Upon loading the game, players will have access to both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony from the outset. Both stories are self-contained within the Liberty City of GTA IV, so you don’t need to have played the original though experience will help. In truth, both DLC episodes assume that you’ve already played as Niko, given that both skip through a lot of formalities and intricacies that were so carefully spelled out in GTA IV, both through gameplay and story. On the plus side, it means that you’re pretty much in the thick of things from the get go.
Be part of Johnny's low-life gang...
The Lost and Damned has you playing as Johnny Klebitz, a senior member from the bikie gang, ‘The Lost’. Johnny’s story revolves around the growing instability of Billy, the leader of The Lost. And it’s up to Johnny to make sure that the gang and club is still functioning, while putting up with his enigmatic leader. The Ballad of Gay Tony, puts you in the shoes of Luis Lopez, the right hand man and cleaner to nightlife tycoon, Tony “Gay Tony” Prince. Luis’ story revolves around the debts owed on the clubs that he runs for Gay Tony and how they’ve jumped in bed with the wrong people.
While both tell a decent story about moving forward with past baggage and 'all in a day's work', neither of the episode stories contains the sombre karmic undertones from the original. However the real beauty behind the stories is how they all come together with Niko’s story, and in particular, how some of the things you did as Niko were set up or followed up by either Johnny or Luis. In particular, the whole business revolving around the ‘diamonds’ and the missions around the museum will all come together but be all these references will be completely lost on those who haven’t played through GTA IV. Still, some references are difficult to pick up 18 months down the track, even if you have played through all three stories.
As mentioned above, both the Johnny and Luis arcs skip a lot of the formalities introduced in the Niko arc that revolved around ‘building’ the character. Johnny is already firmly entrenched as a bottom feeder, while Luis will spend time in slightly more illustrious company. The presented contrast between all three is quite interesting, but TLAD does the best job of really providing a contrasting experience from both a story and gameplay perspective. As Johnny, you really feel like you’re part of a bikie gang. TBOGT on the other hand is probably a bit too similar, as it only does more of what Niko didn’t do very often, such as riding in helicopters and Luis sometimes feels too much like the lackey that Niko often was, despite being one of the more likeable characters.
Or part of the high life with Luis.
Since both of these stories are building off the original game, most of your missions are pretty nuts from the get go. With Johnny, you have all your contacts already in place and you’ve got missions that allow you to take gang members to help you out. With Luis on the other hand, you do stupid things like steal a military helicopter, tank and a subway cart. The handiest addition to both of these is a checkpoint system that doesn’t require players to restart from the beginning of each mission. TBOGT also adds a score to the end of each mission, which can be improved upon once the game has been completed. Each story has its highlights and each of them will take about 10 hours to complete. As such, you’re pretty much getting around 20 hours of story-based gameplay from this entire package.
Of course, the story is only part of the game, as both Johnny and Luis have brought some extra tricks to the party. In TLAD, you have races (where you can belt other riders with bats), gang wars and stealing custom bikes. Furthermore, there have been a handful of new and thematic multiplayer modes, ‘Witness Protection’ and ‘Chopper Vs Chopper’. The latter has one player on a bike and another in a helicopter. In TBOGT, you have a golf shooting range, nightclub dancing, drug wars and cage fighting championship, as well as the welcome return of parachuting and base jumping, to both single and multiplayer. Some of the other diversions are comparatively weak though, such as the night club dancing which is very easy to stumble through and get the ‘reward’. Other additions to the game include three new radio stations (such as Vice City FM), along with newly recorded audio for existing stations.
Most DLC is released very close to the original game, but releasing these episodes so late hasn’t been the most favourable move. Why? Well, while GTA IV has some impressive improvements over it’s predecessors, a lot of people got too excited about it at time and as such, the fundamental flaws of the original were not critiqued and stick out much worse 18 months down the track. And since DLC is based off the same game, there is no room for improving these fundamentals. So while new players lose out on the story, veterans often have to put up with an exacerbation of gameplay faults.
Gliding is for wimps!
In the 18 months between now and the release of GTA IV, the faults are much more grating. Whether it’s a case of the original’s design being better or the mechanics were simply not up to scratch, the tradition of failing missions on fighting the controls and a lack of luck rather than skill still infuriates. All three protagonists are way too clunky in their movements, the cover system only works well in set pieces and gets confused more often than not, enemy AI is very erratic in their skills and the targeting system is borderline on busted in firefights of more than a few enemies. While still a visually impressive set of titles, the over ambition is at times harshly exposed, as something has gone wrong in the conversion of this game. Along with the graphical conversion, the lazy achievement design, where all of the achievements from GTA IV are still unlockable, even if you don’t have the original game point to a rushed job.
As a value package, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty with it’s streamlined stories and budget price is a very good proposition. This is a GTA that most people will be able to finish. Johnny’s story has some genuine distinguishing factors, while Luis is all about going large. However, new players won’t be privy to the intriguingly intertwined story, while veterans are putting up with mechanics and gameplay quirks that really should have been better upon the initial release of GTA IV. Furthermore, there is evidence that the compilation was a rushed effort. As far as a package goes, it’s all here and all has the potential to provide a riot of a time but Rockstar would do well to get their mechanics up to scratch once the production of GTA V gets under way.
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