Webzen developed this average first-person shooter game, which has everything that a FPS needs. Players use guns to kill each other in game. This video game has the typical game modes, such as Free For All, Search and Destroy, and Team Death Match. In addition, new players can play against bots in order to feel how the game plays. At the end of matches, spoils, which are random prizes, are rewarded to two random players. Players can complete quests to receive points for the shop and experience.
Arctic Combat may fit the generic criteria of an FPS, but the gameplay feels like an arcade game. Simply put, the loud, funky guitar and voices contribute a killing mood for enemies in game and the developers need to fix these problems in the game in order to produce a profitable FPS.
The problems don’t end there either. The voice acting annoys me so much that I had to mute my speakers. The voices tend to repeat themselves, which becomes tedious when I have to listen to the same thing in repetition. The Americans (AF) are more annoying to play as than the Russians (RSA) because the soldiers in AF swear when they die. Outside the game, there should be an option to censor these swears, so players are not forced to listen to the same swears. Moreover, some voices sound awkward in game. For example when an AF player tosses a grenade, the avatar says, “flag out” instead of “frag out”. Since when do realistic soldiers toss flags to kill enemies? Another voice error occurs when a player calls for a UAV, or unmanned aerial vehicle. The radio voice off says “Our UAV in the air!” missing the word “is”. Also, the Russian voices sound too flat, which puts me away from the game. The voice acting must sound top notch for the best gaming experience.
Another problem is the animation quality of the game. Under slow performance in game, the animations jerk around. First, the avatar walks toward the last directional input. If I press forward and lag, I might find myself in the line of fire or in a place that I cannot reason. When I am not sprinting, sometimes I find that my avatar stays in a running animation. I am forced to hit sprint multiple times to stop the animation. Finally, after I die during a lag spike, I tend to go into a spectator mode, which increases the wait time that I can spawn into the match. One possible solution would be to add a ping bar next to the user names so that players can know when they are lagging.
With these problems addressed, Arctic Combat can become a better FPS, but only one question remains. How will Arctic Combat become a unique FPS that is not like the others?
Reggie Kwok can be reached at [email protected].
