GTA IV - Episodes From Liberty City Review
In Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, the player is presented with two separate stories that tie into the original game. While both episodes help develop Liberty City as a believable locale, they differ in quality so vastly it's hard not to compare them against one another.
The Lost and the Damned opens with a gang of bikers rolling along the Liberty City streets, generic rock music in tow, for literally five minutes. No dialog, nothing of real narrative importance, just hairy man on motorcycle action. Two minutes in it became quite comical, but 30 seconds later I found myself wondering if it was ever going to end.
Beyond the opening scene, the first thing that really struck me about the Lost and the Damned was the voicing for the main character, Johnny. I'm not sure if it's just bad acting, or if the voice just doesn't match the player model, but something is definitely off. I struggled with this throughout the majority of the 20 hour experience, but it diminished as the game went on. Personally, I found Johnny to be the least likable character in the GTA franchise, serving as a moral anchor for the rest of his crew and just being a buzz kill in general. He can get very preachy regarding matters of drug dealing and cop killing, which for a GTA game, is a bit hypocritical.
Missions in the Lost and the Damned are fun and challenging, but all involve Johnny, a motorcycle, and guns, which may leave the player wishing for more. The only diversions from the standard story missions are motorcycle races and gang wars stand mod menu both of which can only be started while on a bike. Thankfully these are only a phone call away for just such an occasion. I completed all twelve optional races, hoping I would be rewarded with a new bike for the story mode or something else of equal awesome, only to find that I simply receive an additional $2000 per race instead. I was more than glad to move on to the next episode.
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