A number of gamers found the Grand Theft Auto 4 hype and review scores to be incredibly undeserved- especially considered the mass of cuts from the previous entries in the game. The NPCs may answer their cellphones and occasionally scuffle with each other, but that doesn’t excuse the smaller city, fewer side activities, down toning of cheat codes, and the shift to less humor, darker story.
In an effort to appease unsatisfied gamers, Rockstar tried to make it’s DLC releases more akin to the other GTA titles. You’ll find a return to the over-the-top action and objectivess of previous Grand Theft Auto games- which is very much a relief. There’s a greater emphasis on helicopters and more abstract vehicles. There’s even an explosive shotgun and a mediocre tank to look forward to in Grand Theft Auto: Episodes of Liberty City.
The two included games, formerly exclusive to the Xbox 360, are ‘Lost and the Damned’ and ‘Ballad of Gay Tony’. Get ready to hit Liberty City as either Johnny or Luis- in their respective expansions. Luis is a somewhat bland, upstart drugs dealer and night club owner. The equally dull Johnny is a member of the city’s infamous biker gang, the lost. You won’t find the frustratingly realistic endeavors (for the most part, though Lost and the Damned kind of falls into this pitfall a few times.)
You can look forward to getting a solid gold helicopter, motorcycles you can’t fly off of, the highly satisfying explosive shotgun, a highly satisfying automatic shotgun, a glorified gun-turret tank, a destructive grenade launcher, and another romp through Liberty City. Although you can’t actually import these additions into your GTA 4 file, which is disappointing.
Though pointless fan service for the most part, you’ll get to see plenty of familiar faces in both games. Brucie and Roman both get some entertaining appearances- which is a nice touch. Also coming your way are a handful of new activities and locales to visit- although the Lost and the Damned ones are kind of lame. Another great thing about the game is that, you can use gta 5 mod menu so you can modify or change the characters in the game. You can add more fun and excitement with this feature and the gaming experience will be even more amazing.
While the Ballad of Gay Tony gives you a lot of brand new, unreal missions to tackle- Lost and the Damned focuses more on tying up loose ends and giving you a new perspective on a few of Niko’s GTA 4 missions. In Gay Tony, your sort of see the glitzy night/club life of Liberty City through the eyes of Luis. In Lost amp; Damned, you’re getting a peek at the gritty streets and back-roads of Liberty City- courtesy of biker Johnny. Speaking of ‘gritty’ Liberty City in ‘Lost and the Damned’ got hit with the ugly stick thanks to a ‘grainy’ lens used for the game.
Overall, Episodes of Liberty City does add some extra replay value to those interested in expanding their playtime with the now stale GTA 4. Each game takes from six to ten hours to beat depending on how much of the side content you check out and they’re both fairly amusing. The disc version, incidentally, is the much better deal when compared to the DLC version. You get the resale value, a potentially lowered price tag, and you save space for your HDD.
