Looking Back at Combat Arms

The free to play online first person shooter game Combat Arms may not have an active player base, but it served a great purpose

This is a bit of a personal look-back article. I have been a gamer since my early childhood. Although I grew up a console gamer, I always wanted to cross over to the PC gaming realm. Something about being able to game on PC was always intriguing to me. I finally made the jump to PC gaming in 2024, and now I want to rewind the clock back to 2009 when I first installed Combat Arms on a desktop computer that was barely able to run it (sorry mom and dad).

Combat Arms is considered a “dead game” with a very small player base playing both the “Reloaded” and “Classic” versions of the game. However, it once had a strong player base of gamers across the globe that logged in daily to join in the online fun (including this writer). Join me as I take a walk down memory lane of why Combat Arms meant so much to me.

Looking Back at Combat Arms

Renewable Fun

I first dove into the world of Combat Arms in 2009, as the Call of Duty franchise was hitting what could be argued as its peak period with the Modern Warfare and Black Ops titles releasing back-to-back years.

I was an Xbox 360 kid in middle and high school. I played the first Modern Warfare and Black Ops titles online for hours on end with my friends after school, on weekends, school breaks, etc. As much as I enjoyed playing those games, there was one thing that I (and my parents) did not enjoy… they had an expiration date of approximately one year after the release date. As soon as the next title came out, we all moved away from the previous title.

This meant more money spent on a new game with a short lifespan every year. As a high school kid with not a ton of spare cash sitting around, this started to become a turn off and began to feel like buying the new Madden every year. Just a replay of the same game with a slightly different skin slapped on top of it.

With Combat Arms, I was able to just launch the game on my PC whenever I felt like it. There wasn’t a new version to shell out $60 for every year. Just the same game and game modes. It was a great pick up and play game that gave me my multiplayer shooter fix without having to shell out cash for the game and Xbox Live itself.

Gaining Rank

Since a new game did not need to be purchased every year, I did not lose my rank in Combat Arms (I wish I could remember what rank I made it to).

With games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc., a new game meant starting over from square one. Other PC shooters, such as Counter-Strike, did not have a ranking system. For me personally, it did not keep me wanting to come back since I didn’t have anything to work towards. Combat Arms kept my rank as the years went on. It made it more appealing for me personally to come back day after day and run through a few games.

Don’t get me wrong, I fell for the new Call of Duty release every year as well and sunk many hours into it with my friends. Combat Arms always had a special place for me, though, so I could keep going back and ranking up.

Zombies

What did Call of Duty and Combat Arms have in common? Other than being first-person military-themed shooters? ZOMBIES!

Granted, the modes had some heavy differences between the games, but the goal for both of them was simple… eliminate the zombies.

When I didn’t have friends online to fire up a mode of Call of Duty Zombies (like if I was taking a sick day from school), I could fire up Combat Arms and get a few quick rounds in online of zombie and non-zombie related action. It had round limits from 5 to 30 rounds with varying degrees of difficulty that were perfect for quick rounds. I spent many hours playing those varying difficulties when I needed a break from the team deathmatch-style game modes.

Was it Perfect?

Absolutely not. The game felt repetitive and redundant at times and could not stand up to the technical abilities of the Call of Duty and Battlefield games that were releasing during the same window I was playing Combat Arms.

The game also had numerous technical glitches throughout its most popular days; Combat Arms was far from perfect.

What it did offer was an avenue for this young gamer to step into the world of PC gaming. It also gave a simplistic alternative to play when I was feeling the burnout of Call of Duty. The game was far from perfect, and the current player base has gone from thousands to under 100 consistent players. Although the game is considered a “dead” online game, the memories it gave me through my high school years are some of my favorite gaming memories from that period of my life.

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Did you play Combat Arms? What were your memories of it? Sound off in the comments below

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