With this being repeat TV season, I’ve been playing more games than usual. I have reviews coming for two other games, but I just finished playing Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned. I played it off the Episodes from Liberty City disc.
The game it’s self is unchanged. It’s not better looking, in fact it seemed to me like there was a little more pop-up. The bikes handle better (since Johnny, the character you play, is in a bike gang), and the cars worse (because Johnny can’t seem to drive well).
The story, on it’s own, isn’t that great. I liked a few of the characters (like Jim) that you are supposed to. I hated some of the characters (like Billy) that you are supposed to dislike. But I never really felt connected to Johnny, and never cared about Ashley. You don’t get as much time with them as you did with Niko, but they don’t grab you much.
While Johnny’s story I could take or leave, you want to keep playing because of the way it integrates with Niko’s story. You’ll see another side of many of the missions that happened in the first part of GTA 4, and it’s a blast. You see familiar characters, and the game fills in what happened with some of the rest of the world while Niko was out doing other things.
But the missions in this game are fantastic. Not only is there a new weapon or two (the one they call the “street sweeper” is extremely satisfying), the set pieces are great. In one mission, you are on the back of another guy’s bike driving all around the city being chased by the police and SWAT shooting at them to defend the driver, and it’s a total blast. The final mission throws waves of guys at you. You also get to hijack a prison bus, cause a terrorist incident, and more. The missions really make you want to keep going during each play session. Rockstar really knows what they are doing.
Last is the credits. The credits for GTA 4 were long but kinda fun to watch as it showed you the city. The credits for Lost and Damned show you views of various views of the city, but also sequences of events in Johnny and Niko’s lives. You get to see Niko do an execution and a helicopter view of part of one of the motor cycles chases. The neat part is the views of Niko usually pan around to a nearby area where the Lost Motorcycle Club is riding around, showing you how close they are physically at times. It was a nice little capstone.
Like GTA 4? You’ll really like this. I’m going to play the Ballad of Gay Tony next, which takes place at the same time and will provide even more insight into many of these events. I’m psyched.
