Grand Theft Auto IV was released and people were divided about how good it was. Some people felt it was the revolutionary game they had all come to expect from Rockstar’s series while others felt it had built up too much hype for it to ever live up to.   I fell somewhere in between. Sure the game was hyped up, but the series is one of my all time favorites and so any entry, no matter how recycled, seemed better to me than most other games out now. I played the crap out of GTA IV to the point where I couldn’t look at the game anymore. 

About half a year later, Rockstar released its first exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox360 version of the game. The potential of the DLC was enough for me to pick it up and try it out. Basically, you play as Johnny ‘The Jew” Klebitz, a member of the biker gang, “The Lost”.  This is more than a simple “skin” for GTA IV protagonist Niko, this is its own full blown (although not as long as the original game) campaign complete with its own missions and side missions.  The game even features its own exclusive multiplayer modes.

GRAPHICS 8/10

The graphics in the expansion are almost identical to the graphics in the original game. There is one major change and that is the fact that Rockstar added a “grain filter” effect to everything, making the graphics look a bit more gritty. I think the purpose of this was to give the expansion its own look and feel, making it appear grittier than the regular game.  While most people will either love this or hate it, I didn’t find it too bad with the exception of certain lighting conditions where it just makes everything look a bit too pixelized.  On the positive side, you have the option of turning this effect off, but after growing used to it I wound up just leaving it on.

GAMEPLAY 9/10

While the core mechanics are fairly untouched from the original, there are a few welcome additions. First off, there are some cool new weapons that have been added to the mix in the form of a grenade launcher, automatic pistol, sawed off shotgun and an automatic combat shotgun.  They are all very cool, but the crown jewel of this set is definitely the auto combat shotty. Think of a rapid fire shotgun in which you are able to empty a barrel full of 8 shells in seconds. This thing is a beast and it can easily decimate cars, cops, and just about anything else in a matter of seconds.

Another great little detail that really adds to the experience is Johnny’s abilities on a bike. In GTA IV, Niko could easily be thrown from a motorcycle from some of the slightest collisions. Not the case with Johnny, as he will stay planted on the bike unless he makes serious head on contact with an immovable object. This makes perfect sense as he is a biker and so many of the game’s missions revolve around using a bike. Also cool about this is riding in formation with the other gang members and just hearing the banter they shoot back and forth while they ride. TLAD has quite a few of these small subtle gameplay changes like this that really enhance the whole experience. 

SOUND 9/10

There are new recordings for all of the radio stations featured in GTA IV. Rockstar maintains their pedigree for hilarious radio shows and top notch soundtracks and TLAD just expands this concept even further. The gunshots and explosions seem a bit more crisp than from the original game. The biggest thing you will notice is how powerful and roaring the bikes are in TLAD. While I didn’t really care to drive in GTA IV and often took taxis, in TLAD I actually wanted to ride when given the chance due to the cool riding formations and the incredible sound of the bikes roaring down the street. If you’ve got a home theater system and its cranked up, you’ll feel like a Harley just pulled into your living room.

MULTIPLAYER

I didn’t rate this section because I haven’t really had the chance to explore all of the new multiplayer modes featured in this expansion. The two new modes that I did try were called Lone Wolves and Chopper vs. chopper.  Lone Wolves is similar to ‘juggernaut’ mode in Halo, in which one player is a marked man and everyone guns for him. Whoever winds up killing him then becomes the lone wolf and the vicious cycle starts over again. I found this mode to be a bit hit or miss, since the lone wolf can be a total wuss and just hide out the entire time making the game extremely boring. For the matches where the guy playing the lone wolf actually had a pair, it was a blast chasing him down and not only trying to gun him down but gunning down anyone who gets in the way.

Chopper vs. Chopper was pretty unique in that one player is flying a chopper and the other is riding a chopper.  It was a bit unbalanced as the guy on the ground had the clear advantage of ducking through alleys and other areas that were damn near impossible to access from the helicopter. Still an interesting new gameplay mode that no doubt people will get into once they get more used to the mechanics of it all.

OVERALL 8/10

I gave this a score of 8 since I am kind of grading it as if it were an entire game. It is so huge that its hard not to think of it as a complete game.  To be honest though, it doesn’t really do it justice as far as ratings go. If I were to rate this on quality of downloadable content this would easily get a 10. Rockstar has crammed so much into this $20 package that it makes DLC for other games seem like a rip off.  This is hands down the best available bang for your buck as far as downloadables go. GTA fans should rush out and scoop this thing up immediately if they haven’t already. Rockstar has one more exclusive DLC planned for GTA IV on the 360 and if its anything near as good as this one, it will be another $20 well spent.