"Mid-mission markers you say?"

A nod from my Rockstar Sydney PR Manager confirms one of the most frustrating things from GTA IV, a lack of mid-mission markers for some of the longer, more easily failed missions, has been included in the very first episodic download, The Lost and Damned, due to hit your Xbox 360 exclusively from February 17.

"So what else is new?" I hear you say.



Well, you're no longer a lone illegal alien without a specific cause jumping from one side to the other. The Lost and Damned's protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, is but one member in a chapter of the biker gang, The Lost. This immediately shifts the game's feel from solo adventuring to team pursuits with you almost always having backup at your disposal. What's even cooler about this is based on how well you perform with your team; they'll receive strength bonuses making them even stronger and more rewarding to have with you in the next major encounter.

As a bikie gang, you also need to understand hierarchy and rank. Johnny is the Vice President, and so even riding through the streets of Liberty City, The Lost as a flock, offers you a chance to correctly ride in formation (represented by your gang's logo which you need to stay on for a few seconds), it's also the backbone for the episode's narrative, which sees Johnny having been head of The Lost while chapter president Billy was in rehab. The game's festivities kick off when Billy returns to discover Johnny has been hard at work making truces with rival gangs. Not one to succumb to concepts of peace and co-existence, however, Billy tears it up by causing havoc and undoing all of Johnny's work. As a member of the gang and loyal to his brothers, Johnny has to suck it up and back his president's play – offering a story replete with derision, loyalty, allegiance collusion and plenty of gang violence.

There are other major differences that stem from the gang foundation of The Lost and Damned. Unlike Niko arriving in Liberty City with no money, weapons or power – Johnny immediately has a three-story clubhouse at his disposal with plenty of cash and weapons. His team are always there to back his play and as a biker he'd be nothing without his own hog, of which he most certainly does have, and it's a one-of-a-kind. In fact, being a member of a bike gang with your own bike changes things even on an aesthetic level; you're not really all that interested in jacking cars – not when you have your own bike. And as one of the meanest looking cats in Liberty City, you don't really want Johnny hiding out in the driver's seat of a four-wheel vehicle anyway.

There are new weapons available in The Lost and Damned, among the most impressive of which are both the grenade launcher and variations of the shotgun. There's a more anarchic feel to The Lost and Damned also, in that as a biker gang, The Lost (and their subsequent rivals) are somewhat above the law, bringing chaos and mayhem to one another's doorsteps. It's an interesting spin on the idea of allegiances, especially when you consider Niko was pretty much an underworld floozy, changing sides as quickly as he was girlfriends or rides.

You'll also come across a bunch of cross-over points as a lot of this episode takes place during your escapades as Niko. In fact, you'll even partake in a mission alongside Niko, only taking a different path at its near-conclusion.

I was shown three different missions, and went hands-on with all of them. The game doesn't necessarily feel too different, but there's enough different about both Niko and Johnny it's not immediately familiar. Little things like the way Johnny walks or holds his weapons. Riding around on a bike and having a team behind you go a long way to, making this more than just some added hours in the robust world of Liberty City.

You can ignore the main game and just ride around LC, causing all the carnage and mayhem you want (as you probably did with Niko), but Rockstar North have assumed you already had your fill of that with Niko and so have crafted a fairly separate experience here. You're going to want to push on through this game because there's a clear sense of direction right from the outset thanks to Johnny's place (and back story) in Liberty City.

The first mission I got hands-on with saw Johnny and The Lost paying a visit to their rivals, The Angels of Death. It's here you get to go one on one with the grenade launcher as your first objective is to lob a few frags through your rival's club window. Once done, hordes of leather-jacket wearing monsters emerge gunning for you and your crew. The scale of conflict is immediately denser than GTA IV (with the exception of some of the more intense Wanted Levels) because - ultimately - you're in a gang fighting other gangs; so expect massive shootouts and even more explosive chases and vehicle segments.

Actually, "vehicle segments" is a pretty good segue to the last mission I played. This one in particular saw the triumphant return of the GTA on-rails action sequence where you're sitting at the rear of a bike with a bloody powerful gun taking down police cars, trucks, hummers and choppers! Explosions everywhere, and while a lot of this sequence was scripted, the game's physics and combat systems ensure it's never quite the same twice-over.

As a long sequence as well, it was here I really appreciated the inclusion of the mid-mission marker, because it's very easy to make a mess of things, and the last thing you want to be doing is facing the same scripted event over and over again, when a perfectly good checkpoint can be carefully placed at the right sequence break.

The three missions I played told me there's definitely life in the old girl yet, and as long as the content coming through offers a different spin on life in Liberty City, we could be spending plenty of time roaming its streets for awhile to come. The dynamic of being a member in an established biker gang as an equally established Liberty City citizen more than shifts things up from Niko's exploits, while the new toys and various gameplay differences offer some new (and much needed) variety.

You can check out more from The Lost and Damned, right here on AusGamers from our locally hosted game page with info, screens and videos. Stay tuned for the episode's update (and our review) closer to February 17.