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Name: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

The Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content hasn't had a very quiet gestation. Even before the original game had even released we were told to be excited, as if the prospect of additional gameplay for a game that was cloaked in ambiguity to begin with should herald such enthusiasm. Thanks to the hype train that surrounded the original release however, most of us were reeled in. Now, the success of the full product is well-known, and the concept of additional scenarios is beginning to sound tempting. Like in most things, Rockstar has now redefined what downloadable content should be. This isn't some hour-long distraction – The Lost and Damned is a game in its own right.

Instead of Niko Bellic, the star of this add-on is Johnny Klebitz, Vice-President of The Lost Biker Club. While the reputation of this gang has been lightly touched upon in Niko's story, you are now able to see first-hand the activities that they get up to. When The Lost's president, Billy Grey, gets released from his incarceration, Johnny begins questioning his leader's methods of running things. From their small clubhouse in Alderney, they launch a gang war on The Angels of Death Biker Club. As their position derails, Johnny is forced to take action to protect his fraternal members, cascading into a trail of blood that stretches the length of the city.

The plot touches many of the same notes as its source. The tones of betrayal and revenge are the most noteworthy, crafting quite possibly the darkest and grimmest Grand Theft Auto story to date. Despite the bitter situations involved, Johnny is the brightest light shining through this adversity, even if he is only a dim one. He carries with him a sarcastic outlook that mocks most of those that do him wrong, usually with cutting jibes that facetiously stops the story getting too serious and depressing. With the plot taking place at the same time as Niko's endeavours, you even see him in cutscenes that he shared with Johnny, yet you see them through his own perspective, reinforcing the symbiotic nature of the plot between the full game and the DLC.

The gameplay remains much the same as before, except with some new additions. Most of the action takes place on bikes, rather than cars, and this is an important shift in the play style of the game. While biking as Niko, it was essentially suicide unless you were a very able driver, capable of adapting to the increased speed and limited mobility when facing roads littered with traffic. However, the biking mechanic has seen an enormous overhaul here, with decreased penalties for sloppy driving. Rather than be propelled from the seat at the slightest knock, draining most of your health before even reaching the inevitable gunfight ahead, it'll take a rather substantial impact to do the same this time. Manoeuvrability is also much smoother, with turning being more sensitive and effective than before. Considering how you'll be saddled on a chopper for about 80% of the time, this is of paramount importance to the quality of the experience, and has been addressed very well.

While you'll be exchanging lead in an identical fashion as previously, there are a number of extra toys to do the task with. The most apparent is a sawn-off shotgun that, while having to be reloaded every two shots, is able to be used while riding. There's hardly a more effective weapon against other bikers, easily throwing them from their seats in large numbers. For the more explosively-inclined, the grenade launcher can propel ordinary grenades at a greater distance than a conventional throw – so much so that if you fire it below a car, it will probably speed underneath, exploding harmlessly behind it. Pipe bombs have also been added, giving you yet another way to blow things up.

There are plenty of other additions built around The Lost and Damned that make preparing yourself much more convenient. Thanks to your brothers, you are able to call in a Gun Van with a call from your phone. Once done, you travel to the nearby location of the van, and buy guns, ammo and body armour at a cheaper rate than the established gun shops in the game. Similarly, if you're in need of a bike, a quick call can have another rode direct to you for absolutely no cost, as long as you don't demand it too often. Through this, faster and more resilient bikes get added to the roster as you progress through the story. Lastly, if you find yourself outgunned, you can call for back-up, and two AI buddies will appear to make the situation much more manageable.

If you somehow felt the ten to fifteen hour story missions weren't worth the investment, the extra racing and gang war missions should be enough for anyone. These situations are laid out as markers over the whole map of Liberty City, and there is an unprecedented amount of each. The races can be upwards of fifteen minutes long, winding through the streets over multiple laps, and include a Road Rash style baseball bat mechanic, giving you the ability to club your way up to first place. The gang wars are much shorter affairs, with an assembly of red dots popping on your radar a short distance away from each start point. The enemies are always close together, and a quick shotgunning spree will mean that the ride to meet them will be longer than the actual encounter. Nonetheless, there are as many of these scenarios as there are races, completing a huge catalogue of side missions.

Multiplayer, one of GTA IV's greatest strengths, has seen further content as part of this expansion. While Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch need no introduction, Race is quite a different situation than you may expect. With absolutely no cars involved, this is entirely a biking event, including the baseball bat gameplay mentioned previously. Lone Wolf Biker is essentially a fast-paced and violent game of tag, where a single player is chosen to avoid the designs of every other player in the server for as long as possible. Witness Protection is a Cops vs. Bikers mode, where the cop team must protect a bus transporting prisoners while bikers attempt to kill every prisoner on board. Own the City is a Zone Capture mode where specific areas around the city must be held and defended against enemy teams. Club Business is a curious competitive/co-operative mode, where teams must work together to complete tasks, such as killing specific targets, faster than the other teams. Chopper vs. Chopper is another interesting gametype, where a single biker tries to travel between checkpoints with an attack helicopter trying to stop them. While this is a substantially varied selection, separate from the original game's, the lack of proper co-operative missions is sorely missed, as they were the gems in GTA IV's crown.

The Lost and Damned, as a piece of downloadable content, seems sullied by the term. To compare this to the extra multiplayer map packs and survival modes created for other games does Rockstar a grave disservice. What can be justified as a full game by itself is being sold for a fraction of a full title's worth. While there may be little changed aesthetically, with the same GTA IV game engine providing the structure, The Lost and Damned builds upon its source to create an essential experience for all those that enjoyed Niko's tale. While it may be more expensive than any other downloadable content on the different virtual storefronts, you'll also find no better value on them.