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Combat Arms

• By McKinley Noble
• August 19, 2008 15:14 PM PST
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For those of you who enjoy online shooters, but are a little short on cash, Combat Arms might be just what you've been looking for.

Combat Arms currently sports 6 maps and 4 multiplayer modes, including Elmination and Capture the Flag.

With most online first-person shooters, the battlefield is ruled by the few players who have all the best weapons or spend 20 hours a day practicing. Combat Arms, however, bravely throws out all the rules associated with its genre. Players won't have to devote weeks of time to unlock crucial gear in this fast-paced PC shooter -- and you don't even have to win matches to increase your rank! Combat Arms rewards players just for competing in different match types, all of which can separated by skill level. Even the game's currency, called Gear Points, gives consistent players access to rent equipment for their customizable characters.

Having the skills to rack multiple kills will increase your rank faster, but you'll still gain experience and Gear Points from your losses.

Of course, the guns and armor you can use in Combat Arms all carry benefits and consequences. For example, a padded backpack allows you to carry more weapons, but the extra bulk slows you down dramatically. Every gun can be fitted with scopes, stabilizers, and other useful tools that can benefit someone with horrible aim (like myself). In the modes we played, I dropped a lot of heavy armor to increase my foot speed, although it didn't help me stay alive past two gunshots. Even browsing through the equipment screens can get pretty addicting -- once you find that perfect balance of offensive and defensive gear, the gameplay suddenly opens up.

After setting up your character, weapons, and other gear, you can instantly jump into any game and start learning the ropes.

The main draw to this online shooter is that it's "free-to-play." Publisher Nexon, the powerhouse behind the addictive 2D MMORPG Maple Story, swears that players will never have to spend a single American cent for an advantage in Combat Arms. That means no player will be able to outclass newcomers with credit card-purchased "golden guns" or "god armor." Nexon also promises new downloadable content for Combat Arms every month, ranging from maps and weapons to new components for your character. (We've even heard that female body models are in the works for a future release.)

Combat Arms is available now online, and with new content always on the way, now is as good a time as any to gear up.

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