It was not long after Grand Theft Auto IV came out, that Rockstar Games mentioned there would be some kind of downloadable content. Well that downloadble content is here, in “The Lost & Damned”. Does it ride away into the sunset, or should it go sleeping with the fishes?
When The Lost & Damned was revealed, people were intrigued to see how it would be playing a guy in a biker gang. (Basically playing an episode of “Sons of Anarchy”) They added more than just a new story and twenty-three new missions, they also added new weapons, cars, multiplayer modes, and “gang wars”.
You play as Johnny Klebitz, who is the Vice President of “The Lost” biker gang. And into the first few missions, you can tell that he is getting tired of the biker life style of guns, women, murders, drugs, and the rest that come with being a biker gang. The President of the “The Lost” is Billy Grey, who you pick up from jail as he is talking to his probation officer saying how he is a changed man and is going to stay clean, well that doesn’t last long. This game resembles the TV show “Sons of Anarchy”, in both the characters and what they do.
As you expect, there are many fights in the biker gang about both small and big things. There are definitely some twist and turns in this game which I will not spoil for anyone, but lets just say it will be pretty shocking. You also meet people and do missions for them that you did with Niko in the original GTA IV game. They also made some missions in which, when you do them, and if you think about playing the original Grand Theft Auto IV, you realize you were the cause of some of Niko’s pain and trouble.
Some of the new stuff they added like weapons, cars, bikes, etc are awesome. There are six new weapons, which in my opinion are better than the GTA IV weapons. The new weapons are; Grenade Launcher, Assault Shotgun (Auto shotgun), Pool Cue, Pipe bomb, Automatic Pistol (which I LOVE), Sawed off shotgun. The assault shotgun is pretty insane, it can explode a car with one clip (about 8 shots) so it comes in handy, but the automatic pistol is amazing. You can shoot from a distance since it has awesome accuracy, and when you’re up close you can also hold the trigger down for fully automatic which is awesome. Then the new cars and motorcycles, I won’t list them because there are alot, 20 new motorcycles and cars to be exact. The new motorcycles are awesome, but I think it’s because they changed the physics of the motorcycles. It’s easier to turn and you won’t fall off your motorcycle by clipping a car like you use to. There are also motorcycle races in which you can use a bat to knock the other racers off their bike, which there is an achievement for. They also added “gang wars”, much like in San Andreas, you pull up to the icon and call up “brothers” from your biker gang and they meet you and then you track down a rival gang and take them out. You get kind of addicted to the gang wars because of the battle that ensues, it really is cool.
Let me just say this right now, I love this game. When I originally beat Grand Theft Auto IV, I started thinking about everything they left out of the game, like some of the stuff that was in San Andreas, but I started to realize that Niko was not that type of person. He wasn’t worried about working out (Like CJ in San Andreas), he was not worried about his looks, he just wanted the life his cousin Roman promised. The more I thought about that, the more I liked GTA IV. Why do I bring that up? Well, with The Lost & Damned I really think that you have to put Grand Theft Auto IV into the top 10 games of all time. Maybe it’s because it is the most recent game I’ve played, but just something about both GTA IV and TL&D I aboslutely love.
Now that I said how much I love this game, there are some negatives, one being the price. At 1600 Microsoft Points (which is $20, and it’s an Xbox 360 exclusive) it is a little overpriced. If the price was $10 or $15 then it would have been perfect, because the game seems a little short. I beat it in eight and a half hours, but I still loved the experience. Yes, some people might not think it is worth the $20, but to me it was because of how much I liked it. Then there are texture pop ins, it would not be a Grand Theft Auto game if there were not graphic problems like texture pop ins. It seems like they got worst in The Lost & Damned for some reason, it is annoying at times, but it is not a huge fault.
Like I said, I really think this put GTA IV over the top. In my opinion it has to be looked at as one of the best games of all time, fabulous gaming experience. I would DEFINITELY reccomend this to ANYONE who is remotely thinking about getting this. Go get yourself 1600 MS points and download it!
P.S. you will recognize one of the later missions in the game if you ever played Metal Gear Solid 4. And you will be pretty shocked by the last mission, that is all I will say about it.
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