Mafia Wars Bangkok: Everything you need to know

Starting Friday, January 29, virtual mobsters will be able to expand their empire in the new Mafia Wars expansion -- Mafia Wars Bangkok. This new empire is accessible to players who are level 18 and up, and unlocks a host of new missions, weapons, collections and businesses.

Mafia Wars Bankok uses a sliding scale

The game experience itself is very similar to Mafia Wars Moscow -- broken down into Episodes and each ends with a boss battle that unlocks the next Episode. Unlike Moscow, which required a lot (arguably too much) energy to complete missions, Bangkok works on a sliding scale, which makes the game accessible to lower-level players. The amount of energy required to complete a mission (and the payout at the end) varies depending on your level.

Completing missions will results in Thai Baht and loot, such as weapons and items used to fill out collections. Collections, when completed, can be vaulted for bonuses, such as more energy -- pretty typical for every area of Mafia Wars. Loot in Bangkok Episode 1 -- the "Brawler" level -- consists of chess pieces, and in Episode 2 -- the "Criminal level" loot is a series of masks, then followed by spices, carvings and orchids.