Maple Story

By: Nick Martineau

General Game Information

Title: Maple Story Company: Wizet\NX Games Type: Side Scrolling 2D MMORPG Price: Free

General Game Information

Hardware Specs:

Quick Overview

Maple Story is the worlds first 2D side scrolling MMORPG

Original target audience was for kids between the ages of 7-15 but the average age of a player is 24

Over 1.5 Million people registered to play

Quick Overview Cont.

Four different flavors of the game MapleGlobal – United States MapleSea – China MapleKorea – Korea MapleEurope – Europe

With anywhere from 5-10 servers per flavor

20 channels per server

Story Line

No real continuity to the game, do what you want, when you want

Player Roles

Four different roles to play Thief Bowmen Magician Warrior

Instillation

Go to http://www.mapleglobal.com/ click on the download button and download the game. NOTE: The web page must be opened in

Internet Explorer About 200MB Run the downloaded file to install

User Interface

User Interface Cont.

User Interface Cont.

User Interface Cont.

Fairly functional game play without to many problems

Controls can be tricky, there are about 45 keys that are bound to various functions

Better to use a gamepad with keyboard bindings

Game Play

Game Play Cont.

Game Play Cont.

Game Play Cont.

Game Play Cont.

Game Play Cont.

Playing the game is quite simple Run around Kill stuff Do missions Gain expirence Level up Don’t die

Scoring

There is no scoring in this game however you do receive drops and money (mesos) from monsters that are either traded in or used to buy various items

Experience

Artwork

Visually stunning for a 2D game Not a lot of animation Lots of monster artwork (about 2000

monsters in the game) Lots of item artwork (about 1000 items

in the game)

Monster Artwork

Sound and Music

Not the best midi files ever Some sound effects are cool others

are annoying Ability to shut the music/sound effects

off

Special Features

Cash Shop The way the game makes money Can buy different items, pets, gear,

safety charms, etc…

Manual

Not an official game manual but there are several web sites that will help you www.hidden-street.net www.basilmarket.com

Bugs

Hacking!!!

Game Review

What is good/fun about the game? Its eclectic Easy to learn, easy to play Great artwork for monsters, skills and

worlds Social interaction, play against the world Play for free, character never expires Unlimited character levels

Game Review Cont.

What is bad about the game? At level 60 it takes about 10 hours to

level your character and grows every level

Quests don’t give enough experience at high levels (level 65 quest gives 10k exp when you need 1.9 Million to level)

Hackers – VacHack, map hack, destroys the game and the economy

End of Class Presentation

Question? Comments?

How does it compare to similar games in the same genre?

Character types are similar (warrior, thief, mage, bowmen, etc…)

2D graphics makes the game easier to explore but doesn't give it any depth like 3D games

Free to play, no monthly fees, no cost to buy the game, only pay if you want to buy something from the cash shop

Better or worse then similar game?

Better Free to play, easy to learn Lots of things to do, lots of areas to

explore Worse

No depth to the game While 2D is cool it gets old after a while,

you cant run around monsters

Appropriate Age

As it was mentioned before, the target audience was for 7-15 year olds but the average player is 24

Design Mistakes

Allow hackers to hack Not a full proof system to stop hackers GM’s don’t respond quick enough to

players requests

Summary

Strengths 2D art work is amazing Lots of areas to explore Lots of game content (missions) to do Tons of monsters Lots of skills Unlimited levels Free to play and own Eclectic and fun

Summary Cont

Weaknesses 2D gets old after a while Takes forever to level as the character

progresses Hacking destroys the game economy Music and sound effects get annoying

after a while (thankfully you can shut them off)

Worth Purchasing?

Yes and no I suppose Its worth getting and playing but you don’t

have to pay for it

How could it be improved?

Get rid of the hackers Cut down on the amount of experience

needed to level in the latter levels Have more quests that reward the

player more frequently