Game Content Review: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

Last year Grand Theft Auto IV deservedly took it's place among the greatest games of the new generation, so it's unsurprising that the first set of additional content - The Lost and Damned - has received as much, if not more hype than most of the full games released so far this year. It's hardly unwarranted; pretty much everything that this series touches turns to gold, and 360 owners had similar expectations from Rockstar's latest offering.

With Rockstar describing The Lost and Damned's story as being "better than most modern media", you'd be forgiven for thinking that they'd let the success of Grant Theft Auto IV go to their head. But, to be fair to them, they're not wrong; The Lost and Damned boasts a better plot than most films, not to mention games or downloadable content. While the concept of an aged biker gang touring the streets and reminiscing about the good ol' days is hardly original, the execution is mired in grit yet bathed in style, worked into the original plot perfectly, and is made near perfect by a selection of characters brimming with originality, depth, humour and, of course, casual swearing. Hell if that isn't enough, Niko Bellic even makes a couple of cameos. If you enjoyed your first visit to Liberty City, then there's no doubt you're going to love this second honeymoon.

Like Niko, new boy Johnny Klebitz just don't give a good God damn 'bout no collateral damage.

The missions are essentially more of the same. You'll do a lot of driving, a lot of shooting, and more often than not you'll end up fleeing from the entire Libery City police force at the end of it; not that there's anything wrong with this formula, it's worked fine in every Grand Theft Auto game so far. But there are one or two missions that rank up there with some of the best missions in the original game, including a high speed chase through Algonquin that includes automatic shotguns, pipe bombs, and more casualties than you can shake a stick at. A really big stick. The only problem is that, if you haven't played Grand Theft Auto IV in a while, you might want to quickly familiarise yourself with it again before you dive into The Lost and Damned, because it's not exactly forgiving. There isn't an hour long tutorial to gradually introduce you to everything, you're thrown straight back into the fire fight, which does wonders for the pace but is going to catch you off-guard if you're a little rusty.

There are a couple of new side missions, which hark back to the old days when Grand Theft Auto was all about rival gangs kicking the crap out of each other and driving around like a nutcase. There's Gang Wars, which have you and a couple of other bikers drive around shooting whichever gang happens to get in the way and is a good way of earning cash and building up the strength of your gang. Then there are races, which is the standard "checkpoints and laps" affair, except now you're armed with a bat to smack every other rider (or unfortunate pedestrian) with.

Smacking someone in the face with a bat over Xbox Live never loses it's charm.

The Lost and Damned brings it's fair share of new content to Grand Theft Auto IV. Naturally there's a new selection of weapons - including automatic pistols, a grenade launcher, and the automatic shotgun referenced earlier - all of which do their bit to vary and freshen up the gameplay without ever feeling superfluous (are you taking notes, Lionhead?). There are a couple of new activities too, including arm wrestling and air hockey, which are a nice distraction when taking a break from murdering just about everything that wanders into your crosshair. Oh yeah, and Frankie Boyle now does stand up at the comedy club, to add to the list of foul mouthed Europeans. Now all they need is a welsh man with Tourettes syndrome shagging sheep in an alleyway and they'll have a full set.

A couple of the niggling issues from Grand Theft Auto IV have been addressed, too. For a start, you're not going to get phone calls every ten minutes from people begging you to play darts, which is always good. You'll also come across guns and money much easier too, allowing you to get stuck in much quicker than before.

Possibly the best thing about The Lost and Damned is that you're really getting your moneys worth, which makes a great change from the other lacklustre downloadable content that hit the Xbox Live marketplace recently. For 1600 Microsoft points you're getting more than you'd get for most full games for less than half the price.

The Lost and Damned is among, if not the best downloadable content on the 360. Fans of Grand Theft Auto IV (which I'm assuming is pretty much everyone who played it for more than two hours) are going to find themselves immersed from the opening scene. As if I need to reiterate what you're already thinking in your heads if you've read up until now - buy it, play it, and you won't regret it.

10/10

You only have to buy this once per console, too. Seriously Lionhead, take some bloody notes.

Paid far too much attention to the penis in a cutscene - tomdoodle16@live.co.uk