Product Details
 | Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City |
| List Price: | $19.99 |
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Product Description
Get ready to experience the Liberty City of Grand Theft Auto IV on your PC like never before. Originally created as supplemental episodic content for Grand Theft Auto IV, but not available to players on the PC platform, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City is now available to all pertinent platforms introducing new characters, new weapons, new online multiplayer challenges and two new stories. Available as two standalone games on one disc, these two episodes, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony do not require the original GTA IV game disc to play. Powerful new weapons, amazing new vehicles, diverse new music, never-before-seen features and all new mission types Each episode contains both a single player campaign as well as a variety of online multiplayer modes specific to the storyline of eachProduct Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1591 in Video Games
- Brand: Rockstar Games
- Model: 31781
- Published on: 2010-05-28
- Released on: 2010-04-13
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Dimensions: .50" h x 5.30" w x 7.50" l, 1.00 pounds
Features
- Brings the interweaving Grand Theft Auto IV stories of Niko Bellic (main game), Johnny Klebitz (The Lost and Damned) and Luis Lopez (The Ballad of Gay Tony) to an explosive conclusion.
- Contains The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, on one disc. These were originally digital content releases for GTAIV that were unavailable to PC players.
- Both games are standalone releases that do not require the original Grand Theft Auto IV game, or an Internet connection for their single player campaigns. (multiplayer modes are online)
- Complete your Grand Theft Auto IV experience with powerful new weapons, vehicles, music, features and new mission types.
- Each episode contains both a single player campaign as well as a variety of online multiplayer modes specific to the storyline of each.
Customer Reviews
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
It took forever and a day,
but PS3 owners finally have access to the two outstanding "Grand Theft
Auto IV" expansions on one reasonably-priced disc. As is custom for the
GTA series, the game includes a small booklet and the ubiquitous
full-size fold-out poster. In addition to the disc version, the
Playstation Store has both expansions available for download as well.
This is an option of convenience or useful if you only want one of the
expansions.
Buying both, however, is the same price or more than
the disc, so you might as well buy the disc. You'll get the nice poster
and booklet in addition to the hard copy you can either sell or give to a
friend when you're finished. The poster has an image of a party girl in
a pink dress on one side and a detailed map of Liberty City on the
other. The booklet contains brief paragraphs outlining the premise of
each expansion, a full list of the radio songs, and the game credits.
Both
"The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" are amply sized and
playing through both took me around twenty hours, and this is
considering I ignored much of the many interesting diversions and
side-quests (everything from arm wrestling, gang wars, bike races and
more) present in both. A very dedicated player could easily spend forty
to fifty hours completing all the side-quests and obtaining all the
trophies, making this disc a nearly mandatory purchase for PS3 owners
who enjoy a good sandbox-style romp.
Of course, both games are
rife with the bizarre hallmarks of the GTA games. The nudity is
particularly bizarre, including a scene of full-frontal male congressman
nudity, which is ostensibly intended to be amusing but only elicited a
furrowed brow from this gamer. This sort of thing is nothing new to the
franchise or even the genre, so I'm not complaining, just making note.
The language is often coarse but I wouldn't have it any other way. It
lends atmosphere to the storyline, and after all, we're dealing with a
biker gang and a bodyguard/drug dealer. Speaking of which, it's amazing
to me how many parents complain about the content of games when specific
ratings are provided on each title's sleeve and detailed content
descriptions of games can often be found online. But that's another
story entirely.
Unfortunately, much as in GTA IV, the AI
scripting for your teammates is rather weak. Occasionally they can even
become a hindrance, as they get in the way during chases, and even with
relatively high attributes are often unable to hit their targets
(particularly if the enemy is behind cover). Another slight mark against
these expansions are those missions that frankly don't even make much
sense. For instance, during one mission on "The Lost and Damned", your
character is to ride his motorcycle to find three rival gang vans
driving around Liberty City. Once you find a van, you're to throw pipe
bombs at the van until it's destroyed, all while the heavily-armed
crackshot gang members are leading you with semi-automatic weapons. To
be fair, the mission can be completed without resorting to the pipe
bombs (I stood in the street and used a rocket launcher instead), but I
just couldn't shake the feeling that Johnny Boy had taken too many
knocks to the skull. Well, no one said biker gangs were very bright to
begin with, right?
This is admittedly a small complaint. Besides,
I appreciate that Rockstar tries to add a bit of variety to the
missions so that each one isn't simply a full-throttle shootout. At
least no mission on these expansions is as ridiculous as that one in
"Vice City" where you had to plant bombs using a very unwieldy
remote-controlled helicopter! Story-wise, however, neither expansion
disappoints in any way. "The Ballad of Gay Tony" is colorful, amusing
and more characteristic of a typical GTA storyline. As far as mission
variety is concerned, "TBOGY" wins hands down. One moment you'll be
piloting a high-tech aircraft, the next you're in a speedboat chase, and
before long you're parachuting from a skyscraper to escape the police.
My
personal favorite storyline, however, was "The Lost and Damned" which
features a darker, more involving plotline. It's nothing terribly
complex, mostly a series of drug deals gone awry, mixed with gang wars
and internal conflicts within your own gang, but Johnny Klebitz (the
player character) is my favorite of the entire franchise. This is due in
large part because, despite the limited and somewhat dated graphics
(keeping in mind GTA IV was released almost exactly two years ago) I'm
always impressed with how solid the acting is. The voice acting and
scripting are top gear, but what really sells the cutscenes is the
dead-on body language and gestures from the characters.
The
numerous multiplayer modes add nearly endless replayability to the title
and are often a source of great amusement. My favorite multiplayer
games include: "Chopper VS Chopper", where one player rides a motorcycle
through a series of checkpoints while another player in a helicopter
tries to destroy the biker, "Lone Wolf Biker" where every other player
is trying to kill the one who is tagged the 'lone wolf', and "Witness
Protection" where one team is trying to destroy a bus full of witnesses
while the other team is trying to protect it. There are also a
multiplayer motorcycle race mode, a "Club Business" mode where the
players act together as a team to carry out various tasks, and a "Own
the City" mode where the players attempt to take over the city piece by
piece.
My personal favorite addition is the mission checkpoint
system, which really cuts down on wasted playtime after a failed mission
(i.e. having to take a ten minute drive back to the mission site after
every mission failure). I hope this becomes the norm on every subsequent
GTA title. All things considered, it was well worth the wait. For the
modest price this title typically averages, it's highly recommended, and
a great way to stave off the waiting for the next GTA title (or, in my
case, the upcoming "Red Dead Redemption").
Can't play online with regular GTAIV users!!!!
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!!!!
Awesome - we're getting back to the heart of GTA
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!
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