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31 of 37 found the following review helpful:
Awesome - we're getting back to the heart of GTANov 05, 2009
By Vynny
"Vynrod"
I, along with many others, was ultimately kind of disappointed with the original GTA IV. The removal of the staple elements of the GTA franchise was not good; the side service missions such as paramedic/fire/taxi, the wee remote control vehicles, the crazy cars along with the mini tracks for go karting, triple stunt points gone, and so on... and of course the loss of the planes. Heck even give me back the dodo R*! It was a big surprise to see all that gone and not a pleasant one. But when playing GTA IV you kind of felt that they had more planned for Liberty City in the future. Maybe that golfing range might be able to be used, that skateboard park might come into play and perhaps we'll get to ride on the ferris wheel too at some point.
So with the release of TLOD and TBOGT we're getting somewhere. Now for full disclosure I played The Ballad of Gay Tony through first even though it's episode two, primarily because I wanted to base jump! And in TBOGT I can see Rockstar finally giving us back some of what they took away. You can indeed now play golf in that floating driving range, you can base jump off specific buildings as a challenge or indeed just buy a parachute and jump off anything you want. Tanks are back too! Rockstar are slowly making LC a more fun sandbox and I hope that continues with the release of more episodes. With regards to these two episodes, well you can't go wrong. Both are typical GTA fare with varied missions and great story lines. I won't go into the plots of each - do I need to? There's some nice cross-over moments in the stories though that will make you smile!
With TBOGT you have specific optional targets to do in each mission such as a time limit or how much damage you take. The nice thing about the way this works are the new very extensive mission checkpoints, something massively lacking from GTA IV. But there's a penalty for using a checkpoint - if you use a reload then your mission objectives aren't saved. You can still complete the mission and continue with the story but there's an actual incentive to replay each one and do better each time. It's a great game mechanic that satisfies both players who prefer to blast through the game and those who wish to fine tune each play-through. Nice.
It also seems that LC's code and graphics were fine-tuned somewhat because there's considerably less little glitches and popups in TBOGT over TLOD and the original. But do install the game to the HD if you buy the disc version regardless of which episode you play.
All in all very satisfied that I got my money's worth here. I'm now playing through TLOD although I still have some side mission (drug wars) to complete in TBOGT. It took me 18 hours to complete the second episode and I expect about the same for TLOD. So for about a dollar an hour entertainment this hits the mark. If you felt, as I did, that GTA IV was a step in the wrong direction for GTA then I recommend this compilation; GTA is heading back to its roots.
R* should also be commended for not allowing folks to play the episodes without the need for the original GTA disc if you buy the disc version (you'll need the original if you DL the episodes from XBL). Helpful for those of us who put GTA IV on ebay shortly after completing it!
27 of 33 found the following review helpful:
Can't play online with regular GTAIV users!!!!Jan 09, 2010
By ethios4 This is a fantastic game! I won't waste time with another glowing review, but it is important to know that if you purchase this version (Liberty City Episodes) instead of the regular GTAIV game, you will not be able to play online with regular GTAIV users, even if they have downloaded the Lost and Damned and/or Ballad of Gay Tony episodes!!
This is a serious flaw in my opinion. My friends have the original GTAIV and downloaded these episodes, but we cannot play online because I bought Liberty City episodes. They are the exact same thing, but we cannot play online!!!!
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
The LCJun 21, 2010
By N. P. Stathoulopoulos
"nick9155"
It's a GTA game...what more could you need to know?
This game is a big treat and very welcome to those who don't take full advantage of XBox live, and it continues the tradition of making 'ported' and 'download only' games eventually available on the console, and at a reduced price. (Still no word on a console version of Chinatown Wars, though.)
These 'spinoff' games are typically shorter than the main game, the missions tend to be easier, and the focus is on more immediate fun. You don't have to unlock any parts of the city (everything is instantly available), and the missions are often focused on shooting up rival gangs and causing havoc, presumably to reduce frustration. The two games here are very different in tone, but make no mistake, GTA-esque action abounds. The stories are also interwoven with each other and with the original GTA IV story, meaning Niko and Roman Belic appear as side characters, in addition to Brucie and other Liberty City miscreants.
The weapons may be the biggest improvement---we get a crop of new and very improved weapons that will ensure you spend that many more hours blowing up things real good. There's an automatic pistol, a couple of ridiculous shotguns (an auto shotgun and then some kind of combat shotgun with explosive shotguns that feels like an earthquake when it strikes something), a M-60 or SAW-esque machine gun (similar to Ghost Recon), and even sticky bombs, which go a long way towards terrorizing Liberty City. Just rampaging with these new toys alone will provide plenty of replay value. Some new vehicles appear, including some very fast new sports cars, an AMC Gremlin-lookalike, an attack helicopter, and best of all...an APC / SWAT (or NOOSE) tank.
Typically, there are new features and side missions. I loved the gang war aspect of LaD and the similar drug war missions in TBoGT. Too bad they haven't brought back the empire building element from Vice City Stories. Oddly, you can't do vigilante missions this time around (nor taxi, or fire, or ambulance, etc). Very surprised they didn't mess around with vehicle modification, either...the whole biker gang/chopper angle was ripe for it (or maybe the intentionally did not want to overlap with the Orange County Chopper obsessions). TLaTt is the grungier and darker story, concerning an outlaw biker gang. You play Jonny, a gang member caught between the recently released gang leader, rival factions, the mob, and the usual insanity. TBoGT is decidedly less somber and features more ridiculous missions. You play Luis, a bouncer in some of the biggest clubs in the city. It inserts more of the earlier GTA humor into the proceedings. The club angle is also fun as the protagonist can do shots, dance, and brawl...or play bouncer, instead. There's also a cage fighting bit in TBoGT where you can hone your melee skills and earn a few extra bucks.
As for the audio, we get the same stations as GTA IV, though with a couple of changes (the hardcore station is now death and black metal and blares constantly throughout TLatD, and The Journey changes in name only), but with all new songs. Many of the commercials are the same, but the talk shows are all new. Perhaps best of all is a belated take-off on the Howard Stern show called 'The Martin Serious Show' that pointedly rips the shock-jock by mocking the cynicism and 'funniness' of 'the show'. There's also new material on the TV, highlighting just how much work goes into these games.
Admittedly, while GTA IV was amazing in some regards, it was also a step back in others. I still think the most 'packed' GTA game was San Andreas, in terms of the ridiculous amount of things you could do---missions, skills, side missions, and the incredible size of the playable game space (essentially three cities in one game). To really pick on IV...what is up with the cheats? The least amount of cheats of any GTA game, by far. No flying cars...no ridiculous outfits for everyone else, no gang wars, no armed civilians, no airplanes!
But let's give the game its due. It's still GTA IV, but with new stories, and some new improvements. This is a great way to feed your GTA addiction until the next game (new platform or ported) appears.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Another Great Addition To The GTA FranchiseOct 28, 2010
By MrSaturdayNight7 A lot of people were dissapointed with GTA IV when it came out. Mainly because it didnt have as many "Over the top" side missions like San Andreas had. I personally thought GTA IV was great but lets talk about episodes from Liberty City. With this disc you get 2 complete games. "The Lost & Damned" aswell as IMO the better of the two "The Ballad of Gay Tony". TBOGT has more over the top side missions etc. like GTA San Andreas had. (Cage Fighting). The graphics are top notch aswell as the gameplay and story. The only complaint I have is I wish the game was a bit longer but I guess it makes up for that in Side Missions. You have a whole different radio soundtrack which I thought was great. VICE CITY FM being one of them. Make sure to pick this game up, it's def. one of the best games to comeout on the Xbox 360.
16 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Same city, new guys, same problemsNov 02, 2009
By Cloud
"..."
Well it's certainly a very unpopular opinion for some reason, anyone who says Grand Theft Auto IV was a disappointment tends to get the evil eye, saying that we just didn't get it and to go back to our casual games or the Wii. Well having played every installment since III, this isn't really a case of I don't like hardcore games but rather I just didn't like Grand Theft Auto IV. I felt what Rockstar did was move the series from outlandish, over-the-top and Fun with a capital F to something more realistic, detailed and immersive at the expense of the fun. You could spend so much time doing whatever you wanted in the old games whereas in IV I felt like "yeah I could but do I feel the need to?" So why did I check out "Episodes from Liberty City"? I guess partly because part of me at least wants to give the series another shot; after all I did spend so much time in the previous cities that maybe I just need to change how I approach the games. Combining the Lost and Damned as well as brand new Ballad of Gay Tony episodes, I find some improvement but it still falls into pitfalls Rockstar should've fixed long ago.
Story: The Lost and Damned has you control Johnny "the Jew" Klebitz, Vice President of the biker gang The Lost, which is just having its President, Billy Grey, released from doing time. But seems that there's some tension brewing as Johnny has differing views on how to handle business while Billy is getting more progressively outspoken and maybe even a bit out of control. Eventually this'll tie into the botched diamond deal seen in IV, Johnny's drugged up ex Ashley and Johnny having to potentially save the gang from itself. The Ballad of Gay Tony, meanwhile, has you control Luis Lopez, right-hand man for Tony Prince, who's starting to feel pressure in terms of money, the diamond deal that goes south, potential buyers for his nightclubs not to mention his own drug issues.
The problem with Lost and Damned is that there's really no characters to actually like and main guy Johnny is such an ***hole but not a likable anti-hero type either. For all the bad things Tommy did, he at least came across as an awesome dude but Johnny barely has any redeeming features despite his pleas for less bloodshed and mayhem. And love interest Ashley doesn't even hold much interest for him or Johnny which is a shame since the want-to-be-do'gooder Johnny still being around messed up and drug-using Ashley could've made for some good character development but nope, he just treats her like ****. Ballad of Gay Tony on the other hand is a bit better, mainly thanks to a bit more outrageous cast such as Yusuf, a completely nutso helicopter-owning dude. I still prefer the story in Vice City but nice to see Rockstar lighten up with this episode.
Graphics: The Rage engine is starting to show its age, really. The graphics here do look colorful, especially in Tony's nightclubs, character animation during cutscenes is well-done and the draw distance is pretty incredible especially since there's barely any load times other than mission loads. However, graphical textures will still show themselves appearing later than they should and strangely I find certain facial animations to look bizarre, especially smiles and laughs. But Liberty City is certainly a very detailed and elaborate place but hopefully next game, Rockstar will do some upgrades. Oh and I'd suggest turning off the filter in the Lost and Damned because it just makes the game look ugly.
Sound/Music: The GTA series has always had impeccable voice acting and here it's no different. While I find Luis to be a bit flat-toned, the rest of the cast is really well-done and there's even some funny lines to be seen though the swear words to get thrown around very frequently, maybe a bit more than necessary. Other benefit in GTA is the radio stations which range from jazz to hip-hop to dance and even yoga-esque new age music and of course frequent visitor Lazlow. One problem I had is that I would've love to be able to see exactly what song is playing because there was this one song on a station I started to fall in love with only there was no actual way to say what it was so it prompts a visit through the OST or google lyrics to figure out what it was.
Gameplay: What made the old GTA series fun is just the insane amount of stuff to do. Fire truck missions, police missions, taxi missions, learning how to ride bikes better, cars, pedal bikes, planes, jets even, hidden packages, jumps, races etc. Even Vice City had the whole property buying but GTA IV got rid of most of it so now hidden packages are those damn pigeons, police missions are most wanted hunting and there is jumps, races and base jumps (in Gay Tony) but I guess it was my problem with GTA IV, a big expansive and elaborate universe that wasn't much fun to play in. The DLC expansions some of it but it still feels like there's not as much stuff to do, it's just a bigger world to move in. The mission variety is also starting to wear a bit thin since it really comes down to get ambushed, shoot everyone and outrun cops or chase someone and kill them. Also there's some missions that were clear missteps, namely the use of the helicopters which are some of the more frustrating-to-control vehicles I've seen in awhile and they make you ride these things more than 3 times for missions. Controls are also spotty for combat in that gunplay is still roughly the same like taking cover and it's supremely easy to get headshots but cycling through targets still doesn't want to target the guy right to your left but rather some guy on the street below and it's very easy to stay locked on to a target you already killed. I would've liked separate controls for helicopter and on-foot as well since one camera type didn't work for me in another type.
As far as extra stuff to do, both episodes include the idea of gang wars (TLAD) and drug wars (TBoGT) and these work somewhat similar to territory control in San Andreas where you fight off some enemies in a given area. Gay Tony also introduces the idea of base jumping where you parachute down through rings or get an achievement by freefalling without pulling the parachute for the longest time (hint: try to do it before you hit the ground). One thing I will criticize Rockstar for is that there's secondary mission objectives in the Gay Tony missions where there's almost certain things you need to do in the mission to get a better score such as little to no damage, accuracy and time. Wouldn't be bad if the achievements weren't directly related to it nor mention what exactly needs to be done for each one but at least you can replay after the story's over.
Strange as it sounds but a lot of people preferred Saints Row 2 for just how zany and outlandish it was yet I didn't much care for it, seeing a lack of refinement that Rockstar does with their games yet I didn't like GTA IV. Not sure what it is and the Episodes from Liberty City reminds me of other games in that this wasn't awesome enough to fully invest in (like Fallout 3 or Call of Duty 4) yet they weren't bad enough to outright quit. But I'm sure this'll be a very unpopular review so bring it on (or not would be preferred).
based on 71 reviews
( 71 customer reviews )
