Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

Did You Know?

• Microsoft added Episodes from Liberty City to its backwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017.
• LCHC - Liberty City Hardcore got a new radio show dedicated to extreme metal, hosted by Max Cavalera.
• The talk station WKTT features a new radio show called The Martin Serious Show, a parody of shock jock style radio programs.

Gameplay

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is an open-world action-adventure game played from a third-person view. Its gameplay closely mirrors that of Grand Theft Auto IV, and the story unfolds in the same Liberty City setting. The expansion contains roughly one-third the number of missions found in the main game, meaning a focused playthrough of the storyline takes about 10 to 15 hours. New features center on Johnny's role in the Lost MC, along with several smaller tweaks. The biggest addition is mid-mission checkpoints, which let players retry a failed mission from a saved point instead of traveling back to the starting location—a common frustration in earlier Grand Theft Auto games. However, checkpoints only appear after a mission has been failed; returning to the mission start resets everything. The expansion also brings new weapons and vehicles, including Johnny's custom motorcycle (he handles bikes better than other vehicles), the ability to call Lost MC members for help, a fresh set of random characters, extra side activities, and unique jobs like Gang Wars and Bike Races. Compared to Grand Theft Auto IV, Johnny can explore all of Liberty City from the start of a new game, but he cannot change his clothes or enter clothing stores. The comedy club Split Sides features a new comedian, and while gun stores don't sell the expansion's new weapons, those can be purchased from the club's gun vendor.

Synopsis

The Lost and Damned is set in the same fictional world as Grand Theft Auto IV, taking place in Liberty City, a metropolis inspired by New York City, and the neighboring state of Alderney, which is based on New Jersey. In a change from the main game, players can explore the entire map right after finishing the expansion’s first mission. The story runs parallel to the events of both Grand Theft Auto IV and The Ballad of Gay Tony, featuring characters and incidents that appear in all three games. One key example is a subplot about a stolen shipment of diamonds, which is shown from different viewpoints across the trilogy.

The plot begins in 2008 when Billy Grey, the president of the Lost motorcycle club’s Alderney chapter, returns to his gang after finishing a court-ordered rehab program. Vice-president Johnny Klebitz is ready to get back to business, but Billy immediately frustrates him by breaking a truce Johnny had set up with the Lost’s rivals, the Angels of Death, while Billy was away. After a club member named Jason Michaels is killed in Broker, Billy blames the Angels even though there is no solid proof, and orders the Lost to burn down the Angels’ clubhouse as revenge. Johnny later sees Billy and the club’s secretary, Brian Jeremy, stealing a stash of heroin from the clubhouse after the attack, which makes him doubt Billy’s motives.

Billy then sets up a meeting for Johnny to handle a drug deal with a buyer, alongside Niko Bellic and Playboy X, two associates of dealer Elizabeta Torres, who helped arrange the exchange. The deal turns out to be a police trap, but Johnny escapes with the heroin. Around this time, Johnny also helps a corrupt politician named Thomas Stubbs III with his re-election campaign, and Stubbs promises to return the favor later. Eventually, Jim Fitzgerald, the club’s treasurer and Johnny’s closest friend, reveals that the stolen heroin actually belongs to the Triads and urges the gang to give it back. Billy agrees but secretly plots to have the Triads kill Johnny and Jim. When the Triads attack them during the handover, Johnny and Jim are forced to flee without the drugs, while Billy is arrested by police in the confusion.

Development

The story of "The Lost and Damned" began at Microsoft's E3 press conference on May 9, 2006. Peter Moore, then head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, framed the upcoming content as "epic episode packs," far beyond a simple new car or character. A press release from that event confirmed that both this episode and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" would deliver "hours of entirely new gameplay." Rockstar's Vice-President of Product Development, Jeronimo Barrera, later noted the episodes were an experiment, as the company was uncertain how many Xbox 360 users had access to online content. Take-Two's CFO, Lainie Goldstein, disclosed that Microsoft paid a total of $50 million for the first two episodes. On February 20, 2008, Rockstar initially announced the content would arrive in August 2008. Dan Houser, vice-president of creative development, promised the episode would reveal "a different side of Liberty City." However, during its second quarter financial report, Take-Two delayed the release to the first quarter of its 2009 fiscal year, spanning November 2008 to January 2009. On November 13, 2008, executive chairman Strauss Zelnick cautioned that while the target was January 2009, the date could slip to the second fiscal quarter (February–April 2009) depending on completion. Just one week after Zelnick's warning, the final release date of February 17 was announced.

Reception

According to Metacritic, critics gave Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned "universal acclaim" on Xbox 360 and "generally favorable" reviews on PlayStation 3. Praise focused on the improved motorcycle handling, a dramatic story, strong voice acting, an engaging multiplayer mode, and extra content that extended playtime. Complaints included auto-aim problems and weak gang AI, issues also present in the original game. In the "Politics" mission's opening cutscene, Tom Stubbs appears fully nude from the front after getting off a massage table while talking to Johnny. Common Sense Media issued a public warning about the expansion, stating it was "even more controversial than its predecessors."