Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

Review from Yug - Monday, 06 April 2009 @ 11:33pm

Grand Theft Auto IV’s first downloadable expansion features a huge amount of new and unique content, a gripping story with a different angle on Liberty City, and convincing characters that are brilliantly voice acted.

But at the end of the day, in a few years time when we’re all playing Grand Theft Auto 5 and the adventures of Niko Bellic and the Lost motorcycle gang are but a distant memory, there will still be one thing that this particular game will forever be remembered for.

Cock.

Who knew a little cock up could create so much controversy?

Or more specifically, full frontal male nudity from one of the side characters – Congressman Thomas Stubbs. The scene setup was particularly clever, only finally revealing the goods after suggestive but safe camera angles for the rest of the cut scene – mind you, it’s particularly interesting to see family groups up in arms about this since they’re not used to attacking a game due to MALE nudity.

So what about the game? Well if you’ve read my preview, you’ll have a good idea of what new features you can expect – new vehicles, weapons, side missions, music, mini-games, as well as unique gang mechanics, and a completely new storyline with new characters.

Well, almost new characters. Your alter ego Johnny Klebbitz, the vice president of the Lost motorcycle gang, was actually a recurring character during missions in the original Grand Theft Auto IV. One of the biggest joys in Lost and Damned is the continual cross over scenes and missions, although they’re more aesthetic than anything overly deep. Other characters from the original game – Elizabeta, Ray Boccino, Playboy X, Roman Bellic, and of course Nikko Bellic.

Meet the gang

It’s kind of strange though ... while the game is set in the same Liberty City, the entire playing experience felt completely different to me. It could be because you are hanging out and doing missions in Alderney, the last area unlocked in GTA IV, and in that respect the part of the city I was least familiar with. But it wasn’t.

It’s the fact I’m playing as a completely different character type – a Biker. Funny enough I had just been watching an American TV series called ‘Sons of Anarchy’, about an outlaw motorcycle gang (run by Ron Pearlman) who protect the innocent way of life in their own town by pretty much fucking up everyone else’s. Violence, brotherhood, family, freedom – the themes I’ve been seeing in this show directly translate to the story of Lost and Damned, especially regarding the conflict between the current ‘out of control’ leader and the main character.

I honestly think the fact that I was right into this TV show helped alot with my state of mind playing Lost and Damned, as the story isn’t as accessible as previous Rockstar stories. It’s actually really hard to sympathise with characters in an outlaw biker gang, since – at heart, they’re all a bit unlikeable really.

I got right into it though, to the point where I refused to listen to any other radio station other than Liberty City Rock while riding my bike since it didn’t suit the character.

Hell, I even decided to go for a ride on my mates Harley just cause I was feeling in the spirit of things – mind you, it doesn’t handle quite the same as the GTA bikes ... and when you’re travelling at speeds upwards of 180kph, it’s a hellofalot scarier too!!

I'M ON A BIKE AND ... IT'S GOING FAST AND ...

Graphically the game still holds up remarkably well, and the city is as vibrant as ever ... and yet, the need to ‘explore’ isn’t there anymore. Seeing the city from a different perspective doesn’t change the city itself all that much, and there isn’t much incentive to stray far from the main storyline.

In that respect, once you’ve finished the game – and not unlike GTA IV itself – there isn’t much reason to reply it. It’s almost like all the little things add up to create this immersive experience that is complimentary to the main story, but don’t really hold up on their own. Except the card game you play at your club house – that shit is addictive.

Oh, and don’t do the arm wrestling, I actually broke one of my Xbox 360 controller joysticks from waggling it too hard. It’s not as suss as it sounds.

For anyone who enjoyed GTA IV (read this handy guide), picking this one up is a no brainer (unless you only have the Playstation 3 version ... in which case the experience could be significantly more expensive). For those that were apprehensive about the story driven serious approach taken however, you can expect more of the same – just without a slow learning curve. Personally though, that’s just the way I like it.

Pros

Excellent new characters and story, new gameplay modes, missions, weapons, music, and vehicles, graphics still hold up well, GTA IV story crossover, it's Grand Theft Auto.

Cons

Biker gangs are a little hard to sympathise with, riding a bike fast in the game doesn't have the same crap inducing feel you get in real life, it's Grand Theft Auto.