It's MapleStory's fourth anniversary this week, so Sam "azerian" Maxted went to see what's changed in the last few years.

Congratulations to MapleStory on reaching its fourth anniversary this week. Nothing lasts forever, and MMOs are no exception. Their popularity eventually wanes as players move on to bigger and better games, with publishers either looking to release sequels, or keep their players hooked with new expansions and graphical updates. However, due to the competitive nature of the MMO industry, some games struggle to hit their first anniversary, or even fail to last that long before being shut down.

With 92 million accounts worldwide and 6 million of those in North America, MapleStory didn't struggle to reach this milestone - it arrived there in style. To celebrate this achievement, a number of events are taking place in-game up until June 16. These include anniversary quests, increased EXP gain and a contest to win everything from in-game items to digital cameras. Since MapleStory's now four years old, and given that some MMOs don't age well, I thought I'd better find out if the game's still fun.

For those unfamiliar with MapleStory, the easiest way to describe it would be as "a cutesy 2D MMO, with platform and action-RPG elements". The game makes its money through optional micropayments, where you can buy anything from EXP-boosting items to clothes for your characters. A recent update also implemented in-game weddings, which require a micropayment purchase to access.

Micropayment items vary from the useful to the downright silly.

All characters in MapleStory start out as the "Beginner" character class, which has access to only the most basic skills and equipment. On reaching level 8, characters can choose to become a Magician, or wait until level 10 to select one of the Warrior, Bowman, Thief or Pirate (yes, Pirate!) classes. Each of these selections has multiple subclasses, which players can use to further specialise their characters when they reach level 30. For example, Pirates can choose to specialise and become Brawlers or Gunslingers, focusing either on melee or ranged attacks. You're also able to choose which of your character's stats to increase when levelling up, but this is rendered someone pointless by the fact that some stat distributions are agreed to be "best" for each character class. In other words, if you don't choose the right stat combination as you level up, you could find yourself at a disadvantage later on.

Players returning to MapleStory after a long absence will notice a few changes upon logging in. The Pirate class is a new addition to the game and there have been various "quality of life" improvements too. A WoW-style "quest helper" now exists, which helps you to not only keep track of existing quests, but also informs you of what other quests are available. Enemies' levels and health bars also appear when your character attacks them, taking some of the guesswork out of things when fighting opponents you're unfamiliar with. Another combat change involves archers, which seem to cause more melee damage than the last time I played, making them less vulnerable to enemies at close range. These are selected highlights rather than an exhaustive list though, so anyone wanting full details on how things have changed should check MapleStory's "Update" page.

Some pretty shameless product placement's been added to the game, too.

Although some aspects of MapleStory have changed and/or improved, the basic game is still the same. Combat is still fairly simple, with tactics being limited by the game being in 2D. I don't mind 2D in its place (I love the Street Fighter games, for example), but I've yet to be convinced that it works in this type of setting. MapleStory is also grind-tastic, with players spending much of their time aimlessly fighting mob after mob just to get to the next level. The developers have tried to limit the grind by upping the game's quest count, but they all seem to boil down to "kill 50 of these" or "bring me 20 of this item". I even encountered one chain of quests that kept asking me to kill increasing numbers of the same enemy. Each time I handed in a quest, I was sent out to kill more of the damn things. By the time I'd finished the chain, I was surprised I hadn't wiped out the entire species. At least one of the game's anniversary quests is equally lacklustre, as all it asks you to do is to log in for four 40-minute periods. You don't need to do anything in the game - just be logged into it.

MapleStory's also starting to show its age its age as it runs in a low resolution by modern standards (800x600) and, as its in 2D rather than 3D, this can't be changed. The option exists to play the game in a window, but this just makes everything small and ruins the feel of playing in full-screen mode. However, the lack of up-to-date graphics means the game's system requirements are kept low and you won't need a dedicated gaming PC in order to run it.

MapleStory's graphics are best described as "functional".

Unfortunately, a couple of bugs also rear their heads in MapleStory, one of which made it impossible for me to search for items on the game's auction house. When I tried to type the name of item I wanted to search for, nothing happened; the game simply didn't recognise that I was trying to type in the "search" field. On logging out of the game after this, I found myself unable to run any other programs, as double-clicking their icons brought up a "Properties" window, rather than actually opening the file. This freaked me out the first time it happened and while everything was ok after rebooting my PC, it worries me that the game was able to affect my operating system in this way.

In conclusion, it may just be me but MapleStory's limited gameplay makes it hard to see it as anything more than an amusing distraction. Maybe I'm in the minority here, because God knows there are enough people still playing the game, but try as I may I just can't get excited about it. I suspect I'm not part of the game's target market, but that doesn't normally matter for truly great games. To be honest, the game just leaves me cold. It just feels like it's missing something, although I can't put my finger on what it is. Maybe it's just the game's repetitive nature - I'm not sure. Either way, MapleStory isn't something that I can see myself playing long into the future. It's not that the game's bad… it's just not great.

SAM "azerian" Maxted
Editor
ZAM.com