Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Review

Back when GTAIV came out it receive a whirlwind of great coverage and even better reviews. The well received story of a European man coming to America for a better life took the gaming world by storm. A bevy of new characters, great story, robust multiplayer, and much improved gameplay had GTAIV becoming one of the best games this generation, if not of all times. However, once gamers began to finish the single player portion, instead of staying online with the multiplayer they somewhat began to move on.

All the whilst Rockstar was prepping a brand new episode for the game. That is were The Lost and Damned come into to picture. In the latest from Rockstar North, you take on the role of Johnny Klebitz, a tough as nails Biker who became the leader of The Lost motorcycle crew. That is until the former leader gets out of prison, Billy. What then ensues is a conflict of authority between Johnny and Billy. The story is told through cutscenes that are every single bit as well directed as they were in Niko's tale, if not better. Overall, the story might even be more well received by gamers than Niko's. Truth be told Niko had a very compassionate story but quite frankly Johnny's tale is far and away more "cool". Riding along your crew to go bust some caps in someone is so badass that you can't help but feel cool. There are some characters that return in TLAD including Niko himself. All in All it sould take the average person anywhere between 5-8 hours to complete.

You can't have a motorcycle gang without the bikes, and TLAd has tons of 'em. Not only that but this time you won't dread riding them. Rockstar has finely tuned the choppers so that it makes getting hit by anything other than an 18 wheeler not throw you off. Basically, you have to want to get knocked off to actually get knocked off. Other aspects of the game are generally the same.

There are brand new weapons in the game, my favorite of which is the new assault shotgun. It tears vehicles up like its nothing. And you'll get to experience it at its best during one of the cooler missions in the game. As a results of the new weapons the enemies as a whole are a tad harder to kill, in that they can take more damage.

Graphics wise the game is still very good looking. One thing to note is the noise filter that people have been complaining about including some professional reviewers. Basically the noise filter gives the game a decidedly more grainy picture. And a lot of those same reviews failed to mention that it can be turned off. I personally kept it on because I generally like to keep the game the way the developers had it. Other things to mention about TLAD are the new multiplayer modes. I haven't had a chance to really get thorough with it but they are mostly variations of the older modes. 

In conclusion GTAIV:TLAD is the newest standard in downloadable content quality. Other developers are probably ashamed to offer their DLC now and rightfully so. Because TLAD at $20 is a better value than many full priced games. It offers a quality story, great gameplay, new multiplayer modes and is already my favorite piece of gaming this year. Rockstar is teh best!LOL!

Review score: 9.5