MapleStory is a 2D MMORPG developed by South Korean company Wizet which has well over 100 million subscribers across the world. The MMO itself is completely free to play, and is monetized by selling various customizations and enhancements from an in-game shop purchasable with real money or gift cards which are even sold at Wal-Mart. MapleStory works like most MMORPG’s where you fight monsters, earn experience, and otherwise develop your character while chatting, trading, and forming guilds with other players. Unfortunately, the social aspect is missing in the single player iPhone game, but otherwise the gameplay (or as much gameplay as I’m familiar when I had dabbled in MapleStory) seems intact.

On-screen controls move your little dude around and handle all the other functions in the game. There are two playable classes, both the thief and assassin with over 70 different pieces of swag to outfit yourself with. The graphics look like they’re straight out of the original game, and in the brief time I’ve spent with it, it seems like there is tons to do with all kinds of quests to complete.

The appeal of MapleStory for me was always the sheer scale of the game world with tons of players, and Thief Edition just feels lonely in comparison without the constant chatter of other players in the game world. The game does play well enough with virtual controls, and I really hope that Nexon Mobile is just using MapleStory: Thief Edition to test the waters of the App Store before releasing a full MapleStory client because how awesome would that be.