TechGremlinAfter reviewing Mafia 2 I planned on reviewing Jimmy’s Vendetta, however I postponed it until now in order to review both (and possibly the last) expansions for this game.
My Mafia 2 review has already covered many things that haven’t changed, thus there will be no Graphics or Sound sections to this review.
Introduction
Jimmy’s Vendetta is the second expansion to Mafia 2, centering around the character of Jimmy from the previous PS3 exclusive The Betrayal of Jimmy, it brings Mafia 2 to an arcade style open world gameplay that the main game missed.
Joe’s Adventures takes place during the time when Vito is in Jail, centering around his best friend Joe from the main game, it contains slightly more story than Jimmy’s Vendetta but still contains the same arcade style gameplay.
Gameplay
While the same basics of the game are in place there are a number of differences to these 2 expansions.
Interaction
Both expansions start out in the same style as Mafia 2 until after the first mission, then the gameplay changes considerably, there is no sleeping to go to the next mission, instead missions are scattered around GTA style, while more pop up when the previous missions are completed.
In Jimmy’s Vendetta and Joe’s Adventures there are a few basic mission types, the main types being steal a car and deliver it and kill specific people. Occasionally there will be a mission that will progress the story, in the case of Joe’s Adventures, these specific missions have much more story and usually contain cutscenes, something that Jimmy’s Vendetta lacks.
Saving the game is done at safe houses that pop up around the city in a similar style to the GTA series of games, the game will also save after each mission as well, this is helpful as it allows you to take time building up your ammo and money supplies before the next mission unlike Mafia 2 where saving advances the story potentially locking you out of some supplies.
Storyline
In Jimmy’s Vendetta the story is simple, Jimmy is out to get revenge on certain people after the events of the previous expansion, there’s little in the way of backstory which is strange seeing as only a small percentage would have played the previous Jimmy expansion. The story really isn’t the focus here, it’s very much a pure gameplay experience.
In Joe’s Adventures the story doesn’t take a backseat, there are much more cutscenes and it really gives a great deal of information on what happened in those years where Vito was behind bars. However one thing that I find annoying is that there were two periods of time where Vito was away, it would have been great if it had taken place during the time Vito was away fighting as well as there is still some missing storyline there.
Joe’s Adventures has a much lighter tone than the main story and Joe is simply a much more fun character to play than Vito.
Bugs
No bugs that I mentioned in the Mafia 2 review appear to have been fixed with these expansions.
Graphics
I’d like to point out though that while the in-game anti-aliasing is still horrible, proper AA can be forced on in the control panel for people with Nvidia cards.
Gameplay
I have had a few issues that have been brought in with these expansions, in Joe’s Adventures for example I somehow ended up with ~6 times as much ammo in one clip on one of my guns by the end of the game.
Summary
What’s wrong with it?
Graphics – Same as Mafia 2, minus the AA issues if you have an Nvidia card.
Sound – Nothing has changed.
Gameplay – Nothing has changed.
Bugs – Issues with ammo.
What’s good with it?
Graphics – Nothing has changed.
Sound – Nothing has changed.
Gameplay –Much more fun, arcadey.
Last words
I wouldn’t call these must-have’s, however if you’re interested in what happened during Vito’s absence I would recommend getting Joe’s Adventures.
