GTA veterans will be pleased, if not terribly surprised, by TLAD’s assortment of missions. The majority revolve around dealing damage to AOD vehicles or personnel, and escaping the resulting reprisals and police interventions unscathed. A number of memorable escapades deviate from this formula, however. Many of these fall under the “optional” heading, so you’ll want to make sure that you’ve explored all other avenues before heading for the grand finale.
Several references to the state of the economy add a dose of topicality to the DLE; humorous radio references to “BAWSAQ meltdowns” might not leave you in stitches if your portfolio’s on the wane, but you might derive some satisfaction from one of Johnny’s more memorable utterances: “So long, corporate America-you’ll not be missed.” A number of prominent characters from GTA IV pop up during the events of TLAD, and you’ll have the opportunity to play through a couple of familiar missions from a different perspective. A few developments even fill in a couple of lingering blanks in GTA IV’s complex plot.
What else is new? Besides the new missions and songs, which skew heavily towards selections on The Beat, LCHC, and Liberty Rock Radio (listening to “Free Ride” and “Renegade” while motoring towards a date with destruction feels almost too appropriate), TLAD delivers twenty new vehicles (most of them bikes, as you’d expect), several new weapons (the assault shotgun is almost worth the price of admission on its own), fifty hidden seagulls (somehow, I have yet to come across a single pigeon or seagull in all my hours spent traversing Liberty City, which may be a more unlikely achievement than locating all of them), assorted minigames and activities (including arm-wrestling and gang wars) and additional television programming.
However, the new motorcycle physics might represent the most notable change. If you’re like me, you often gravitated towards the freedom of a two-wheeled vehicle in GTA IV, only to switch to a more conventional transport (a “cage,” in Lost terminology) after driving without a helmet claimed half of your health bar on a routine trip across the city. TLAD’s bikes are not only noticeably more maneuverable, but possess significantly stickier seats; impacts which would have sent Niko flying hardly faze Johnny Klebitz. In addition, a greater variety of weapons can be fired over the handlebars; there’s nothing like gunning down an AOD deadbeat in full flight with a sawed-off shotgun, though such ambitious tactics can occasionally result in a frame-rate hiccup. We can chalk the changes up to Johnny’s greater biking experience, for continuity’s sake, but whatever the explanation, it’s a gratifying development, since you’ll be spending more time on bikes in TLAD than you did in the entirety of GTA IV’s sprawling narrative.
An improved checkpoint system is another welcome addition. After failing a mission, you’ll be able to restart from a point right before the action, rather than being transported back to the very beginning. This subtle adjustment saves an enormous amount of frustration and tedious driving. Some of the lengthier missions even have checkpoints embedded within them, ensuring that you won’t have to suffer through the most arduous challenges more than once.
TLAD also features several new multiplayer modes: “Own The City,” “Witness Protection,” “Club Business,” “Chopper v Chopper,” “Lone Wolf Biker,” and “Bike Races.” They’re all worth a try (though you should be prepared to wait a while in the lobby for some of the larger team games to begin), but “Chopper v Chopper” stands out as the best of the bunch. This one-on-one matchup pits an attack helicopter against a lone biker. The pilot must do his best to put the biker out of commission, while the biker attempts to pass through as many checkpoints as he can before being slaughtered. After each round, the roles are reversed, and the hunter becomes the hunted.
Since I couldn’t hit the broad side of the “Getalife” Building with a machine gun round from a moving helicopter, I actually prefer being the man on the run. Never have I experienced the panic of a small woodland creature in flight from an airborne stalker (or the thrill of a stunt artist in mid-take) more acutely than I did while attempting to evade the thud of heavy-caliber helicopter bullets landing all around me.
TLAD will run you $19.99, a lofty price tag by downloadable standards (if you’d prefer to buy the box in-store, you’ll get a download code and a map for your troubles). Of course, TLAD has redefined the scope of future DLC, as well as its pricing structure. The game might provide only a third of the content found in GTA IV (for, not-so-coincidentally, a third of the price), but it packs a greater wallop than any number of full-priced retail efforts. What I said at the top stands: if you enjoyed GTA IV, you’d be wise to give The Lost and Damned an extended trial. This downloadable episode pairs a sizeable portion of novelty with a substantial helping of more-of-the-same-in the case of Grand Theft Auto, I’d be hard-pressed to deliver a more ringing endorsement.
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