GTA 4 The Lost and Damned First Impressions

As you can well imagine for the last couple of days I’ve been diving head first back into Liberty City to enjoy the debut of GTA 4’s first ever DLC The Lost and Damned. A full review will be forthcoming once I’ve fully tested the new multiplayer modes and of course you are all welcome to join me while I do it ( gamertag Bensonrecon) but what are my first impressions?

Firstly I have to mention I’ve noticed on a number of gaming forums people complaining about the grainy graphics effects used on TLAD as well as the text size on the mobile phone. Granted while it should have been made more obvious on how to do it both of these issues can be dealt with in a matter of seconds through the pause option menu and the mobile phone menu respectively. Personally I don’t mind either, you have to keep in mind that Rockstar are striving to make the player feel like it’s a grittier installment then Niko’s struggle so to me the scratchy look for the mini map as well as the grainy camera feel right at home when cruising round LC on a custom built hog. As for the phone, well I can’t help but feel that most of the complaints about the text size are only there down to the fact that The Lost phone wallpaper doesn’t lend itself brilliantly to a standardised mobile phone text colouring. However for me the complaints seem like little more than nitpicking.

The new bike physics are a TOTAL godsend. While some of the realism of bikes has been removed from GTA4 this is by no means a bad thing. When playing as Niko I would actively avoid bikes wherever possible. Not because I couldn’t ride them but solely down to the fact ,whether I be cursed with bad luck or not, when trying to make a quick exit or avoid the police I would always seem to find traffic coming across my route at every junction, resulting in Niko performing cartwheels down the tarmac. In TLAD the bikes just feel right. In the solid day I spent completing the story I can count the times I saw Johnny cart wheeling over the handlebars on 1 hand. Evading the cops while harder on a slower chopper doesn’t feel like the hairy skin of the teeth bike getaways that I would curse out on many occasions playing through GTA4. As a result apart from missions that demanded car use I spent a good 95% of my time cruising round on Johnny’s bike.

Also to close I have to tackle the biggest talking point so far on forums and message boards across the internet. While I’m sure everyone already knows what I am going to talk about, for those who wish to have NO knowledge of what happens in a certain cutscene relatively early on in the game then please take my advice. Stop reading this blog now and keep yourself away from Youtube and any forum till you have reached it yourself…you’ll know what I’m talking about when you get there…..

Right for those of you still reading, one word, Politics. For those of you who still aren’t sure what I‘m talking about, two words, male nudity. I really cannot understand the big fuss that has been kicked up, not by Jack Thompson and his anti GTA campaign, not by politicians (real life not steam room, massage loving politicians), not even by mother’s groups but by gamers themselves regarding this cutscene. Seriously folks it’s 2009 and it’s a Rockstar game! Rockstar love to shock and I for one applaud what they have done. Considering how many GTA players out there will just walk around and randomly murder Liberty City’s pedestrians without rhyme or reason and in all types of ways I’m amazed by the shock shown at a pixelated penis. For me that whole scene is SUPPOSED to be awkward. Rockstar tease the “will you or won’t you see it” throughout that whole scene with the old comedic use of camera cuts and scenery blocking to make each of us think “no way will they.” You watch as Johnny looks more and more uncomfortable and then WHAM! The teasing stops with Stubbs’ umm “stub.” With the game rated 18 here in the UK (same as you mature rating for any North Americans reading this) I find the complaints to be little more than people just wanting to talk about penises, if Stubbs was a woman character and was naked would there be half as much in the way of comments?

Oh well back to Liberty City keep an eye out for the review both here and You tube ,oh and for those who have asked me on Youtube I will indeed be working on a seagull guide at some point in the near future once I found them all myself.

Ok...so what's on the agenda?

So after the crazy weather in the UK over the weekend London and the rest of the UK is slowly getting back to normal....unless the snow predicted tomorrow is anything like the flurry we had and causes chaos once again.With most of the country debating whether to go to work or school if they are open or being forced to stay at home it's been a miserable week.Games from the Christmas period now starting to be a chore to play but don't worry folks the time for big new releases is almost upon us.

With titles like Street Fighter 4, FEAR 2, Halo Wars ,Silent Hill Homecoming and the very much anticipated first ever GTA Downloadable content all descending this month it's already looking like a good gaming year all round but before all that what does the next few weeks have in store for Bensonrecon and Franticthumbs?

Well having taken advantage of the credit crunch forcing game stores to sell cheap I've been a busy man.February will see reviews here for a whole host of titles including Guitar Hero World Tour and Left 4 Dead from the full price bracket but also reviews pending from some of the budget cheaper titles such as Mass Effect, Bioshock and Fable 2. You should also expect to see more of the man behind the videos and blogs...yes that's right guys after being on youtube for almost 3 years and hiding behind my game footage and edits this bearded gamer will finally be showing his face!!! My reviews will finally be taking video as well as typed form and naturally will be hosted both on "the Tubes" and here. Also I will be explaining more over the next few days about the Fifa video and the gaming video chat room.

On the subject of chatrooms,youtube and gaming please be sure to check out good friend Marcus Graham better known as DJ Wheat as Epileptic Gaming has now been revived and is well worth a look. Granted it's not an easy task staying up and watching their show in you, like me live in Europe but if you want to see a group of guys that pull no punches, entertain and know exactly what they are talking about then you should definately check in.Also a word of warning for you gamers out there that enjoy making your own gaming videos.The corporate heavyweights out there are being very hard on potential copyright issues so be sure to check what you put in (especially when it comes to music) or you may end up...like my OLD GTA 4 promo video...without sound and then without a point of remaining on the site.

Anyway folks be sure to keep an eye out for the reviews over the next couple of weeks, keep watching youtube for my first on screen appearance with information regarding the chatroom and remember if you have any requests or comments you know where to find me.

Enjoy your week whether it be fighting to stay on your feet in the ice,laying in bed with the flu or getting an unexpected break from work/school.