Well, you see the score at the top, so you're probably wondering what went wrong with Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta. If you've read my extensive coverage of Mafia II, you know that I found it one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences of 2010. The unfortunate truth about Jimmy's Vendetta is that most of what made Mafia II great simply isn't present here. This content is aimed squarely at gamers who enjoy hardcore challenges, shooting for high scores, and leaderboard competition. I don't expect Mafia II fans to take kindly to this shift in focus.

Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta kicks off fifteen years after the ending of the PlayStation 3 exclusive downloadable episode The Betrayal of Jimmy. This episode opens with the titular cleaner rotting away in a jail cell, having been cruelly sold out by his mob bosses. The only thing that keeps him going is his plans for vengeance. When a riot breaks out, Jimmy sees an opportunity to escape. The opening mission leaves a great first impression; it's a good old-fashioned brawl-a-thon. Once you get out, however, things take a major turn for the worse. Not for Jimmy, but for the gameplay in general.

If you played Mafia II, what did the game get right above everything else? If you think 2K Czech's story is the star, I agree. Jimmy's Vendetta has almost no narrative driving the action. Save for a few cutscenes and some brief text-based briefings, there's hardly any context for all the random missions. Ultimately, that's the meat of Jimmy's Vendetta: random missions. As Jimmy, you'll drive around Empire Bay doing odd jobs for powerful people. You'll wreck up businesses who aren't paying their protection money, kill people who have been marked for death, steal vehicles, and more. The missions aren't bad on their own, but there's a catch: I'll explain it later. Late in Mafia II, I noticed that driving around Empire Bay was starting to get really boring. What kept it from being too boring in Mafia II was the fact that Vito almost always had someone else in the car who was always ready to speak his mind. Jimmy's Vendetta takes the focus off of the characters and the storytelling, and that's the biggest contributing factor to its failure.

Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta, like its PlayStation 3 DLC predecessor, fancies itself an arcade experience. The design decisions reflect this direction to destructive ends. What I mean to say is that this bit of downloadable content is brutally difficult to a fault, for indiscernable reasons. The biggest offender is the timer that almost always ticks away at the top right corner of the screen. Each and every mission Jimmy undertakes has a time limit. If he fails to complete a mission and get to the safe zone before the time runs out, he'll have to restart the mission from the very beginning. To me, this convention has never been a welcome one; I suspect the same is true for many other gamers out there.

The timer is the most noticable obstacle between you and a good time with Jimmy's Vendetta, but even if the timer wasn't a factor, it would still be difficult. It's a pain in the ass to unload every clip of ammunition into a clothing store only to find out that you haven't caused enough destruction. Even on its easiest difficulty level, Jimmy's Vendetta will frustrate you. Some missions suffer from poor objective placement; one in particular forces Jimmy to protect a rat from several waves of angry gangsters. That's not bad in itself, but when you notice that there's almost no cover to make use of, your blood will boil. And then you'll remember that damn timer.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much from 2K Czech when I say I'd much rather see some closure to Vito's story than grind my way through a mission pack featuring a character who isn't fleshed out nearly enough. And perhaps some day they will deliver that. But today is not that day. Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta costs 800 Microsoft Points. A sixth of Mafia II's asking price. I don't think there's enough quality content in this download to justify that price point.

This isn't a flat-out bad bit of downloadable content. However, it is painfully difficult and sorely lacking in personality. Worst of all, it retains very little of what makes Mafia II such a great game. All told, coming off Mafia II into Jimmy's Vendetta is a surefire way to experience disappointment and buyer's remorse. Here's hoping the third time's the charm.