Joe’s Adventures, the next DLC add-on for Mafia II, launches today, and we have a code we’d like to give away to one lucky Xbox 360 wise guy out there. And you don’t have to whack anybody to win!

Prize: One download token for the new Mafia II: Joe’s Adventures add-on for Xbox 360. You must already own a copy of Mafia II in order to play this DLC.

How to enter: Do one of the following: leave a comment below (with valid email), follow us on Twitter @vgblogger and retweet this message, or email us at contests@vgblogger.com with the subject line “Joe’s Adventures Giveaway.”

Entry Period: Tuesday, November 23 – Wednesday, November 24 at 5:00 PM EST. Winner to be selected the evening of the 15th.

Mafia II: Joe’s Adventures is now available for download on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 for $9.99/800 MS Points. Said to provide an additional six hours of gameplay, Joe’s Adventures extends the narrative of Mafia II by giving players the chance to play as Joe Barbaro and see what happens around Empire Bay during Vito’s stint in prison.

Oh, 2K Games. I see what you did. Instead of building a free roam mode – which the first Mafia game had – directly into Mafia II, you chopped it up into two DLC packs to release at and just after the game’s launch. First was The Betrayal of Jimmy, the freebie pack-in DLC that comes exclusively with new copies of the PS3 version. And now there is Jimmy’s Vendetta, an eerily similar piece of DLC, this time released for all three platforms at a price of $9.99 / 800 MS Points.

Sorry to be so snarky, but I’m not particularly fond of shady DLC practices, and on the surface that’s kind of how Jimmy’s Vendetta comes across. Putting my general sense of DLC skepticism aside, though, Jimmy’s Vendetta is a beefy add-on to the Mafia II experience, and a nice gaming value for the spend.

Technically, Jimmy’s Vendetta is a sequel to The Betrayal of Jimmy. For those of you playing on the PC or Xbox 360 and thus can’t play The Betrayal of Jimmy, the episode closes with Jimmy, an independent mob enforcer dude, getting tossed in the slammer. That’s where Jimmy’s Vendetta begins, in a dramatic opening mission that has you breaking Jimmy out of prison to get back on the mean streets of Empire Bay and exact revenge on those that got him pinched.

In reality, though, neither add-on has a story beyond what I just told you. Jimmy has no depth or personality, and you really don’t meet any other interesting characters either. All’s you get are a couple toss-in cutscenes (one at the beginning, one at the end) and short mission descriptions that are text blurbs no longer than a sentence or two each.

And that’s OK. Jimmy’s Vendetta isn’t meant to be a story extender (that’s what Joe’s Adventures will be for), but rather a bonus arcade mode opening up Empire Bay for more free-roaming activities. In that regard, this DLC certainly excels.

In total, there are more than 30 missions (I counted 33, but the map has quite a few icons bunched up, so my math may not be 100%), and altogether you’re looking at 4-5 hours to complete them all one time. That’s a hefty chunk of extra gameplay for only $10.

Mission objectives are slim on variety, with the majority requiring you to drive from point A to point B to kill some people or blow something up, or to steal a vehicle and return it to a specific garage within a time limit. But you do earn bonus points based on your performance, so by landing headshots, drifting, driving really fast, blowing up vehicles, and whacking fools in rapid succession to build up the multiplier, you amass points which are calculated to determine a letter grade ranking for each mission. And this scoring system is tied into an online leaderboard, so if you’re really into trying to outdo other virtual mobsters, you’ll find yourself replaying missions again and again to bump up your high score.

Save for the change in structure, Jimmy’s Vendetta looks, plays and sounds exactly like the base game, and thus the same pros and cons carry over as well. On the plus side, the shooting gameplay is still fun and explosive, Empire Bay and everything in it looks and sounds amazing, and the vintage 40’s / 50’s soundtrack keeps you awake while motoring around the city.

On the down side, there is still way too much time spent behind the wheel traveling to and fro across Empire Bay between each mission, and the cops are still just as annoyingly inconsistent in choosing when to pursue you. I continue to be chased down for speeding while driving BEHIND cop cars, yet I can still blow up a gas station or massacre a group of people with police nearby and sometimes walk right by them without incident. It. Makes. No. Sense!

So, let’s get to the question that needs to be answered here: should you buy Jimmy’s Vendetta? Ultimately, my recommendation depends entirely on the platform you own the game on. If you bought the PS3 version and already have the free Betrayal of Jimmy DLC, there’s really no reason to get Jimmy’s Vendetta because it is basically a retread of the same content, only with Trophies and a slightly larger mission count. However, if you’re playing on the PC or Xbox 360 and missed not having the open-world fun of a free play mode, this add-on definitely hits the spot with simple, arcade-style mobster action.

In simpler terms: skip it if you have the PS3 version, buy it if you’re playing on PC or Xbox 360.

Pros:
+ Core third-person shooter gameplay continues to shine
+ Brings much needed free play activities to Empire Bay
+ Adds a lot more replay value at a reasonable price
+ Soundtrack is still amazing

Cons:
– Still way too much driving between missions
– Police AI is still nonsensical and annoying
– Mostly a retread of PS3 DLC pack The Betrayal of Jimmy

Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on PS3, also available on PC and Xbox 360
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Czech
Release Date: 9/7/2010
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
ESRB Rating: Mature
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher

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The two Mafia II DLC packs so far have been good for mindless mobster fun (my review for Jimmy’s Vendetta will be going up later today), but those looking to further explore the game’s cinematic narrative need look no further than Joe’s Adventures, a third DLC add-on due out later this year for all three platform versions (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360).

Joe’s Adventures stars Vito’s oaf of a best friend, Joe Barbaro, and will extend the game’s storyline by showing the events that transpire during Vito’s stint in the slammer. The DLC will introduce new locations around Empire Bay, including a “train station, the cathouse, a boat yard, a seasonally changing lakefront and some never-before-seen buildings,” as well as additional collectibles to hunt for, new clothing to try on and more classic 40’s/50’s tunes to make the dull vehicular navigation palatable.

Furthermore, Joe’s Adventures will also incorporate the free-roaming gameplay of the Betrayal of Jimmy and Jimmy’s Vendetta DLC packs, with optional side jobs tied in with the same arcade scoring system to be interspersed amongst the main story missions. Sounds like a winner to me!

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Mafia II is a deceptive game in its appearance. Without actually playing it, chances are you’ll believe this game to be just another open-world “GTA clone.” The similarities are certainly present, but while Mafia II looks like a free-roamer and has elements of a free-roamer, it’s actually a very linear, story-driven experience trapped inside a sandbox environment.

That sandbox environment is Empire Bay, a fictional ‘40s / ‘50s-era American city clearly inspired by New York, which servers as your mobster stomping grounds in Mafia II, with the game placing you in the role of a young man by the name of Vito Scaletta. Vito, the son of a poor, hardworking Italian immigrant, isn’t an inherently bad person, but his lack of work ethic and lust for wealth and respect quickly leads him down the wrong path – and you get to come along for the ride.

Rife with cheap racial stereotypes and mafia clichés, the storyline — which took me just over 10 hours to see through to the end, for those curious about how long the game lasts — is hardly original. However, the characters are so well animated and acted, and the cinematic production values as a whole are so impressive that the lacking originality matters very little in the end. I certainly haven’t experienced a more gripping video game mob drama than that of Mafia II.

The game itself is built like any typical open-world crime game. You drive around the city of Empire Bay completing missions as they are given to you, with a familiar circular map in the corner of the screen guiding you to the next objective. 10 square miles in size, Empire Bay is a large virtual city, and the proprietary Illusion Engine used to power the game produces an exceptionally detailed world with a realistic, lived-in quality about it.

However, this environmental expanse really only serves as a backdrop to the storyline and chapter-based mission structure — to create an immersive environment that pulls you into the mob world – as there are no side missions or other substantive activities to do outside the narrative. Sure, you can earn money by stealing and selling cars, you can collect cars for your personal garage, and you can buy new outfits. But at scripted points in the story you lose possessions and money and start back at square one, so even these minor sandbox elements prove fruitless.

You don’t even get a “free play” mode after completing the game, so going back to hunt down the game’s awesome collectibles – wanted posters scattered around the city and vintage Playboy centerfolds – requires you to load into individual chapters and skip through cutscenes. The only comparable mode is exclusive to the PS3 version of the game, as the free pack-in DLC, The Betrayal of Jimmy, is essentially an arcadey free play add-on with around 30 score-based missions and leaderboards to post high scores to. It took me five hours to complete every mission too, so it is a meaty DLC pack — and it definitely makes the PS3 version the most attractive in terms of value and longevity.

The open scale and realism of Empire Bay’s design does create immersion, but it does so at the expense of entertainment. There is simply way too much time wasted on driving between mission objectives. Sometimes you’ll literally have to drive from point A to point B to pick someone up, then drive to Point C to see a cutscene, then drive all the way back to drop your friend off, and then drive back to your home to end the chapter or gain the next objective. 15-20 minutes pass and you’ve done nothing but drive around and watch a cutscene or two. I don’t mind watching games – I am a huge fan of Metal Gear after all – but having to complete so many mundane tasks just to get to the meat of the story and gameplay is straight up boring.

The cop AI is also ridiculously idiotic. You can speed through red lights or stop signs — sometimes even bump into other cars — right in front of a cop, but they won’t do anything to stop you. Yet in other instances you can be driving quite a ways BEHIND a police car, and out of the blue they’ll sound their siren and come after you for speeding. It makes absolutely no sense, and constantly having to fend off “wanted” status only adds more frustration to getting where you need to go.

Honestly, the only good thing about the driving sections is listening to the game’s outstanding period soundtrack, which is chock full of jazz, oldies and other classic music of the ‘40s and ‘50s from artists like Bing Crosby, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Dean Martin, and many others.

Mafia II also suffers from polish issues in terms of small bugs and glitches. In one in-game cutscene, for example, a citizen walked right through another character and the door he was exiting from. Another time, I went to stealth kill a seated guard and my character wound up choking thin air while the guard stood up. Then, as soon as he was standing he instantly keeled over from the attack. In another instance, I went to climb over a fence and walked right through it as if it didn’t exist. And a few times throughout the game I noticed that the voice acting would suddenly go mute for a line or two – the character’s lips would be moving, but I had no idea what they said. These things hardly break the game, but collectively they show the product in an unfinished light.

These drawbacks are unfortunate, because once you finish driving from point to point and get into an actual mission, Mafia II is a richly compelling game. Many of the main missions take place in confined environments and are more set-piece-driven like an Uncharted game, and the core play mechanics are fantastic. The cover system works nicely, guns pack a satisfying punch when fired, realistic environmental damage modeling adds a feeling of chaos to the gun fights, and the melee system, though shallow, is surprisingly visceral in its simplicity. When you actually get to whack some fools, this game is a treat. It’s just too bad the good parts are hidden behind so much unnecessary tedium.

For the first couple of hours, I really struggled to find my way in Mafia II. The way I see it, this game lacks clear direction, almost as if the development team couldn’t settle on whether to make the game a true open-world experience or a linear one – so instead the two styles were forced together like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

But I must admit that the more I played, the more the game grew on me. Had 2K trimmed away the false open-world grandeur and focused the game on its linear storytelling — using cutscenes as transitions between missions rather than dull vehicular navigation — Mafia II could’ve been something truly special. But as is, it’s a very solid game held back from reaching its maximum potential by a questionable design choice.

Pros:
+ Gripping cinematic storyline
+ Detailed character models and high-end voice acting
+ Authentic period soundtrack
+ Core third-person shooter gameplay is great fun
+ Free Betrayal of Jimmy DLC adds great value to PS3 version

Cons:
– Way too much driving between missions
– Police AI is nonsensical and annoying
– City exploration keeps you from enjoying the good stuff
– No post-game free play mode
– Lots of silly bugs and glitches show a lack of polish

Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on PS3, also available on PC and Xbox 360
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Czech
Release Date: 8/24/2010
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
ESRB Rating: Mature
Players: 1
Source: Review copy provided by publisher

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Just over two weeks from now, 2K Games will release a playable demo for its mob action game, Mafia II. On August 10th, the demo will be available for download worldwide on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, two weeks prior to the full game’s retail launch on August 24th in North America, August 26th in Australia and August 27th in other regions.

The Mafia II demo invites gamers to dive into the “Buzzsaw” level, where Vito and his buddies, Joe and Henry, are sent to take out a mobster known as “The Fat Man”. While the epic game spans two decades, the Buzzsaw demo takes place during the summer of the ‘50s – a time considered the “Birth of Cool”, and with it, rock ‘n’ roll, hot rods, and rebellious attitudes. The demo showcases the type of vibrant edge-of-your-seat action, as well as a slice of the expansive city of Empire Bay in the colorful era.

Available when the game ships on August 24th for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, the Mafia II Collector’s Edition, unveiled this week by 2K Games, will include the following:

The Collector’s Edition is priced at $80 for the console versions and $70 for PC. Pre-orders for the game are also available now at GameStop, Amazon, Best Buy and Wal-Mart.com, each retailer offering exclusive bonuses, including:

Go to the Mafia II pre-order page to check out each offer and see which one strikes your fancy.

2K Games’ mob drama Mafia II has a ship date — the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 sandbox third-person shooter will be available in North America on August 24 and internationally on August 27. The final cover art has also been unveiled. See what it looks like on your platform of choice below.

These five new Mafia II screens are very pretty. Starting to get very excited about this game, even amidst the crazy GTA IV hype that’s in full force right now.

Guess what? Mafia II is coming to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, 2K Games announces today. Yeah, I know, that’s not the most shocking news in the world, but it was previously only announced as a PC and “next-gen console” game, so it’s nice to at least have official confirmation that it’s coming to all three platforms, even if we all already knew it was. Plus, the news also came with this fresh batch of screenshots. Can’t argue with that.