Review finder: Grand Theft Auto IV - The Lost and Damned DLC

(N.B. This review does not include details of the new multiplayer modes.)

Microsoft reportedly paid Take-Two the tune of $50 million for two slices of Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content, of which this is the first. Requiring the original GTA IV game, a hard drive with 1.8 GB of space and only available as a download via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, this will set you back 1600 Microsoft Points - roughly £13.60. It's arguably the most ambitious piece of DLC seen to date, so is it worth the hefty price tag?

Most significant console expansions are stand-alone affairs (F.E.A.R. Files and Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath for example) meaning the original game isn't required and you can experience a smaller portion of a game for a lower price. The Lost and Damned is more akin to old-school PC expansion packs such as Half-Life: Opposing Force in that the original is required to play, the only difference here is the distribution method of download rather than retail. Unlike "plug-in" additions such as the Halo 2 multiplayer map pack or downloadable songs for Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Lips, this features a large new single player story, new side missions, nice weapons, vehicles, music, TV shows, radio audio and even new gameplay features and multiplayer modes.

The storyline sees you play as Johnny Klebitz, the acting President of a motorcycle gang (and borderline cult) known as "The Lost". Club President Billy is then released from prison and re-assumes his position, immediately wanting to make an impact in Liberty City. Tensions between Johnny and Billy begin to grow as they have differing opinions on almost every matter, including the club's stance on rival gang "The Angels Of Death". There's a decent sense of brotherhood between The Lost members and the dialogue is as witty and entertaining as before, although because the story is shorter the characters aren't quite as defined as they could be. The game hints at an RPG party system where your gang-mates have stats that can be improved depending what missions they're involved in, but this only goes as far as increasing "toughness" for a couple of members that you can call upon should you need them. During the added gang war side-missions, gang members do apparently increase in ability after each one and they can die meaning next time it's a different member with basic ability, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

What's interesting is the sense of interweaving with the main storyline and characters you'll be familiar with. Elizabeta and Playboy X make appearances as well as Italian mob boss Ray. It helps give a more all-rounded sense of Liberty City and that when you were playing Niko and carrying out dirty work, there were other people such as Johnny doing the same thing. There are a few occasions where missions will mingle with each other (Johnny worked with Niko a few times, such as in the Libertonian museum diamond deal) and on a couple of occasions you'll recognise a Niko mission as having immediately followed and built upon the mission you've just done, such as storing diamonds in garbage bags around the city which Niko later picks up using a garbage truck.

The biggest new addition to the gameplay is the addition of mid-mission checkpoints that restart you at the last major section of a mission should you die and decide to try again. This only applies to the new missions in The Lost and Damned, but fixes one of the gripes with the main game in that restarting a mission requires a total restart including any initial "go and meet" sections that, for missions that need a few attempts, adds up to a lot of pointless driving. With The Lost and Damned though, any retries skip over these sections and even allows for longer, more challenging missions that are unlikely to be completed in one attempt but feature checkpoints mid-way through a car chase for example. The missions themselves have a good variety with a few excellent standouts, and because there are fewer of them (23 to be exact), there's fewer filler missions of the "go here, kill them" template.

The whole game generally has a new feel if you use Johnny's hog bikes that handle completely differently to the nippier bikes found in the main game. They've got a good feel when riding them and you don't have a sense of dread when a mission comes up that requires you to use one as with Niko. In fact the 25 gang wars insist on them as do the 12 races, which are an amazing homage to the classic Road Rash where you're given a bat and encouraged to swing for the fences on your rivals. A nice touch is in the early stages when travelling to missions with your Lost brothers and a symbol appears on the ground to encourage you to ride in formation and rewards you with health and armour when you do.

Rockstar and Microsoft have flaunted the size of this DLC and the mileage you'll get out of it, estimating at around 10-15 hours. In this reviewer's case it's taken just under 20 hours to get to the 100% mark, and that's including using a map to find the extra 50 seagulls to shoot just like the 200 pigeons in GTA IV - possibly the most time consuming "extra" in a game. There's also the freezing issues that are gaining coverage on the internet that are unfortunately true, although a clearing of the cache and a hard drive install of GTA IV itself seems to fix things.

Overall, The Lost And Damned is absolutely the best piece of downloadable content seen on consoles so far and will in years to come be seen as a milestone in distribution of significant new content. The PC market has been flirting with episodic downloads for years and is still finding it tricky to sway consumers, but The Lost and Damned is already the highest grossing piece of Xbox LIVE content in its first 24 hours and deservedly so. There's plenty for GTA IV lovers to get their teeth into here with extra missions, weapons, vehicles, et al combining to be more than their parts and giving an interesting new spin on the game, and I haven't even discussed any of the 6 new multiplayer modes. The second expansion is due later on in 2009 and if The Lost and Damned is any indication then it'll be worth the wait. New maps, songs and costumes have been the staple of Xbox LIVE DLC since it launched, but this could be truly the beginning of the next step.