Mafia Wars is a browser game that can be played on various social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Tagged, and MyYahoo.
In the game the player takes on the role of a Don and has to make his way up in the world of organized crime.
The player can perform jobs. Jobs cost energy to perform and have certain item requirements. Jobs come in various tiers (street thug, associate, soldier, enforcer, hitman) with increasing difficulty. Clicking the job performs the job instantly, there’s no waiting nor visual representation of the job. Each time the player does a job he or she is awarded experience points, money and a chance of loot. The job is slowly mastered which grants access to additional titles to put in front of the player’s name.
The player can also fight other Mafiosi. The player can fight people he or she knows or fight one of the randomly selected mafioso with a similar character level.
Fighting costs stamina. The outcome of a fight is displayed instantly and depends on the players offensive and defensive values. The loser loses Health. A player can also die if all health is lost. Items received through doing jobs can be used to improve the offensive and defensive ratings.
Health regenerates over time or can be bought using in-game money. Energy and stamina (required to perform more or less any action in the game) also regenerate over time.
Gathering enough experience points will cause the player to go level up. When the player goes level up he or she can invest points in any of his or her statistics.
The player can add all his or her Facebook friends on the social platform of choice as Mafia members. Each friend grants additional bonuses on fights.
Doing jobs the player can also find collectible items. They form sets which grant additional bonuses. Players can request items for trade with friends to make sets more quickly.
To earn more money players can buy properties. Properties generate money up to a maximum so money has to be collected regularly. Properties can be upgraded to generate even more money.
The player can visit multiple cities in which to do jobs and buy properties. Each city is tailored to a certain range of character levels.
In the Facebook version there are various special events that can be posted on the player’s Facebook wall that give friendly Mafiosi additional bonuses when they click them.
Players can speed things up by investing real money to buy Reward Coins. Reward coins can be used to replenish health and energy or buy items, skill points or virtual friends.