| Gbanga Famiglia | |
|---|---|
The official logo for Gbanga Famiglia. |
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| Developer(s) | Gbanga Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Millform AG |
| Platform(s) | iPhone, J2ME, Windows Mobile |
| Release date(s) | 13 April 2010 |
| Genre(s) | Social Gaming |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Gbanga Famiglia is a mixed reality, mobile phone game published on the Gbanga platform. Players take on the roles of Mafioso and can join an existing Mafia Famiglia or start their own. Players must first locate establishments whilst walking around the city before they can be taken-over. Establishments are virtual however they are linked to real-world bars and nightclubs. A successful take-over depends on the Famiglia's power, determined by the number of members and the cash total for special items collected. The most successful Famiglia are listed on the top-ten leaderboard of the Gbanga website.[1][2][3]
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Players can either start their own Famiglia or join an existing Mafia Famiglia, which may consist of one or several other players. A Famiglia Boss is automatically created for the player on starting the game. However players can also break with their Boss and join a new Famiglia by inviting a new Boss to their friends list. The six featured Famiglia Bosses in the story include: Don Viktor, Crispy Carl, Valentino, Alka-Pony, Nutcracker and Eleonore. Players can also visit the Famiglia leaderboard for a listing of the top-ten Famiglia. Famiglia power is increased by adding new members and collecting special items.[4]
Virtual establishments are linked to real-world establishments such as bars and nightclubs.[5] For instance, a bar located along Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich, may have a virtual counterpart in the game, which players can take-over by visiting the location.[4]
The characters in Gbanga are called Gbangoos. Each player is automatically given a Mafia Gbangoo (see screenshot) at the beginning of the game. Gbangoos and collected items are carried around in the players inventory, which is called the Pocket. Items in a players Pocket can be traded with other players. To take-over a Famiglia establishment, the player must drop the Mafia Gbangoo from the Pocket into the local "Cell". The Cell changes depending on the players real-world location.[6]
Collectible items are scattered randomly throughout the game. Items should be traded with the Famiglia Boss to increase its power. In March 2011, Gbanga introduced purchasable special items available through the iPhone App Store, in the form of a series of power-ups that boost player abilities for taking-over rival locations around the world.[7] Purchasable items include the Bouncer, Police Megaphone, Respec’ Da Bass and World Domination Satellite. The added value of these items is that the player doesn't have to walk to each Cell location before challenging it.
The Police Megaphone increases the players chances of taking-over a Cell to 100%, which is comparable to a booster or a weapon upgrade in traditional videogames. With Respec’ Da Bass players can challenge ten Cell at a time without having to physically go to each location, which is comparable to FarmVille's Auto Harvesters that save you time and the effort of clicking. For heavy users Gbanga offers the highly priced World Domination Satellite, which allows the player to take over 450 random Cells around the world. Another interesting purchasable item is the Bouncer which players can place in any Cell reducing the chances of losing it to 1%.
There was once a mighty Mafia Famiglia that ruled establishments across the world. Don Viktor, the Boss, was a powerful Mafioso whom nobody would ever dare contradict. However burnout can come to even the strongest of us, so after years of exhausting business, Don Viktor retreated to a sanatorium leaving his 5 eccentric children - Crispy Carl, Valentino, Alka-Pony, Nutcracker and Eleonore - in charge of his Mafia empire. Released from the mighty Don's dictatorship, the children started to relax and give room to their individual pursuits. This turned out to have fatal consequences for the Famiglia's empire, resulting in most of the Famiglia's establishments regaining their independence, clearing the way for rival Famiglia to take-over. Now it is up to the player to either help one of Don Viktor's children regain power over all the establishments in the world or start a rival Famiglia before dad comes home!