Mafia Wars is a wildly popular Facebook social game that brings a traditional turn-based RPG game and spins it with a mafia-induced, criminal fun. It plays to a gamer's inner mob boss, and offers a chance to prove your street smarts with strategy, as you have to be careful with your health, stamina, and more to gain the experience points you need. So why is Mafia Wars such a hit with hundreds of thousands of social gamers around the web? We'll go through the different aspects of this great Facebook game and show you why so many gamers are into this one turn-based RPG.

Goal: While the main goal of Mafia Wars is to level up, there are literally hundreds of other goals that you'll come across as well. (Of course, leveling up alone is a massive goal, as there are hundreds of levels.) You have to complete special collections by doing jobs, gain achievements, master each job on three different levels, beat mob bosses, and help your friend out. There is really so much to the goals of this game that it is almost too much and can get overwhelming. If you don't have a set strategy in Mafia Wars, you can easily lose your place and find that suddenly you're out of stamina and energy and cannot do anything until they refill. Even veteran turn-based RPG gamers can find themselves in this position, so a good, solid strategy is required to meet all of your goals. As far as this part of Mafia Wars goes, it gets a solid 10 out of 10. There is not much else that could be added here that would improve the goals in the game, as there is almost too much already.

Game Play: The game play in Mafia Wars will be different to those that are not used to turn-based RPG games. Basically, instead of having a character that you walk around, you have different screens that will give you options for things like: fighting other mafias, buying inventory, taking care of your properties, doing jobs, and building up your mob. In Mafia Wars, the game play revolves around doing jobs to gain experience points and leveling up, buying properties to make money, bulking up your inventory to protect and defend yourself, fighting other mobs, as well as doing special things to gain specialty items. As you do these things, you gain experience points that help you to level your character. Once you level up, you gain skill points that you can place in different aspects for your character, such as defense, attack, stamina, and energy. While the game play is extremely in-depth, it is not game play like in Cafe World or FarmVille. Instead everything is done by reading and creating your strategy on what you'll do next. Now, don't let that sound like a boring game to you - Mafia Wars is far from boring. If you've never played a turn-based RPG, then you need to try it out. Many gamers fall in love with these types of games, and fall in love with the game play overall in Mafia Wars.

Gamers will also have to rely on their friends in Mafia Wars as well, just like other social games on Facebook. For example, aside from the normal gifting that you can do, you can also send "respect" to friends that ask for it. This gives them special items that they cannot get anywhere else. There are also building that you need to get help from your friends to build in the different areas of the game. You will have to use your friends and enemies to get ahead as well, as you will be fighting real people when you choose to in game. The game play in Mafia Wars does earn a solid 10 out of 10 when it comes to other turn-based RPG games. The developers really did a superb job, which is why Mafia Wars is the highest rated social game of it's type online right now.

Graphics: The graphics in Mafia Wars are not quite what you would expect from a turn-based RPG game. They are actually downright excellent when compared to other games of this type. All of the graphics that you'll see in Mafia Wars are extremely realistic and very detailed. From the weapons down to the properties down to the special items you can purchase, everything about the graphical area in Mafia Wars is super realistic. They are more like a very high-tech computer animated movie still instead of a comic book game. The graphics in Mafia Wars earn a rock solid 10 out of 10, even though there are no moving graphics here at all. Everything is just so well done that it is hard to find any fault in the graphics of this RPG at all.

Sound: Although most of the games on Facebook have sounds, music, and more, Mafia Wars is one of the few that do not. Most of the turn-based RPGs out there do not offer music and sounds, especially since they are not a game that is played normally - such as a platformer like Mario Brothers. So, there is no rating for this area, as there is nothing to rate. Those that like sounds and audio with their games may be disappointed that there aren't any, but those that do not like the normal game sounds will not be bothered that Mafia Wars doesn't offer sounds or music.

Special Items: The special items that you'll come across in Mafia Wars are akin to the amount that you'll find in FarmVille. While they are completely different types of items, there are hundreds of different special things, such as unique holiday items, special weapons, bonus boosts, and more. Each different holiday offers items that will offer you a massive boost in your attack or defense, and you can purchase specialty items from the marketplace as well. You can also buy extra mob members and gain favors from the Godfather in Mafia Wars as well. Plus, as you do jobs, you can easily see what you have the chance to win. You can gain special collectible items, you can gain boosts, you can gain weapons or cars. So, there is no shortage whatsoever of special items in Mafia Wars. This is yet one more area of the game that earns a 10 out of 10.

Overall, Mafia Wars is a uniquely excellent turn-based RPG that is easy to recommend to gamers of all types. With the mob theme and the different type of game play that many are not used to, it makes Mafia Wars extremely addictive to many people. For those that play many of the social games on Facebook and haven't tried out Mafia Wars yet, you are missing out on a very fun, unique game. Don't get discouraged if you're just starting to try the game out and see others that are levels such as 415. You will get there as long as you play your strategies right.