Playing an RPG for the Super Nintendo with friends was always a complicated experience. The kid that owned the game always donned the controller, while you played the role of spectator. As your friend progressed through the game, casted formidable spells, and sleuthed through several dungeons, you finally mustered up the courage to ask for a turn. The only problem was, once you finally did get a chance to play, your friend had been playing so long that you had no idea what you were doing.
While most people are unlikely to enter an actual sewer, video games inexplicably revel in making players fight for their lives in these dark, dank subterranean cesspits. From Super Mario Bros to Diablo III, sewer levels have been a staple in many, many action, adventure, RPG and shooting titles over the years.
In the words of the great American philosopher LL Cool J, MapleStory has been something like a phenomenon, especially in Asia. Developer and publisher Nexon is hoping to add another chapter to its nearly decade-long success story with MapleStory Live for iOS devices. This freemium side-scroller isn't an MMO, but it incorporates enough of the series' familiar gameplay and feel that fans will no doubt want to give it a go.
It's easy to romanticize the past too much, especially when it comes to video games, but sometimes the games in question really were as cool as we remember them. Case in point: RPGs, circa the 16-bit console era. The new freemium iOS RPG Heroes in Time does a pretty great job of recapturing some of that magic in portable form, taking players back to when fantasies were final and, um, chronos were triggered?
Phantasy Star Online, the epic sci-fi fantasy RPG, is (officially) making a triumphant return to the western world as a free-to-play MMO. It's been more than 10 years since the first game dropped on the Dreamcast, bringing massively multiplayer gaming to consoles for the very first time.
The smartphone market is a hotbed for nostalgia. It provides a DIY atmosphere for developers, allowing them to avoid the whims of publishers and create the kinds of games they played growing up. QuestLord is just such a game, boasting an appearance and style of gameplay highly similar to PC RPGs in the 80s.
MapleStory Live is a game developed by Nexon that has players fighting monsters, gathering loot and completing quests. Gamezebo's MapleStory Live Quick Start strategy guide and walkthrough will provide you with a quick start guide, tips and tricks, hints and cheats on how to win.
Imagine it's 1982. You walk into an arcade and there are dozens of stand-up machines blinking away in the dim light. You have a pocketful of quarters and an afternoon to kill. Among these machines you see a game called Blind Man's Dungeon. The demo blinks away in front of you: a pixelated adventurer traverses the screen in wide circles, collecting treasure and vanquishing foes while a little fairy builds walls. "Interesting," you think, and pop in a quarter.