Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

I actually downloaded the Episodes as and when they came out, but it's the same content, and awesome it is! It is also very much an ADULT title, and I can't stress this enough. Especially The Ballad Of Gay Tony....that 18 certificate is truly there for a reason. Besides, younger people would just not understand the story, or the humour!

The Lost and Damned is an excellent new angle on life in Liberty City. It's all about the bikes and the metal. If you're not into thrash metal, don't worry, it can be avoided most of the time, but it's very much a part of the 'feel' of the episode.....one of grit, and grime and general dirty work.

Packed with new bikes, plus some new cars, and an arsenal of heavy weaponry, TLaD is also brilliantly written, with a story that's as fun, entertaining and exciting as the Niko Bellic story of GTAIV. The missions and story carefully intertwine TLaD with that original Niko Bellic story, so if you played GTAIV (and paid attention) then there will be plenty of people and events that you recognise, without any of them actually being direct ports/repeats from the parent game.

The immersive single-player game of TLaD would be enough to make it worth the £ alone, with the addition of new activities like Gang Wars and Bike Races, but the multiplayer is just as good, so there's plenty to keep you going.

As if that wasn't enough (which it is), there's also the 3rd 'episode' - The Ballad Of Gay Tony. To my amazement, it is even better than the first 2 episodes. It is a rich and fast-paced world of money, girls, drugs and high society, with addictive new luxury cars, bikes, boats and armaments. There's also the addition of military-grade helicopters, with the Minigun-toting, rocket-firing "Buzzard" being the most indulgently brutal form of transport since the "Hunter" in GTA San Andreas.

TBoGT is wonderfully written, with a story and voice-acting that puts many movies to shame. Again, there's new activites, like Drug Wars, Club Management, Dancing and Drinking Games, plus some new random characters to meet. It's humourous and intelligent and highly addictive, and there's plenty of stuff to keep you going, which, again, includes great multiplayer content.

Rockstar really know how to do it. Nobody else has ever crafted a title that is as complete as the GTAIV series. The quality of writing and design and production is second to none, so I can't rate it highly enough.

Having read the recent reviews of this game on Amazon I feel that people have been incredibly OTT in their criticisms. I got this game in summer 2010 and the online game is one of the very best xbox live games out there. And not to ignore the single player mode-they are each very good games in their own right. Although individually each game isn't quite as long as GTA 4, collevtively it makes for a longer game. However, despite not being quite as long as GTA 4 in their own right, the single player is just as good, if not slightly better. Add that to the fact that you get 2 games in 1 then the game makes for very good value.

Just to confirm though, this is not the same game but in 2 different settings. The actual feel of the game, the graphics, the guns, the aiming etc feel slightly different in each game. This is evidenced even more when playing online as TBGOT and TLATD feel like 2 different games entirely. TLATD feels more like GTA 4 than TBOGT.

The single player games are each very good games but it is in multiplayer where this game comes into its own. I prefer to play TLATD online but you tend to get more people playing TBOGT. Ever since first playing this online a year ago I have never gone more than a few days without playing it online. It is a fantastic multiplayer game and the only minor flaw I would say is sometimes struggling to get enough people to start a good match online, although you can usually find more people by clicking on 'instant play' (i.e. non ranked).

To address the other reviewer who said:

`The problem is there is not enough free space. As a fan of the motorbike from other GTAs such as San Andreas, i think there are limited options for transport.

There are other shortcomings too. In San Andreas for example you get: 3 cities; a large countryside; a mountain; an endless desert and rural highlands to explore.
Here it is just a city, however unlike vice city, the streets are too narrow. There are not enough stunts. Your player is limited.'

- I couldn't disagree more. The whole map is HUGE and although it may not encompass 3 cities like you mention in San Andreas, the map is still massive and has more than enough to keep people entertained on single player for months. And as for transport, there are at least as many options as there are in any other GTA game so I'm not sure why you would think that. The streets are normal sized streets and as it is basically NYC the streets will only reflect how big they are in real life NYC, as Vice City did with Miami.

If someone wishes to just navigate around the map aimlessley in a multitude of vechiles trying stunts etc, or go on a 'rampage' shooting random people then this is still just as easy to do as in any previous GTA game, and to drive from one side of the map to the other is an incredibly long drive so I would like to reiterate that the map is massive, yet easy to navigate around. There are countless places to do stunts and as per any GTA game, the entire environment feels fully interactive. Your player feels truly free.

I can't recommend this game highly enough. I think it is a vastly underrated a game and in online multiplayer, it is one of the best games available on the xbox. It should be ranked up there with the very best multiplayer games-COD, Red Dead, COH2 etc.

Overall I think this is a fantastic game well worth the advertised price.

The game itself is good and the way the previous story of 4 merges with the two new stories is good and promotes immersion. I was however disappointing to find that some vehicles were online exclusives as i expected the new vehicles all to be in story mode. The game offers much less story time than 4 but the story is fun to play with new weapons and characters. a 4/5 overall a good game for the money but it could have been done better