Mafia Wars

With more than 300 million active users, Facebook is a Monster! Mark Zuckerbergs‘ social media empire offers more than just re-connecting with that long lost girlfriend or boyfriend you happily forgot about. Facebook has helped usher into the mainstream a game genre perfect to that forum: Social Games. Mafia Wars is one of the most popular social games out there right now!  You Love it, you hate it, and you see it all the time so why not jump in and help your friends out. In Mafia Wars, a game by Zynga Games, you can start a Mafia family and run three kinds of crime businesses.  As you rise through the ranks and become an accomplished criminal, you will gain respect while growing and positioning your consortium to fight for the esteemed position of ruling family in the big apple.  At the very least,  Mafia Wars is a fun way to kill a couple of minutes here and there throughout the day.  Especially if your at work and you know your PC isn’t monitored by some sophisticated tracking or keystroke system (if your not sure, just offer to take the windows admin at your place of work out to lunch and get him to inadvertently spill the beans for you, and if you don’t have a windows admin, or equivalent, your probably safe.) You will find it is definitely a great way to make the “on the clock” time fly by!

There are two ways to begin you rise to dominance.  First, and the easier of the two,  you can badger your own list of  friends to join your aspiring crime family or you access one of the many Facebook fan pages that will allow you to max out your Mafia in about 60 minutes. It is hardcore recruiting that works, but not always the loyalist of subjects!  If you have a choice, harassing your friends seems not only appropriate, but makes it twice as much fun!  Not to mention, you might not want 400 strangers viewing your home page and leaving you unwanted posts. (It’s bad enough someone taught my mother how to get on the site-and yes, I did recruit her.) The game starts with you doing small time jobs.  As you grow your character through various missions you accumulate skill points which you can use to make your goon stronger.  There are four main components to this game: Missions, properties & businesses, fights, and achievements.

The missions are spread out over and three different areas: New York, Cuba, and Russia.   Rumor has it, Zynga plans to add Bangkok and Western United States (must mean Las Vegas) in an upcoming content release.   Currently, the mission are your run of the mill mob style fun.   Patented mob behavior has you buying off federal agents to breaking up opposing political campaign rallies. The key to the mission sets is to master each tier as quickly as possible and reap the full reward for its completion. It takes total completion of each job (mission) in a given section three times to master the tier.  A word to the wise,  if you are given a random item from doing a job and are not sure what it is for, just hang onto it and as you rise in tiers, it will come back into play.  Completed missions will also give you the much needed cash to buy inventory and or property-business upgrades.

Equally lucrative, the property section is a quick way to add money to your wallet without having to quest.  In New York you have properties.  The most important of which are the Mega Casinos. You start by purchasing the base which is and abandoned lot, or prime downtown lot, and then build your more lavish properties on top. This will give you an hourly income and allow you to progress through New York quicker. In Cuba and Russia they employ the business tactic. You take over, or acquire through ill gotten gains, a business which will produce items every three hours which in turn, you can then sell. The key is to upgrade each business to its full capacity for maximum financial success. There is one major advantage that businesses have over properties: They can’t be robbed, and never need to be repaired.

The fight section of Mafia Wars is where you can have fun or just be a total PITA. You have several options in the fight sections: fight obviously), rob a bitch, declare war, or add someone to your hit list. When you fight another player you have a risk/reward factor to consider.  If you win, you can get some of their loot, but on the off chance you show up to a gun fight with a knife, you will find that you must  forfeit some the other way. Early on in the game it is a good way to get extra experience and level faster. In New York you can actually rob players’ properties which will cost them money and give you a far larger return than just normal fighting will. If you would like to avoid this, leave your character in Cuba you will get robbed far less, (which makes total sense cause they don’t ever rob people in Cuba!  Oh wait, yes they do!) besides the drinks are cold and the weather is fantastic. If you are the robbing type, remember this could get a bounty put on your head. The hit list is a quick way to put a player down that is harassing you!  It’s hard to rob someone when you’re sleeping with the fishes. (Good old cement boots are back in fashion!) You can always opt to spend cash to refill your health bar but the cost goes up exponentially each time you do it. The declare war section is a fun way to gain a little extra experience and for now you can only attack your friends so it causes no real harm to your character.
The achievements section gives players goals to complete.  Each completed achievement gives you an extra skill point. The achievements encompass every section of the game and are a good way to explore each section, and gain extra rewards for doing so. All achievements considered, some of the tasks are very easy to complete, and other take forever.  Trial & error is the best way to discover what you like or dislike.   Moreover,  when a player earns a level you will be given godfather points these can be redeemed for a myriad of items.  Be on the lookout for a rare item achievement which comes purchasing crates in this fashion.  You can gain extra godfather points by taking surveys at the bottom of the page this will speed up your endeavors.  A player can then use the points to buy any manner of destruction or defense they so choose.
Mafia Wars is not the most visually appealing game, and it isn’t going to blow your mind.  As such, I give it a 7.5 out of 10.  It is a free game, unless you get sucked into paying for instant gratification that takes very little time to keep up with, but will get you through your dull moments of the day (granted you spend those dull moments attached to a computer). It’s easy to burn 10 energy points in 2 mins.  Later as you level you could have 400 energy, and still burn it all in minutes!

What’s that?! Don Juanita just robbed me for 10 million and 33% property damage! Someone just earned themselves a trip to the hit list.

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View Comments to “Mafia Wars”

1. Broker23 says:

   November 15, 2009 at 6:18 PM

   PITA-haha, that's funny. I thought i was the only one who used that. It's my pet name for my wife.
2. danfranklin1 says:

   November 22, 2009 at 11:54 AM

   If I get one more Mafia Wars request I am canceling my facebook
3. danfranklin1 says:

   November 22, 2009 at 12:54 PM

   If I get one more Mafia Wars request I am canceling my facebook