iPhone Games: iMafia Review

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iPhone Games: iMafia Review

iMafia is one of the growing entrants in the iPhone MMO genre. In it, your goal is to build up your criminal empire and conquer the vast sea of degradation that is humanity. You can buy up real estate to build up your wealth, beat down the poor saps that try to cross your path, and even knock off your rivals, all in the name of sticking it to the man, and the poor fools that try to cross you.

Now before you get excited about that free price tag dangling down there at the end of the review, you should know that iMafia works much like the multitude of free-to-play MMO’s on the internet. While it is indeed free to play, players who are willing to invest real money to purchase in-game points have a decided advantage over those who don’t. And points are by no means cheap, you could easily spent $20+ on points just trying to build your gangster up to a level where he’s even moderately competitive with the other top players. A steep price tag for what amounts to little more than a text-based game.

iMafia has three different character classes to choose from, the brawler, mogul, and workaholic. Each comes with a unique bonus that will cater to different play styles. Brawlers get faster health regeneration, the workaholic has fast energy regeneration, and the mogul earns income faster. The game comes with some handy tutorials to help get you up to snuff, a feature lacking in many iPhone games.

As mentioned your main goal is to collect income, increase the size of your gang, develop your skills, and keep an eye on your stats to make sure your ready for any forthcoming missions. Unlike the nearly identical iMob, there is less of an emphasis on friend codes to increase your ranking, and more of an emphasis on actually playing the game, which is naturally a step in the right direction.

The game is presented entirely in text, menus, and graphical stills. There’s not much in the way of art, or even much story or dialogue for that matter, making the game far less interesting than other MMO’s. You simply continue to perform your daily routines in a relentless task to build yourself up, with no real driving motivation to do so.

Connection issues are also rampant. Most iPhone MMO’s have had severe troubles in this area, so iMafia is by no means unique in this respect, but even so, waiting as much as 10 seconds for the game to connect and load up a simple text-based menu is not my idea of a good time. The app will also close at times without provocation.

I have a hard time getting excited about games like this, but I’m sure there’s enjoyment to be had for the right people. It’s a decent enough game, though entirely derivative and nearly identical to iMob. It’s free to play, so if it sounds like something up your alley, go ahead and give it a try.

Pros

• Good tutorials to help newbies get started

Cons

• Connection issues
• Plays like any other text-based MMO
• Art and dialogue is lacking

Score: 5/10

Price: Free

iMafia on iTunes