GTA IV: The Lost And The Damned Hands On

Liberty City is a big city. Full of intricate alleyways, bars, shops, distinctive neighbourhoods, and characters so flawed you’d swear they were modeled on your extended family, Liberty City lives and breathes. It seems a shame then, upon completing GTA IV, that we must part ways with it, for nobody can claim they’ve explored every inch of the charismatic place, experienced every dirty little thrill it has to offer.

But, as developer Rockstar tells us, as one journey ends, another begins.

And so it is that we get some hands on time with the first of GTA IV’s downloadable episodes, the Lost and the Damned. Far from being a token cash-in (buy Niko a Kratos costume!), the Lost and the Damned pitches itself as an entirely new game, with new narrative, characters, music, vehicles and weapons. The only thing that feels familiar is Liberty City itself, and of course, that anarchistic GTA flavour.

It’s refreshing to experience Liberty City through someone else’s eyes. Niko Belic’s struggle to ‘make it in America’ certainly, at times, felt like a struggle, earning pittance to drive him forward, inch by inch, into a semblance of a life. Our new protagonist, Johnny Klebbitz, is much more at home in his surroundings. The hairy, grimy vice president of motorcycle gang The Lost, Johnny’s a born and bred Islander, with all the benefits that entails – friends, guns, and immediate contacts. He may look like a dumb heavy, but he’s got his finger on the button where it counts. And God, after Niko’s slog, playing with Johnny – and more importantly, Johhny’s benefits - feels like a breath of fresh air.

Not everything is hunky dory in our new protagonist’s world, however. Johnny’s been looking after the gang while the prez, his volatile, addicted-to-everything brother Billy, has been in rehab. Ultimately likeable, Johnny’s been trying to maintain a peaceful approach in an ongoing war between rival gang The Angels of Darkness, but unfortunately for Johnny, Billy’s back, and he’s up to his old tricks. And this means gang war.

For the most part of Lost and the Damned, you’ll be with your gang. Every member has a distinctive personality, brilliantly fleshed out by top-notch voice acting and character development. In the first cut scene we saw, we were reminded of an episode of the fourth season of the Sopranos; the actors knew one another, the writing team had developed a successful rhythm, it was all clicking. Indeed, the somewhat glib label of ‘downloadable content’ almost seems unworthy, with all the care, passion and new blood that’s obviously gone into the Lost and the Damned’s production values.

Camaraderie within your gang is definitely encouraged – in the first mission we played, we rode out with the Lost to chase down the Angels of Darkness. It was all played out as a team, and it felt good to ride alongside your buddies, shooting wisecracks back and forth. If you manage to stick to the middle of the posse, a gang insignia appears on the road, and within this insignia you’ll converse with your fellow bikers and gain a decent health boost. Killer one-liners and gameplay benefits: why ride in isolation?

You’ve got to look after your brothers, too. After every mission, the surviving members of your gang gain a stats boost, resulting in hardened, more competent AI. If you lose a member, he’ll be replaced with a member with lower stats, and so it begins again. Mercifully, The Lost can look after themselves pretty well, but if they’re overwhelmed, you’re well advised to watch their backs with your shotgun.

For those worried about some of the awkward bike-handling issues in GTA IV, Rockstar have tweaked things to make riding easier. Bikes in GTA 1V felt a little like token fan service, made insignificant by the more accessible larger vehicles. In the Lost and the Damned, bikes are your main means of transportation, and controls have been adjusted accordingly. Johnny’s starting bike is also unique, a customized, much loved beast that works with his hefty weight. You inherently want to look after it, for a stolen ride satisfies but feels slightly insufficient; Johnny’s chopper so naturally an extension his character.

This new vehicle handling is indicative of the approach Rockstar have taken overall, for the Lost and the Damned is not a Band-Aid. It is, however, still GTA IV, viral in the way it inhabits the carcass of the old game, the shape’s there, the muscle still there; you’re on the same island, you see the same people. The new quests are intrinsically tied up in the old ones, some missions identical to GTA IV, but from a fresh perspective. We played the ‘Buyer’s Market’, and imagine our delight when we bumped into Niko, well aware of his inevitable fate, but not so sure of our own. It was a thrill, and left us slightly mournful afterward, like saying goodbye to an old friend.

Inevitably though, you’re going to be swept up by Johnny. This is his story, this is his game. With the Lost and the Damned, Rockstar have shown they love their game as much as the fans do, providing us with an experience worthy of being sold as a stand-alone product at 1600 Microsoft points. Far from fan service, light-years beyond Oblivion’s infamous ‘horse armor’, this is new standard for downloadable content. May it continue.