Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
The first of two downloadable GTAIV chapters arrives 17 February, but only for Xbox 360. And we hate to inform the rest of you that it’s really very cool.
With a huge new single-player campaign and a fistful of robust new multi-player game modes up front, The Lost and Damned is no lightweight addition to Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360. To be honest we are genuinely surprised. No… make that humbled. Because from the moment you meet the new lead Johnny Klebitz it’s very clear that Rockstar has delivered something significant – not just for the GTA series, but as a benchmark for download content across all games.
1600 Microsoft points (£14) buys you another fully-fledged, hours-long tour of Liberty City in the company of a new anti-hero, Johnny Klebitz, who rides with biker gang The Lost. Niko Bellic is almost completely out of the picture in The Lost and Damned, apart from showing up in pivotal scenes where the two characters meet.
With the focus shifting from Niko to Johnny, the tone is immediately much darker – even the HUD is made to look grimy, and our preview version featured a cinema-grain effect adding to vibes. Rasping Heavy Metal blasts from the radio by default.
Nobody’s saying that Niko doesn’t have it tough in his own story, but there’s much less to laugh about when you’re riding with The Lost. As VP of the gang, Johnny is visibly disturbed by the overtly aggressive attitude of his fresh-outta-jail president Billy who wastes no time in brutally ending Johnny’s truce with the Angels of Death.
The benefits of getting into character are spelled out in some thoughtful gameplay additions. Johnny rides with the gang, which quite literally means there are statistical benefits to holding formation on the streets and staying in touch with the guys between times – you can challenge them to arm wrestles or play Hi-Low. Each member of the gang has a general stats gauge associated with him, reflecting strength and accuracy in combat among other useful attributes in a tight corner.
It was also thoughtful of Rockstar to give Johnny some new biker-style weapons to toy with! Let’s just list them first: Automatic 9mm, Pipe Bomb, Sawed-off, Assault Shotgun, and Grenade Launcher.
The sawed-off comes in very handy for close-quarters splatter damage when dealing with multiple foes. It’s always nice to have a grenade launcher… but only if your target is a good distance away! The assault shotgun makes you feel like a monster. But it’s the pipe bombs that are the star of the show. In a mission called “Shifting Weight”, described by our Rockstar rep as the “Three Leaf Clover” of The Lost and Damned, Johnny rides pinion and raises all hell along the highways, chucking pipe bombs at cop cars in pursuit. See what happens when a pipe bomb meets a gas station. You’ll almost drop the controller… we did.
We could describe the one-player missions to you, but words won’t do them justice. Besides, we hate too many spoilers. So let’s look at the new multiplayer modes instead, of which there are six. And they’re all good.
‘Races’…okay, this one is fairly self explanatory but gives us a brief chance to mention how the handling is much improved on the bikes. Also, by the way, that this is biker racing, so involves weapons. You can clobber the other riders!
‘Own the City’ is a territorial battle for two teams in which it really does pay to stick together. One team is The Lost, the other represents the Angels of Death. Although you take most pleasure from blasting human opponents there are AI-controlled defenders too. Keep your eyes peeled for the Gun Van that’ll replenish ammo supplies and provide new weapons.
‘Witness Protection’ can be hilarious in a Keystone Cops kind of way! Again it’s a team effort, but this time one side becomes the N.O.O.S.E (Liberty City law enforcement) who must deliver witnesses to police stations before The Lost can shut their mouths… that is, shoot them dead. The witnesses are being escorted in an armoured bus and you can ride alongside to shoot through the windows. If you happen to be the driver of the bus, try not to roll it over or you’re a sitting duck!
The most cinematic multiplayer event is ‘Chopper vs. Chopper’ – one guy pilots a N.O.O.S.E. helicopter while the other aims to outrun him on the bike. You’d think this was unfair but that copter is hell to control! If you succeed in gunning the biker off the road the roles are reversed. The winner is the one with the most cash earned from passing through checkpoints on the bike or successful hits from the air.
We carefully chose our words for ‘Chopper vs. Chopper’ because the most spectacular multiplayer mode is ‘Lone Wolf Biker’ – a free-for all game of Tig (or Tag if you’re American) in which it’s you versus up to 15 other bikers. You’ll need to know the roads like the back of your hand, and know how to handle your bike like your own little lady. Lone Wolf Biker is our pick of the multiplayer modes by a long chalk.
Finally ‘Club Business’, which we confess we haven’t played yet, is a joint-effort mission in which you’ll need to co-ordinate with other members of the gang to complete assignments set by a guy called Angus. The idea of riding in formation reaps financial benefit in this mode too.
Because we’re lucky journalist so-and-sos we already have The Lost and Damned at home for the weekend. So we’ll be giving you a more definitive low-down on or around launch day, 17 February… next Tuesday.
