Distributed by
Take 2 Games

Episodes From Liberty City: Lost and Damned: GTA 4: Price: £14.95 Players: 1; Online: 2-16 Widescreen: Yes 60Hz: Yes (optional) HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live-enabled: Yes Vote and comment on this game: View Comments The first of two Downloadable Content episodes, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and The Damned is out now, and all the GTA fans have been clamouring to get their hands on it (virtually, that is - since it's a paid-for download). Billy Grey is the leader of "The Lost Brotherhood", but has spent some time in rehab, during which you were in charge. When he gets out, he's none too happy to find that one of the band of men has sold his bike to the baddies to pay for your legal fees. Now out and needing some transport, the first step is to get it back, and so begins the first of 23 missions in this new episode within Liberty City. In this episode, you play Johnny Klebitz, brother of Billy and, naturally, there's friction between the two of you. I wonder if it's because he's a naturally grumpy git and you look cool and suarve and a bit like Tony Almeida in '24'. ;

All the mechanics of GTA4 are here - the visuals, the sound, the satnav, etc. However, the first thing you need to do is to learn how to ride along in a convoy - not easy when you just want to break out and head forth at speed, but the badge symbol for your group shows where you should be. That said, this does get a little tiresome after a while and you just want to break out and zoom along at top speed again, especially due to the fact that the convoy keep slowing down and speeding up - not even just when taking corners. One of the early missions involved going round and shooting up your rival gang, The Angels of Death, although one major problem with that is that you're basically doing all the work. The other guys don't seem to make any kind of a dent in proceedings so you have to go in there with all the weapons and kill everyone. Thankfully, this only happens a handful of times before you move onto some solo missions and then we're back in the usual territory for a while. I understand that engaging in gang wars is one way to harden your band so perhaps next time they'll act like they have a pair, but they could actually have shown some kind of muscle from the start. One thing I noticed early on is that the frame-rate in this seems quite a bit choppy sometimes, such as when on the run from the police in one of their cars. It's certainly not smooth like GTA4 usually is. For most of the time, though, you won't encouter this as a problem.

Other random observations include that in addition to missions you can have races against the other guys, you're not hampered by areas being shut off to you if you haven't unlocked them in the full game (which, take note, you will need in order to play this episode), and that our old friend Niko might just make an appearance before too long... and now I'm starting to sound like Troy McClure in the Simpsons Spin-off Showcase :) You'll instantly notice a difference in the look of this episode compared to GTA4 as everything outside has as sepia-toned appearance, the CGI cut-scenes go on a bit too long sometimes, and one thing that was obvious from the start after installing the episode, since it can only be bought via Xbox Live - hence why the Amazon link above is for a 1600 Microsoft Points card - was that the music you normally here, as both GTA4, and then Lost and the Damned, load in, has been muted. Why? Oh, and don't worry if your bike gets trashed or blows up whilst on a mission. Just nick another car/bike and carry on. When you need your bike again, it'll be there.

Grand Theft Auto 4: Niko vs The Grid Finally, one major feature added to The Lost and the Damned is the availability of mid-mission checkpoints. This saves you having to make long journeys back to certain locations in order to restart a failed mission - and in some cases there *will* be a lot of travelling. Note that this won't add such a function to GTA4 itself. Overall, if you're a fan of GTA4 and hankering for more, this is a must-buy. Simple as. Normally, at this point in my game reviews, I'd list a few specific games footage pieces I've uploaded, but since Take2Games get funny about people who upload full mission walkthroughs, that's why there's nothing from this episode online yet on my DVDfeverGames Youtube channel. In due course, I'll upload some silly moments edited together but I'm still working on those so you can see what's online already now from GTA4, such as Niko messing about to the tune of Swamp Thing by excellent 90s dance band, The Grid (right)

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2009.