Currently listening to: "The Power of Your Love" by Lincoln Brewster

Well, I got stood-up by my professor, so time for an update. To answer Tammy's questions, I'm going to stay in school and finish out the semester. I am enrolled in two general education classes. Maybe, if computer science classes aren't as set-in-stone as architecture, I may be able to speed up my schedule. In architecture, every class is in a very specific order. Looking at the schedule for CS, there's alot of general education requirements and electives that I've fulfilled. I'll have to take extra classes to stay in full-time status. With some luck, I can fill those slots with CS classes and graduate early. I may be able to graduate in 3.5 (maybe even 3) years that way.

Moving along, here's my review for Maplestory:

This is NOT your standard MMO. Standard MMOs are in 3d. This has much more of a platforming element. Your stats aren't the only thing that determines what you can beat. If you play off the environment, you can jump onto ropes, leap over enemies, and avoid attacks. Timing plays a big role in combat: when to start swinging, when to jump, etc.

Maplestory is very paranoid of account theft. Creating an account takes a good twenty minutes. Even afterwards, you'll have to enter your username, password, and your PIN. The annoying thing about the PIN is that they use a "soft-keyboard." That is, instead of typing the numbers, you have to click on them. This is basically so that no one will track the keys you press to get your password, because apparently people would actually do that. Before actual character creation takes place, players must chose a world to play on. Once the character is created, it can't be moved to another world.

There's plenty of choice in playing style. You can be any of the four cliche' RPG classes: warrior (which they call swordmen), archer, wizard (magician), and rogue. After attaining a high enough level, players can chose from two to three advances in their class (example, magicians can become fire wizards, ice wizards, or clerics). Leveling is long and tedious, but it makes it all the sweeter. It can take several hours of fighting before you get a level. The thing is, the game is fairly shallow until the higher levels. You can't go into many places until at least level fifteen.

The game looks great. Since it's side-scrolling, there's no rendering going on; it's all just really pretty parallax maps. It is kind of... cutesy, though. Environments are well-drawn and varied. Players may, however, notice the same music reused several times.

So how do these people make money? They sell some aesthetic items in what they call the "cash shop." Other MMOs that do something to this effect will sell game enhancing items (better weapons, armor) whereas Maplestory sells items that just look cool.

So, here's the rundown:
+ FREE!!!
+ Beautiful graphics
+ Varied difficulty
+ Great for teams
- Repetitive music
- Slow start
- Slow leveling
- Stuck in worlds

Scores:
Graphics: 4.5- Great art-work in the maps, and the sprites could have been slightly better.
Gameplay: 3.0- Sometimes repetitive, but still not actually bad.
Sound: 2.0- Nice for the first few minutes, but you hear each track multiple times. Sfx are okay.
Controls: 4.0- Completely customizable. Very nice feature. Chatting, however, is a bit difficult.

Final decision:
3.4/5.0

If you have the time, try this game out. But keep in mind, it's at its best when played with friends. We all play on the "Bera" server, just so you know. As eric3333. Zach is orangezach, Chip is orion11, Adam's leafandroot, and Matt's soltran.