Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
released on Feb 17, 2009
An expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is the first of two episodic expansion packs of Grand Theft Auto IV. The Lost and Damned features a new protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, who is Vice President of the Alderney chapter of one percenter motorcycle club The Lost MC, a club which is featured in missions throughout the course of Grand Theft Auto IV. Dan Houser, vice-president of creative development at Rockstar Games, claims the episode shows "a different side of Liberty City".
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This review contains spoilers
I've already reviewed this dlc before, and I'm probably the only person that's ever gonna bother to review this thing twice. an incredibly ok dlc. I'm not gonna bother talking about the dlc in all honesty, this is about Johnny k, and my opinion on how he's handled here and in gta 5 and why I kind of love it.
when I was 13 and playing gta 5 for the first time, I had no clue who Johnny k was, and Trevor killing some nobody biker didn't mean shit to me. never played the gta 4 dlcs at that point as you could probably tell, but now I have, and I understand who that is now, and what it meant.
I kind of love Johnny's death, in retrospect. that might be surprising to anybody who is gonna bother to read this review. Johnny's death was disrespectful, sudden, needless, and stupid. and to that I say, yes it was. it was absolutely was, no question. Johnny is a drug addict cuck who gets his brains stomped out in front of his cheating girlfriend that got him killed. it's so hilariously dark and cruel, and it fits the tone of gta 4 so well, even if it isn't in that game.
there's something so right about seeing Johnny dying, knowing he's dead. I don't hate Johnny, I've never been glad he died, it's a pretty tragic ending, but that was always going to be what he got. Ashley was always bad for him, the lost was always bad for him, drugs were certainly always bad for him. this was always going to happen, and I think it's interesting that we got front row seats to it.
it feels perfectly in tone with his own game to have such natural, obvious consequences to his own poor choices. Johnny could have walked away from everything when his chapter of the lost died, but he didn't. he could have stopped bothering with Ashley at any point, even before this dlc started, but he doesn't. Johnny is an incredibly flawed man who had a chance to be more than this, but he isn't, and his own actions made sure he'd never be given another chance after messing with Trevor. Johnny is the reason Johnny is buried in the desert, no one else. if it wasn't Trevor, it would have been someone else. even Ashely, for how directly involved with his death she is, isn't responsible.
i don't even really enjoy trevor as a character. he's kind of annoying and I don't care about him (since gta 5 doesn't give a fuck about any of its characters) and I really do enjoy Johnny k in his dlc, so it's funny how this shakes out and I'm pretty satisfied. Johnny's death feels like a direct homage to the tone and quite frankly superior writing present in gta 4. one last reminder of "hey man, remember when gta stories were like, actually compelling?" before setting off to be surrounded by characters I feel nothing for in a plot I feel nothing for.
when I was 13 and playing gta 5 for the first time, I had no clue who Johnny k was, and Trevor killing some nobody biker didn't mean shit to me. never played the gta 4 dlcs at that point as you could probably tell, but now I have, and I understand who that is now, and what it meant.
I kind of love Johnny's death, in retrospect. that might be surprising to anybody who is gonna bother to read this review. Johnny's death was disrespectful, sudden, needless, and stupid. and to that I say, yes it was. it was absolutely was, no question. Johnny is a drug addict cuck who gets his brains stomped out in front of his cheating girlfriend that got him killed. it's so hilariously dark and cruel, and it fits the tone of gta 4 so well, even if it isn't in that game.
there's something so right about seeing Johnny dying, knowing he's dead. I don't hate Johnny, I've never been glad he died, it's a pretty tragic ending, but that was always going to be what he got. Ashley was always bad for him, the lost was always bad for him, drugs were certainly always bad for him. this was always going to happen, and I think it's interesting that we got front row seats to it.
it feels perfectly in tone with his own game to have such natural, obvious consequences to his own poor choices. Johnny could have walked away from everything when his chapter of the lost died, but he didn't. he could have stopped bothering with Ashley at any point, even before this dlc started, but he doesn't. Johnny is an incredibly flawed man who had a chance to be more than this, but he isn't, and his own actions made sure he'd never be given another chance after messing with Trevor. Johnny is the reason Johnny is buried in the desert, no one else. if it wasn't Trevor, it would have been someone else. even Ashely, for how directly involved with his death she is, isn't responsible.
i don't even really enjoy trevor as a character. he's kind of annoying and I don't care about him (since gta 5 doesn't give a fuck about any of its characters) and I really do enjoy Johnny k in his dlc, so it's funny how this shakes out and I'm pretty satisfied. Johnny's death feels like a direct homage to the tone and quite frankly superior writing present in gta 4. one last reminder of "hey man, remember when gta stories were like, actually compelling?" before setting off to be surrounded by characters I feel nothing for in a plot I feel nothing for.
You would think that after years of playing and loving GTA 4 and countless replays of the original story that I would have played the DLC too, but I never did up until now. I've recently taken interest in playing more GTA content in anticipation of GTA 6 and Episodes From Liberty City was something I wanted to give a try.
I was very excited to see new content in Liberty City. It's like the return of a favorite character that left the show years ago. To be honest, I've tried playing this DLC before but always quit after a few missions. It's because I was so used to seeing Liberty City through the eyes of Niko that I had a hard time enjoying the world from another perspective. But after many years, at last I was open minded enough to give it a try.
The first obvious things I noticed is how they gave the whole game a new coat of paint to match the atmosphere of Johnny's story. Somehow the world seemed even more bland than it already was for Niko. They really try to match the Biker and Metal vibe by adding tons of film grain and more brown yellowish colors to the world. I get what they are trying to do here but the graininess made the game just ugly in my opinion. I also didn't like the color filters they used. Besides that they also made certain UI elements look scuffed and run down. I appreciate what they were trying to do but I personally don't like it when UI and screen visibility is overly themed and reduces visibility is some way.
Now talking about the extra content that it adds... Not much. In fact there are certain features that seem to be missing from the base game. It's possible that I just didn't explore enough but it seems like you can't buy new clothes anymore. At least the clothing stores are no longer marked on the map. I also tried to date women on the LoveMeet website but they don't seem to respond. I guess they are reserved for Niko because they are the exact same options. Bowling also seemed to be absent from activities to do (at least with friends). Too bad because I really liked bowling in the base game. Now talking about what they did add. I was surprised to see that they added air hockey. It's nothing special but something they easily couldn't have bothered with. Besides activities to improve friendships, you also have gang wars. These gang wars were boring and frustrating at times because of the AI of your fellow gang members.
They also added a few new guns but they basically all sucked and were worse than their base game counterparts.
So when it comes to new content, not only is there not much new added but there are also certain base game elements that they stripped away. Because of that, it really felt like there was less to do in Liberty City and the City felt more like a set piece instead of it feeling more alive like in the base game.
Besides the structured activities, the free mode gameplay was not that great either. Because of the story, the game basically forces you to constantly use bikes. Every time you start an activity or mission, the game expects you to ride a bike. Even when you call up a friend to go do something, they expect you to drive besides each other on a bike. So picking them up with a car is not an option. The result is that I barely used any cars and when I did I quickly stumbled into situations where I needed to switch to a bike anyway. Because of this I somewhat missed using a car more often as it's the gameplay that I'm most familiar with. There is basically never a reason to use a car. For a game about cars that is somewhat odd.
The final aspect I wanted to touch upon was the story itself if you can even call it that. It fell completely flat. Everything just kind of seems to happen to you (Johnny) for no particular reason. Nothing feels like it really has much impact and everything significant that does happen is not directly related to Johnny and more something they have to show because it happened in the base game. The story of the Lost and damned is there to serve the main game and nothing else. The only interesting thing that happens has to do with something that happened in the base game that was kind of vague and you get some more information about it. The Lost has it's own plot too but it's very basic and short. The story is predictable and it doesn't feel important at all. Like I said before, everything just sort of "happens" and it's only at the end that Johnny actually takes matters into his own hands and does something interesting. But the actual outcome of the only interesting action that he does is very dull and disappointing. At the end of the story everything you just did feels completely pointless. The point is that the story of The Lost is extremely basic and boring and the only interesting thing that happens is more related to the main game than to the lost itself.
To summarize my thoughts, The Lost and Damned does nothing more than serve the plot of the main game and cannot stand on it's own legs. The story is boring and pointless, the gameplay is inferior to the main game and the visuals are inferior as well in my opinion. The DLC barely adds any extra content and the content that it does add is not that great. If you're a big GTA fan like me I'd still recommend giving it a go if you have played the main story of GTA 4. Other than that, for anyone that isn't that into GTA 4 this game would be very boring and not worth it. I still give it a two and a half starts for it being a game set in Liberty City and using the same fundamental gameplay loops as GTA 4.
I was very excited to see new content in Liberty City. It's like the return of a favorite character that left the show years ago. To be honest, I've tried playing this DLC before but always quit after a few missions. It's because I was so used to seeing Liberty City through the eyes of Niko that I had a hard time enjoying the world from another perspective. But after many years, at last I was open minded enough to give it a try.
The first obvious things I noticed is how they gave the whole game a new coat of paint to match the atmosphere of Johnny's story. Somehow the world seemed even more bland than it already was for Niko. They really try to match the Biker and Metal vibe by adding tons of film grain and more brown yellowish colors to the world. I get what they are trying to do here but the graininess made the game just ugly in my opinion. I also didn't like the color filters they used. Besides that they also made certain UI elements look scuffed and run down. I appreciate what they were trying to do but I personally don't like it when UI and screen visibility is overly themed and reduces visibility is some way.
Now talking about the extra content that it adds... Not much. In fact there are certain features that seem to be missing from the base game. It's possible that I just didn't explore enough but it seems like you can't buy new clothes anymore. At least the clothing stores are no longer marked on the map. I also tried to date women on the LoveMeet website but they don't seem to respond. I guess they are reserved for Niko because they are the exact same options. Bowling also seemed to be absent from activities to do (at least with friends). Too bad because I really liked bowling in the base game. Now talking about what they did add. I was surprised to see that they added air hockey. It's nothing special but something they easily couldn't have bothered with. Besides activities to improve friendships, you also have gang wars. These gang wars were boring and frustrating at times because of the AI of your fellow gang members.
They also added a few new guns but they basically all sucked and were worse than their base game counterparts.
So when it comes to new content, not only is there not much new added but there are also certain base game elements that they stripped away. Because of that, it really felt like there was less to do in Liberty City and the City felt more like a set piece instead of it feeling more alive like in the base game.
Besides the structured activities, the free mode gameplay was not that great either. Because of the story, the game basically forces you to constantly use bikes. Every time you start an activity or mission, the game expects you to ride a bike. Even when you call up a friend to go do something, they expect you to drive besides each other on a bike. So picking them up with a car is not an option. The result is that I barely used any cars and when I did I quickly stumbled into situations where I needed to switch to a bike anyway. Because of this I somewhat missed using a car more often as it's the gameplay that I'm most familiar with. There is basically never a reason to use a car. For a game about cars that is somewhat odd.
The final aspect I wanted to touch upon was the story itself if you can even call it that. It fell completely flat. Everything just kind of seems to happen to you (Johnny) for no particular reason. Nothing feels like it really has much impact and everything significant that does happen is not directly related to Johnny and more something they have to show because it happened in the base game. The story of the Lost and damned is there to serve the main game and nothing else. The only interesting thing that happens has to do with something that happened in the base game that was kind of vague and you get some more information about it. The Lost has it's own plot too but it's very basic and short. The story is predictable and it doesn't feel important at all. Like I said before, everything just sort of "happens" and it's only at the end that Johnny actually takes matters into his own hands and does something interesting. But the actual outcome of the only interesting action that he does is very dull and disappointing. At the end of the story everything you just did feels completely pointless. The point is that the story of The Lost is extremely basic and boring and the only interesting thing that happens is more related to the main game than to the lost itself.
To summarize my thoughts, The Lost and Damned does nothing more than serve the plot of the main game and cannot stand on it's own legs. The story is boring and pointless, the gameplay is inferior to the main game and the visuals are inferior as well in my opinion. The DLC barely adds any extra content and the content that it does add is not that great. If you're a big GTA fan like me I'd still recommend giving it a go if you have played the main story of GTA 4. Other than that, for anyone that isn't that into GTA 4 this game would be very boring and not worth it. I still give it a two and a half starts for it being a game set in Liberty City and using the same fundamental gameplay loops as GTA 4.
Джонни в конце дополнения: "я ухожу на покой и двигаюсь дальше без Эшли"
Джонни в GTA V: ботинок Тревора Филипса
Джонни в GTA V: ботинок Тревора Филипса
I gave Grand Theft Auto IV a relatively low score because while it was a decent game, the PC version being sold on Steam is player-unfriendly to the point of alienation. With The Lost and Damned, you don't have to worry about that. It gets a low score simply because it's pure and utter horseshit.
Mate, what a terrible expansion pack. They made the effort to fix the godawful motorcycle controls the original game had, and then stopped. Liberty City has never felt more likeDetroit, Michigan a barren wasteland than in this lame ass motorcycle riding simulator. Christ, I get it, you fucking fixed the motorcycle controls, that's not reason to surgically graft the motorcycle onto my fucking character, making you fail most missions automatically if your bike gets damaged. I thought Grand Theft Auto was about stealing any vehicle you wanted?
And what a character he is. What characters they all are. Great crime stories often show us that while the thug life may look flashy and glamorous, it can only end with you six feet under or behind bars. The Lost and Damned takes a different approach to dissuade kids from a life of petty thievery: it makes being an outlaw biker just look so fucking embarrassing. It made me have second thoughts about Sons of Anarchy being one of my favourite TV shows, because it makes motorcycle gangsters look like manchildren. Every cutscene has the detestable cast getting in each others' faces - we get the point okay, they're all alpha males because they smoke unfiltered cigarettes and say 'fuck you,' in every sentence, ever heard of subtlety? When you fight against rival gangs, they toss playground insults like 'losers' (a very creative twist on the gang being called Lost) and 'deadbeats' (an equally profound mockery of Angels of Death). When two skinny cops get one over on these skinhead shitheads, they whine, "It's because of these guys that I joined the Lost!" Boo fucking hoo. Go tell your big brother, Johnny, I'm sure you still think he can beat police officers up for you.
Levelheaded players who have not been exposed to this rancid bucket of manure may argue that the story isn't quite so important when the gameplay is enjoyable. Ooooh, sit down sonny boy, and let me tell you about the gameplay. Every single fucking mission has you drive across the city - recycled and stripped bare of most of the side activities that were available in the original game - shoot a bunch of NPCs, refuse to elaborate, and leave. It's so mindlessly repetitive and because of the poorly paced, distilled cringefest of a storyline, there's little incentive to do so. I did half the missions in this expansion pack hoping it would be over quickly. I think I dozed off at one point, despite this being one of the few days where I got a full night's sleep. It didn't matter; you don't need your cerebral hemispheres to play this game - just the medulla will do. Finally, exhausted, I checked the mission list online, saw I still had half of them left, and gave it up as a bad job.
I used to think outlaw bikers were cool. After playing The Lost and Damned, all I can say is: lose the kutte and get a job, assholes.
Mate, what a terrible expansion pack. They made the effort to fix the godawful motorcycle controls the original game had, and then stopped. Liberty City has never felt more like
And what a character he is. What characters they all are. Great crime stories often show us that while the thug life may look flashy and glamorous, it can only end with you six feet under or behind bars. The Lost and Damned takes a different approach to dissuade kids from a life of petty thievery: it makes being an outlaw biker just look so fucking embarrassing. It made me have second thoughts about Sons of Anarchy being one of my favourite TV shows, because it makes motorcycle gangsters look like manchildren. Every cutscene has the detestable cast getting in each others' faces - we get the point okay, they're all alpha males because they smoke unfiltered cigarettes and say 'fuck you,' in every sentence, ever heard of subtlety? When you fight against rival gangs, they toss playground insults like 'losers' (a very creative twist on the gang being called Lost) and 'deadbeats' (an equally profound mockery of Angels of Death). When two skinny cops get one over on these skinhead shitheads, they whine, "It's because of these guys that I joined the Lost!" Boo fucking hoo. Go tell your big brother, Johnny, I'm sure you still think he can beat police officers up for you.
Levelheaded players who have not been exposed to this rancid bucket of manure may argue that the story isn't quite so important when the gameplay is enjoyable. Ooooh, sit down sonny boy, and let me tell you about the gameplay. Every single fucking mission has you drive across the city - recycled and stripped bare of most of the side activities that were available in the original game - shoot a bunch of NPCs, refuse to elaborate, and leave. It's so mindlessly repetitive and because of the poorly paced, distilled cringefest of a storyline, there's little incentive to do so. I did half the missions in this expansion pack hoping it would be over quickly. I think I dozed off at one point, despite this being one of the few days where I got a full night's sleep. It didn't matter; you don't need your cerebral hemispheres to play this game - just the medulla will do. Finally, exhausted, I checked the mission list online, saw I still had half of them left, and gave it up as a bad job.
I used to think outlaw bikers were cool. After playing The Lost and Damned, all I can say is: lose the kutte and get a job, assholes.
meh
Прекрасный аддон. Особенно для брутальных любителей рока, метала. Если бы не она, то не стал бы металистом