention it's overpriced guns
  10. Nov 25, 2012
    3
    My very first FPS game i ever played. It was fun back in 2008, but the community became terrible. it has way more crying kids then cod. There are a lot of hackers in the game, i never played a game with so many hackers. and the community is so terrible, even if your not a hackers they will call you a hacker, and they will call you more then only a hacker. The game has horrible servers to. Also, you cant really become a pro in this game. Only if you pay for the good weapons, you can get pro. if you dont buy NX, it's really hard to get some kills. It was definitly worth downloading in 2008, now its just a waste of gigs on your computer. Expand
  11. Nov 7, 2012
    2
    The engine that powers Combat Arms is starting to show its age. The graphics are dated, the controls feel mushy, and let us not forget about all the hackers that ruin the game for everyone else. Over all the game is not horrible, but there is nothing that really stands out as a reason to play.
  12. Oct 20, 2012
    8
    Perfectly good game. It costs money to make a game with good graphics, if you didn't know. And this was made in Amercia, idiot. This game is perfect if you have a bad pc. Weapon upgrades seem a bit unfair. And some people use hacks.
  13. Sep 28, 2012
    3
    Pay to Win. Bad coding. VERY frequent crashing. Nothing fun ever comes out. The servers are laggy. (look it up, combat arms server lag) on youtube. I've been playing this game since March 22, 2009. I wouldn't recommend it.
  14. Sep 2, 2012
    1
    It's one of those games I wish I could rate better and I wish I could say was great, but I can't. It's a game that basically forces you to pay for guns or sit through constant hours letting kids with credit cards kill you. The graphics are awful and there are hackers galore to boot. In my opinion, just go play Team Fortress 2. At least Valve knows how to keep their games updated, nearly hack free (Every game has them), and keeps it fair for the free-to-plays.
    In a nutshell, it lags, not kept up-to-date, guns are the only thing updated, hacks everywhere, pay-2-win, awful graphics.
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  15. Aug 21, 2012
    0
    I had to create an account just to review this game. I started playing this when it first came out and was in love with it till my interests wandered elsewhere. Recently I decided to play it again after having put it down for a couple years and was horribly disappointed. The hacking has gotten so bad with this game that I could not even leave the spawn points. Basically everytime I spawned within 2-5 secs i was dead again because you could not leave the spawn point. No enjoyment whatsoever and I cannot even imagine to think what kind of idiot would consider it a good time to hack a game and camp spawn points. Expand
  16. Jul 25, 2012
    6
    I'm surprised at how many people play this game when its glitchy, laggy, has bad graphics, I have got shot at through walls, people camp and hack, the infection mode is annoying it takes like three frickin clips to kill one infected when all they have to do is hit you once then your infected. Play team fortress 2 and counter strike source instead they're much better games
  17. Jul 18, 2012
    0
    Terrible, pay to win game. Free games cost nothing to make and maintain yet make so much money. Avoid at all costs or all future games will be pay to win. Soon games will be just corporate business and boring.
  18. Jul 17, 2012
    0
    SO MANY HACKERS REALLY BAD RUDE COMMUNITY BAD NON FAIR STAFF THAT DONT UPDATE PATCH OR CARE ABOUT COMMUNITY OR HACKS BANNED LEGIT PEOPLE AND CRASH ALL THE TIME WITH BAD SERVER LAG AND ALL WEAPONS FOR NEXON(NX) EXPENSIVE SOME GUNS GO UP TO EVEN $30
  19. Jul 10, 2012
    2
    I got into this game a while back as a poor PC gamer, before it came to Steam. At first, I thought it was decent since I had little experience with FPS games at the time, however, over time, I realized more and more how horrendously put together the game really was.

    I dont know what is is, but as far as I have noticed, Korean game developers just cant seem to get FPS games right, and I
    have seen a flood of mediocre to poor F2P FPS games from Korean developers. They can never get the feeling of shooting a gun quite right, which does not surprise me due to a variety of factors, both cultural and situational.

    Pros: Its free, there is an active community(theres a catch to this though... keep reading)

    Cons: Its Pay 2 Win (the very definition of P2W FPS), Horrendous ping(it doesnt even show ping at all, not surprising since Korean developers are not experienced at making FPS games in general), and the community is generally horrible (its one of the worst game communities I have ever seen), if you have played any decent FPS game (CoD, BF, TF2, L4D, BLR, etc) this will test your sanity.

    It may appeal to you due to the F2P factor of the game, but please, for your sanity's sake, dont play this game.

    Every time you think you are decently well off with an acceptable gun and a handful of gear, some child will join the server decked out with a premium character with a one-man-army's worth of equipment because he whined to his parents to buy him Nexon cards, run circles around all the poor people that havent payed real money since the premium characters were horrendously broken, chuck explosives everywhere, and wipe the floor with everyone that is sane enough not to pay $20 for a set of in-game items that only last a week. that further shows that the weapon balancing is non-existent, the higher level and more expensive weapons are just plain better. The presentation of the game seems alright at first, but the game shows its low production value with jerky animations and dated graphics. not only is the gameplay dated, but there lacks some very important things to make an FPS good, like being able to tell what everybody's ping is, and dedicated servers. I swear, even with the best games, I can guesstimate the lag of the movement to about 150+ ping, and on an average server, its 200+, as I run around a corner, and all of a sudden I die when I am not in line of sight of any enemy at all due to the lag. That being said, the community is the most horrendous part of all in this game... a large portion of the community consists of the stereotypical "spoiled devil-children", be prepared to listen to the shrieks of a spoiled 10 year old who's parents have basically "let the computer/XBox be the babysitter". not only that, but many of the players are not used to people that are used to playing much better FPS games. given that I have gotten my FPS skills from the 800+ hours of BF2142, I have learned to pay attention to the environment, and play with headphones. after taking a break from the game for half a year and getting back to it about 2 years ago, in the first game I entered, I was accused of hacking. It was an urban map, so it was CQC, meaning, paying close attention to your surroundings is vital. some child accused me of "chamming", which at the time, I had no idea what that was since I think people who hack in competitive games should be punched in the teeth (I dont keep up with hacks/exploits). apparently someone else explained to me that "chamming" was a wall-hack, which allows you to see where the other players are. I just listened for footsteps and looked at the mini-map, and I was called a hacker because I got the jump on someone by paying attention... and this happened in half the games I played. yea... the community is a steaming pile of cow dung. I left the game to keep my sanity. I will refuse to play this game even if Nexon paid me to do it (unless they want an honest review, in that case, ill happily expose it for the steaming pile of P2W dung that it is). If you read through all of this, I thank you, as hopefully you have been warned of the horrors of this game and will steer as clear of it as possible. The only thing I fear now is, now that Combat Arms has been moved to Steam, it is likely that the Combat Arms community is going to migrate over to Steam... "Brace yourselves... the onslaught of spoiled devil-children is coming..." There are infinitely better F2P FPS games out there, save your sanity and avoid Combat Arms like the plague.
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  20. Jul 8, 2012
    8
    Combat Arms Is A Really Good Game, It Doesn't Compare To The Big Name Shooters but it's juts simply a fun game. The graphics my be dated but they are still good enough, the game play is fun as long as you don't a hacker or lag which is unfortunately common in the game. But really, if you don't have any of the top shooters this is the game for you, it's accessible and there's quite a large community and some damn good game modes. Expand
  21. Jun 27, 2012
    9
    Very good free FPS with dated graphics and it's pay to win but even after all that with just a little bit of skill it's pretty damn fun and I'd say it's worth giving a shot
  22. Jun 22, 2012
    7
    nice time fill up game. played it now and then.
    hackers finally seem to be going off.
    difficulty level is tougher than any other fps in my knowledge.
    accessible to everyone...from broke person to a successful businessman(alttho i dont get the idea of spending a penny on it)
    however, there are other great mmos that also have a more of everything, that it be sound, graphics quality, rpg,
    or the pvp itself such as age of conan
    as far as im concerned Combat arms is ultimately for the guy **** that whine a ton or gun maniacs.
    if you are one of those this game is for you. if you aren't you will be enjoying other more complicated and tuff games out there
    (find yourselves a good clan and have a good time with em)
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  23. Apr 6, 2012
    2
    too much hacking. bad graphics too. if it was less hacking and beeter gameplay it would be better. who would this game if people hacks. it suckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkssssssssssssssss
  24. Dec 25, 2011
    6
    Used to play this game a while back, but i quit due to annoying little problems like parasitic hackers and the bad recoil. The gun prices are a slap in the face too, but if you get your wallet out, be prepared to win.
  25. Dec 23, 2011
    3
    Well it's an average game filled with hackers... but still enjoyable from time to time...
  26. Dec 11, 2011
    0
    Graphics: 3/10
    Gameplay: 3/10
    Balance: 0/10
    Good for its price: No.
    Gamemodes: 5/10

    Combat arms is an FPS which fails to deliver in comparison to other games in the genre. Counter-Strike is a cheap game, but is superior to this and will probably cost you less in the end, plus has modding.
  27. Nov 27, 2011
    6
    The only up I can think of about this game was playing with my clan against other clans. But you can do this in other, better shooting games. The game would be acceptable if there wouldn't be so many hackers. If you want a good free shooting game, go play TF2 or buy a real game.
  28. Nov 10, 2011
    3
    CrossFire is so much better than this. It runs on the same engine and there's more customisation here with attachments and stuff. It's not a bad game, but it's definitely not great or a competitor for other free shooters out there. The graphics and gameplay just aren't consistent or anything worth your time. In sum, the philosophy of this game is "Cheap and sh*t"
  29. Oct 27, 2011
    7
    Combat Arms isn't half bad, the animations are well done same with the maps and weapon choice.
    However the game is easy to hack into and there are loads of hackers but luckily we have mod servers.
    Another problem is you barley get any ingame cash after a match but its a free game and the company have got to make some money so its ok.
    The modes are fairly good and easy to learn.
    Graphics: 7
    /10
    Weapons: 9/10
    Community: 5/10
    Overall: 7/10
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  30. Sep 18, 2011
    7
    So, I don't particularly like Nexon, their GMs/Mods or their policies on dealing with customer complaints and handling of tickets. That aside, the community is a total grab bag. There are some great, skilled and mature people to play with. On the other hand their are hackers (though a LOT less than when it first started up), lots of QQing (complaining in game about others hacking/glitching when they aren't), and most of all too much rage kicking. You can just choose to ignore these people and for the most part it shouldn't be a problem. It's great for a couple of hours if your bored or if you need something free. I wouldn't advise putting money into it, as their in game items can run up to nearly $25.00 a piece (for 1 (one) permanent weapon). Graphically it is amazing, the level designs are mostly solid, there is a huge selections of guns you can "rent" for free using in game currency known as GP (game points). Why anyone would spend a dime on this game I am not sure. There are even ways to earn free NX, though I recommend caution with any "third-party" offers. Regardless of whomever is offering them. Expand
  31. Apr 17, 2011
    0
    combat arms does have some original gameplay like the quarantine feature, however, many things ruin that from unbalanced gameplay due to NX, the graphics are overall horrible with no really time lighting and clunky polygons, the overall destruction and realism is also extremely low. I known people who spent well over 1000 dollars on this game just to get a advantage because they suck, instead when they can be getting better titles like Battlefield or Crysis, I recommend battlefield play4free, which is free, but gameplay and content and graphics are better than this game. Expand
  32. Mar 19, 2011
    6
    Combat Arms was great in it's hey-day. I used to play it non-stop, owning noobs and constantly being called a hacker. There was nothing enjoyed more than getting home and going 25-2 in a game. But that all changed when Nexon reared that ugly head of theirs and ruined everything.
    Now, the community was bad to start with. I was there for the open beta. I was there for the first three major h
    acker wars. I was there to witness Nexon going back on their rule of "NX items are purely cosmetic". I was there when the specialists were added, and Infection was added. I saw the community go from tolerable to "everything that kills me is hacks. I am so pro at this game that I can never die." The only lights in this awful storm were the forum members who tried to help.
    Then came the great reform. The Nexon admins and GMs started doing something for once, but it was just too late. They had added too much content to balance, taken too long removing the majority of hackers, ignored the community for too long. It was over. The game was forever ruined, and it was a sad time..
    Perhaps some day it will regain it's former glory, but until then, it will remain as the biggest testament to Nexon's failure.
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  33. Oct 3, 2010
    4
    The only reason anyone plays this is because it's free. My friend says Combat Arms used to be a good game, but like all Nexon Games, they ruin them by adding all these random stuff like maps. They epicly fail on recoil when your gun just starts shaking around.
  34. ConnorS
    Jan 8, 2010
    8
    Combat Arms is a great game, its noob friendly (mostly anyways), a great multiplayer blast and Nexon takes its players concerns seriously. One problem (and if you read the other reveiws) is that theres too many hackers and if your on the new player server, you cant kick the hacker because you need to be a higher rank. Ahn Labs hack shield fails. Epicly. But the gamplay is a really great blast. Sometimes, its also fun to try and kill hackers, then if you succeed, laugh and stick your goolies in his face. That'll show em hacks are for moronic noobs. Expand
  35. JimmyC
    Dec 16, 2009
    4
    It's kind of sad that people spend so many hours playing this game simply because it's free, when far better options like TF2, CoD 4, and CS:S are available quite cheaply, with better gameplay, community and graphics.
  36. ZuriT.
    Oct 10, 2009
    8
    I've been playing the game for more than a year now, and I have to say that Combat Arms has become a pretty significant part of my gaming life. I started out as a noob who didn't know one end of a gun from the other, and now I'm leading a very strong clan in the game. The game's engine runs seamlessly, even on lower-end computers, but it's also capable of high-resolution gameplay. I don't know of any other free FPS that I can run in 1920x1080 resolution. There are more than 10 maps to play on, all fairly small, but that's part of what makes the action so fast-paced and intense. The graphics, if you turn on the highest settings, are right up there with PS2 favorites such as SOCOM 3. The only significant problems lie in the people that play. The game is fairly easily hacked, but luckily, most people don't know how to write hacking programs. Only when new hacking sites surface is there a new surge in hackers. Nexon is not the fastest at getting the hack sites out of business, but they do work on it (ex: TGS hacking site went out of business Q2 2009) Also, plenty of people under 13 lie about their ages and get into the game and cause ruckus and chaos for the other players. The game does have flaws which keep some of the more hardcore players on games such as Counter-Strike and Call of Duty 4, but for a price tag that can't be beat (free! :D), players who don't have so much money to spend would definitely be missing out on some serious action if they didn't check Combat Arms out. Expand
  37. Jackho
    May 2, 2009
    7
    Graphics: 6/10
    good for a free game but doesnt hold
    a candle to 'real' games

    Gameplay 8/10
    very good and addictive
    and with a low low price of FREE you
    cant go wrong
    though the huge amount of hackers take the fun out at times but if you can find some earnest players its pretty damn good!
  38. RichW.
    Apr 9, 2009
    8
    its a great game...if your broke and want some FPS action. Otherwise i suggest Counter Strike Source. PROS:FREE!!!,updates constantly,and large amount of guns to choose from CONS:Easy to hack,people bitching about getting owned,and glitchers.
  39. DanB.
    Dec 23, 2008
    1
    Game is very well done but is filled with HACKERS!
  40. BobS.
    Oct 28, 2008
    10
    Awesome man just started playing 2 days ago and already its so addicting and so little hackers from what i saw on the forums man.
  41. GurjyotS.
    Sep 27, 2008
    10
    Well I think for a free game this is awesome and Nexon is doing a good job to get rid of hackers and the community is mostly nice but some all trying to act hard and swearing but over all good alright graphics.
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. It's a good place for casual shooter fans who don't feel like dropping $20 to get the crap kicked out of them in CS. [Nov 2008, p.66]
  2. 75
    It's got decent game play and once the kills start rolling in you won't want to stop playing. There are just some things you can't pass up and this is one of them.
  3. There may be plenty of better options for anyone looking for an online shooter, but for the price Combat Arms is among the best around. It's fast, fun, brutal and addicting - what more could you ask for from a free FPS.