Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned DLC - Xbox 360

    The Lost and Damned is the first of two episodes of downloadable content (DLC) released for Grand Theft Auto IV. This installment follows a new main character, Johnny Klebitz. Johnny is second in command of The Lost Motorcycle Club, a gang of bikers residing within Liberty City. The expansion's story runs parallel to the events experienced by Niko Bellic, further fleshing out the overall narrative of Liberty City and filling in some gaps in Niko's story. In some instances, Johnny actually comes into contact with the protagonist of the main game and works together with him for certain missions. Other important characters from Niko's story make a few cameos in Johnny's tale, bringing some familiar faces to the new cast of friends within The Lost.


    Johnny's story revolves around his beloved motorcycle club and the brotherhood shared by its members. The episode begins with Billy, the leader of the club, being released from prison.  It becomes immediately obvious that Johnny (who has been running the gang while Billy was in prison) and Billy have two very different ideas of what sorts of activities the club should be involved with. This lack of agreement between the two leaders is only the tip of the iceberg for The Lost, as law enforcement threatens to shut the club down and a bad deal with the mafia makes life much more difficult for the gang. It falls to Johnny, being one of the most devoted members of the club, to see his brothers through the impending storm.

A heated discussion over whether or not The Lost should ride in the Thanksgiving parade.

    In addition to a new protagonist, The Lost and Damned adds a number of new activities and features to the already great GTA4. It makes sense that with the main character being a member of a motorcycle gang that a new focus on motorbikes be included in the DLC. Around 15 new motorcycles have been added to the game as well as a few new automobiles. It's no secret that motorcycles were quite difficult to handle in the basic GTA4 game. The Lost and Damned fixes this problem by making motorcycles driven by Johnny much easier to drive. As a trade off of his time spent practicing on bikes, Johnny's car and truck driving skills have been toned down; making automobiles handle much more loosely than they did with Niko Bellic behind the wheel. This change in motorcycle handling is much appreciated as the DLC adds 12 motorcycle races to Liberty City which can be entered for a chance to win some extra cash.

    Gameplay in The Lost and Damned greatly reminded me of GTA games of the past. Like in previous entries to the series, the protagonist is a member of a gang seeking to pull themselves up through the ranks of criminals in order to find a better life. Missions feel much more "us vs. them" as a result, unlike Niko's struggle to find himself happiness. The Lost and Damned does a great job in making the player feel the link between brothers in the club.

    Another new feature added by the expansion is gang warfare. Across Liberty City are side-missions which can be taken on by Johnny to weaken the other gangs in the city. These missions normally play out as simple ride here, fight these guys, missions. Completing the missions will unlock weapons for Johnny at The Lost's clubhouse.

So much for that rival gang's fireworks factory!

    The Lost and Damned also introduces six new weapons to the game which can be purchased from the back of a club member's van. The weapons fit the attitude of the motorcycle club and add new possible strategies for tackling the 22 story missions within the expansion. Mission structure is quite similar to those found in Niko's story with the exception that checkpoints are now present, eliminating much of the frustration of dying at the very end of a mission and having to redo the entire thing from the beginning.

    All included, the new features in The Lost and Damned will last players around 10-15 hours. New collectables have been added in the form of seagulls to find and eliminate throughout the city for those looking to complete the expansion 100% and add some playtime to the already generous length of the game.

The Lost Motorcycle Club, umbrellas are for wimps.

    
    All in all, The Lost and Damned shows just as much polish as the basic GTA4 does. While the DLC runs off of the same engine as GTA4, I did notice much more texture pop-up and the same "things appear in the middle of the road" problem in the expansion. These magically appearing road blocks are much more problematic while riding a motorcycle, increasing the frustration caused by them.

    The Lost and Damned definitely is worth the money spent to experience the it. As it has been around 4 years since the release of the DLC, it is quite likely that you will be able to find the expansion for much less than the $20 it originally cost. Even at full price the episode was worth the money, so fans of GTA4 should definitely look into picking up the DLC. The minor problems present in the basic GTA4 game are still present in the expansion, however.

Amulets and Ale rating: