Maple Story is an online virtual world/game developed by the creators of games like Sugar Rush, Combat Arms and Audition. Maple Story is a two-dimensional side-scrolling online game based on a virtual world called Maple’s world. The game has been a huge commercial success and has attracted close to 50 million users to date.
At the beginning of the game, each player must choose a profession for himself. A player can be a warrior, thief, wizard, archer, or pirate. After choosing the profession and customizing the character, you can go on your quests, collect points, progress to higher levels, just like a normal role-playing game (RPG). The level of customization that Maple Story allows is quite high, and one can spend hours choosing from the myriad of options available to them.
The main objective of Maple Story, like any other RPG, is to complete quests and collect points to reach higher character levels. To earn more points, each user has to kill different monsters. However, these monsters are so adorable that you might feel bad killing them. In fact, the entire game plays heavily on the cute quotient.
It’s quite ironic that Maple Story doesn’t really have a very strong story. It starts off good, but after a certain point of time, there’s no concrete sense of direction to the story. Initially, users get hooked on the game due to their curiosity to experience the higher levels. But once this anticipation wears off, the interest wears off as well, as the missions tend to get a bit repetitive.
As mentioned above, Maple Story has a great cute factor that works in its favor. This “cute factor” can, in fact, make up for the repetitive missions and lackluster story. On the other hand, this sometimes becomes the game’s weakness, as it becomes annoyingly cute after a while, even more so with hard-core gamers, who expect more from a game than mere cuteness.
The Maple Story has characteristically different controls. Almost the entire game is played using the keyboard; the mouse has very limited use. The controls are very convenient and easy to use. The best part is that the game allows users to customize the controls as per their comfort.
The Maple Story is underpinned by a strong sense of social community. The user may be surprised to find the maple world map complete with users. This community presence can create a feeling of healthy competition or, on the other hand, it can also lead to hostility. Even within the game, users can create their own houses and have fun with friends.
No game is complete without a technically sound mechanism. Despite the repetitive quests and boring storyline, Maple Story shines brightly in the graphics department. From the cute monsters to the cute backgrounds, everything has a vivid and luxurious attention to detail. Although this is primarily an action-based game, the environment still manages to present something eye-catching and relaxing for the players.
The sound is equally great. The game has a catchy background score, so much so that you might find yourself subconsciously humming the tune. The sound effects just add to the cute quotient. The sad shrieks of monsters when they are killed and many of these effects make the game more fun and enjoyable.
The Maple Story is a web-based game and can be played online for free. However, many features, including customizations, must be paid for separately. The game does not require very advanced technical requirements on PC so it is easy to play and download.
So despite the minor story and game plan issues, Maple Story is highly recommended. Backed by excellent technical specifications, it has the potential to be highly addictive, interesting and extremely enjoyable!