Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

The game no longer works. I tried the launcher fixes, and games for windows live. Neither of those work. I am reading that the launcher is a problem and that the publisher refuses to update something to fix the game. I always loved this game, but I am unable to play it now. These are all perfect reasons to recommend against buying EFLC. You risk buying a game that you probably can't even launch.

Please read before playing:

GTA IV was updated recently to remove GFWL so players can play it without having the need to login or use the client while saving their games. However, Rockstar have forgotten to remove GFWL in EFLC. This may be seen as an issue but it can be easily fixed by downloading the Xliveless client from the internet which will fix the saving feature in EFLC. You will be able to play the game normally by obtaining the client. It's a shame that Rockstar forgot about updating EFLC.

Other than that, EFLC is an amazing expansion to the rich writing of GTA IV and I can always recommend it to anyone who has played IV first. If you don't play IV it may be a bit difficult to understand certain areas of the storylines in EFLC. I'd suggest you play IV before playing TBOGT or TLAD. I really like TBOGT the most out of this expansion, it's like the opposing force to Half-life, an expansion which adds in a new amount of great features and story.

EDIT 10/09/19:

Seems like someone in Rockstar or Steam censored my words. If this is a problem, why not just update the game? a lot of people are talking about this issue with GFWL and I don't understand why Rockstar haven't updated EFLC. This expansion is brilliant but if people can't play it, why not just update it? it's a bit straight forward

Player Base:
☐ Kids
☐ Everyone
☑ Mature
☐ Casual Players
☐ Professional Players

Graphics:
☐ Really Bad
☐ Bad
☑ Ok
☐ Good
☐ Beautiful

Price:
☐ Full Price
☑ Wait For Sale
☐ Don't Buy It
☐ Free

Requirements:
☐ Minimum
☑ Medium
☐ Fast
☐ High End
☐ Super Computer

Difficulty:
☐ Easy
☑ Medium
☐ Hard
☐ Very Hard
☐ Impossible

Game length (Campaign):
☐ Really Short (0 - 3 hours)
☐ Short (2 - 8 hours)
☑ Medium (8 - 16 hours)
☐ Long (16+ hours)
☐ Endless
☐ No Campaign

Story:
☐ None
☐ Really Bad
☐ Bad
☐ Ok
☑ Good
☐ Beautiful

Cinematic/Art:
☐ None
☐ Really Bad
☐ Bad
☑ Ok
☐ Good
☐ Beautiful

Music/Sound:
☐ Really Bad
☑ Bad
☐ Ok
☐ Good
☐ Beautiful

Gameplay:
☐ Really Bad
☐ Bad
☐ Ok
☑ Good
☐ Beautiful

Bugs:
☐ Game Breaking Bugs
☐ Lots Of Bugs
☑ Few Bugs
☐ Nothing That I've Noticed

Play Mode:
Multiplayer: ☐
Singleplayer: ☑

Final Score:
7/10

Notes - I will be editing this review if updates change the game in any way.

Last edit - 08/04/2023

The Game won't let you save or load anymore because "Games for Windows Live" doesn't seem to be supported any longer...
Also Rockstar took the liberty of removing quite a bunch of beloved songs from the outstanding soundtrack because they must have thought that they are too poor for renewing a few licenses... I feel kind of robbed and can't recommend this game in this state to anyone anymore!!!!!! F. Rockstar...

UPDATE: It's that time of a year again when Licensed Songs expire for a Rockstar Game... The time has come for "Episodes of Liberty City" now... But this time Rockstar snatched an entire Radio Station from the game (which was my favourite radio station as a matter of fact)... So that "everyone can still enjoy this game" (as Rockstar calls it in Update-News), "Games for Windows Live" finally got removed from the game, which would be a good thing, if it did not get replaced by that friggin "Rockstar Launcher" which causes the problem, that the majority of people can't even start the game any longer without overcoming many new problems (check the Community Hub Discussions!)... Why couldn't they just have left all the people out of the recent changes, that already had bought "GTA IV" and "Episodes From Liberty City" seperately before, stop the Sale of those two individual products, and offer the new crippled "Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition" only for new customers???!!! Why have even old customers to suffer from those stupid changes and be ripped off like that???!!! Because it is Rockstar!!! That's Why!!! Too bad, that most people don't even see what a F***ed Up and greedy Company Rockstar has become... Don't expect to see any of my money in the future, Rockstar...!!!

PROS
-


CONS
- can't give pros because I can't even play the game since it tells me my key is invalid( key is valid but I need to go register on xbox or some shit because they're "retiring" the windows live cancer so I have to download a x_live_less crack <--- Had to put _ because of censorship )

People who pirated the game don't have to deal with this shit and even have a better experience!!!

such a shame for a good game, fuck you microsoft.


windows live is cancer

Ooh. I love this masterpice. Nico Bellic for president.! I rank GTA 4 as the best game ever made in my profile info. R* did a fantastic job here. I hate that they took away the car physics and handling and made GTA 5 so much worse. Do like the Mafia game series and put an option for car handling: Arcade or Simulation. In the single player mode it would work.
The dark story of Nico Bellic is very well written in GTA 4 with amazing characters to meet and work for. Fantastic soundtrack with several radiostations to listen too when driving around in the big apple... Liberty City.

Story goes even darker into the abyss (in a good way) with the "Episodes From Liberty City", the 2 DLC expansions where you play as Johnny Klebitz, the biker and vice president of the criminal MC gang "the Lost" in the first DLC called "The Lost and Damned". And the second DLC is called "The Ballad of Gay Tony" where you play as the bodygard Luis Lopez. These extra campaigns complement the main game GTA 4 so, so great. This is a true masterpice work from R*... Go get it.

(For people having problems with Games For Windows LiVE in the game. Download "Games For Windows Marketplace" and you'll be able to save the game after login in. The spinning camera problem when using handbrake: Just go into the options menu and turn "Handbrake Cam" from ON to OFF.)

/Score: 10/10

The game is amazing, you get the chance to find out how Luis and Johnny live, TBOGT gives me a Vice City vibe meanwhile TLAD reminds me of the main character of Read Dead Redemption (John Marston) and a little bit of GTA:SA due to the gangs (but in tlad they are biker gangs), I had a lot of fun playing both of them but I prefer TBOGT... I really can't believe that TBOGT haves 26 missions only, I wish it was longer! TLAD haves 23 missions which is also unbelievable... but anyways, I strongly recommend getting the game!

I'll rate the game 10/10

I don't generally write negative reviews on principle, but the experience of trying to deal with the intrusive hurdles of being forced to create a Windows/Xbox Live account to save progress, on top of being pestered to link that to the Rockstar social account, is so unbearably painful that it makes an Ubisoft game a joy in comparison. Seriously, screw Microsoft and Rockstar with something hard and sandpapery. Also, god help you if you want to save custom key bindings, because the game will apparently forget them with malicious glee every time you exit.

A MUST have addition to GTA IV. It basically retells the story of Libertiy City on the same time era as NIko from additional two different perspectives. A lot of events and mission end up tying between the three protagonists (Niko, Johnny, and Luis).

The Lost and Damned (TLaD)
Summary: American 60's biker drama (greasers, junkie girlfriend, running with the politic and mafia, pushers, internal dispute, etc.)

There are lot of interesting gameplay mechanics introduced since you are now in bike club. Eg: You get to roll with your brothers (that's what they call each other); with each successful mission (and them not dying), they will receive 'EXP' to upgrade their survivability and weaponry. (Note: noobs brother tend to die easily, but main story brothers won't die unless the story tells so)

The Ballad of Gay Tony (TBoGT)
Spoiler: Actually not gay. Lots of booty calls (note: NOT from dudes). Dude who you are working for (Tony Prince, AKA Gay Tony) is the one who's gay; dude runs clubs in town with some 'business' partners.

I played TBoGT a long time ago; frankly I don't remember any new interesting things thrown in except for booty calls. I do recall sweet ass helicopter (an upgrade from Annihilator) from rich ass racist Arab. You can replay missions though since each mission has this 'additional objectives' in order for you to get the 100%/ gold medal bullshit and make yourself feel less terrible.

Pros:
+ Don't need to own GTA IV (But highly recommended to finish the main game first; this game assumes player has experienced base game. A lot of references are thrown here and there as story progresses)
+ A lot of new arsenals introduced. They are exclusive to each stories (and are more OP in some cases)
+ Complete different atmospheres with some new mechanics
+ Feels more optimised than the base game

Cons:
- Takes another 16 GB of files even if you own GTA IV (since Episodes from Liberty City is considered a separate game). It is such a waste of space, considering 90% of the game files are recycled
- Generic missions, with some minor bugs here and there
- They RIP APART Vladivostok FM into pop dance club bullshit FM. GIVE ME BACK Кино́'s Группа крови!

Overall, if you or your friends are thinking of picking up GTA IV, get the Episodes from LIberty City as well.

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is an expansion pass for GTA 4 where you have to DLC packs which both expand on the story of GTA 4. I will review both as separate games so let's get into it.

Grand Theft Auto Lost and Damned:

This expansion pass follows on the biker gang Lost and Damned who are old school gang in Liberty City. The story follows on Johny Klebitz as he tries his best to keep his chapter under falling out.

This expansion is really good, for story, but not so much for missions.

Now I know that I should have expected this, from an expansion that follows on Bikers, but I didn't really like how much of the entire expansion follows on bike rides. But the story missions were fun and challenging.

Music wise I enjoyed the rock music in this game, it's a very fitting choice of music for this expansion and it works well.

The entire expansion overall is still better than the entirety of GTA 4, I enjoyed the story and action based missions, but hated all the bike stuff, because of how bikes control in GTA 4 overall.

Next up is Grand Theft Auto The Ballad of Gay Tony:

This expansion is better than Lost and Damned and GTA 4.

This expansion follows on Luis a bodyguard who works on a business man Gay Tony. The entire expansion takes place after the Three Leaf Clover mission in GTA 4 and is all about Luis trying to save Tony's dying business by taking up different business ventures.

This expansion is incredibly fun and I had tons of fun playing through it. A lot of the missions are really fun action packed missions and it fixes a lot of the problems that Lost and Damned and GTA 4 had.

The overall atmosphere is also not as dark and lightens the tone. It's also incredibly funny, the characters are funny and it's all really fun.

Lightening the tone also helps a lot, cause GTA 4 being way too serious made the game kind of boring to play.

This expansion also paves the way to GTA 5 like the medals in missions and multiple characters.

Overall this expansion is a great addition and is overall better than the main game, but I still suggest playing all three games.

Pros:
+ Funny and cleverly written stories
+ Missions are action packed so it never gets boring to play
+ Soundtracks which fit the overall atmosphere of the expansions

Cons:
- Gameplay and Car physics aren't that good
- Gun gameplay is incredibly stiff

Final Rating:
9/10

- Buying GTA 4 and EFLC
- Starting it
- Its not starting
- Seaching Patches
- Found Patch
- F**king LOGIN
- Laggy as Shit
- Seaching Lag FIX
- Found over 10000 lagfixes
- Installing one
- Game runs Better
- Playing Multiplayer
- Only 8 peoples playing (I know it its old)
- Quit the Game

8/10 Good Game but a Waste of Time to Starting it

the game itself is a hood classic but windows live changed everything
1- you cant save until you connect to windows live
2- cannot connect to windows live and logging in takes indefinitely
3- NO MULTIPLAYER only with windows live (I had VERY high hopes for online to stay up)
4- installing the actual game was a pain in the a$$ and caused me a lot of problems, only to launch it took me two days to fix
you decide for yourself

EDIT: Windows live is no longer, the multiplayer with it as well.

Episodes from Liberty city is like DLC for other games, but in this case you dont need own base game (GTA IV).
So in this 'DLC' you have two short storylines to play with:

The Ballad of Gay Tony:

+Great story and funny characters
++Overlaping sides of story and characters from main GTA and The Lost stories
+A lot of fun in Story line for 7-8 hours
+More diversity in gameplay
+Colorfull gameplay
++Awesome carpark
+Cool guns
+Better soundtrack for most radio stations

- Too many fucking choppers :D

The Lost and Damned

++Overlaping sides of story and characters from main GTA and Gay Tonny stories
+A lot of fun for 5 hours
+Awesome storyline
+Fun new weapons
+Better soundtrack for most radio stations, especially Liberty Rock

-I dont like bikes, neither driving with them
-Broken TV graphical theme in first person
-Small amount of cars on streets

Overall very awesome 'DLC', overlaping characters and story lines was THE thing - everything about that 'ice'. :D

--- The Lost and Damned ---

I'd heard that TLAD was mediocre and paled in comparison to the base game and The Ballad of Gay Tony, but I actually liked it a lot more than the base game.

+ Johnny handles motorcycles way better than Niko handles cars
+ There aren't any really bad bikes (while most of the cars are terrible)
+ You can get bikes for free and guns at a discount whenever you want by calling your gang members
+ At the end of an early mission, the game tries to make you think it's gonna go all San Andreas and let your gang get pushed around by a couple of corrupt cops, but you just go kill them in the next mission
+ You don't get called to go do things with your friends all the time
+ This game introduces the sawn-off shotgun, which is the most hilariously overpowered gun to use on a motorcycle
+ Also introduces a few more guns that are more interesting than anything in GTA IV: An automatic pistol, a street sweeper shotgun and a grenade launcher
+ I enjoy playing as bikers in games and Johnny has a sweet jacket

/ The story is still generally joyless
/ The story is short, but there are a lot of side jobs, gang wars and races to do as well
/ Johnny flipping his shit in combat for little reason can be alternately hilarious and annoying. "F*** YOU! F*** YOU! F*** YOU F*** YOU F*** YOU F*** YOU!" (this is all one line)

- Only 2 safehouses, both very close together, and you can only use one or the other for most of the plot
- Johnny runs slower than Niko and Luis if he's holding a weapon
- The bike handling is still iffy, and the 4-wheeled vehicle handling is iffy at best
- The death metal station has like 8 songs on it so if you listen to it a lot it will repeat all the time
- No character customization

TLAD is still no San Andreas or Vice City but it's a pretty good game.

It's fun, but after you're done with both TLaD and TBoGT theres no point in playing it, so due to that the game will give you about 40 hours of playtime.

To those with Games for Windows Live issues or who are whining that the game is broken and shouldn't be sold due to this: There is no issue. You simply have to create an offline account, which is clearly stated when you start the game. I have personally done this. I installed the game, created an offline account, completed the first mission and saved. I restarted the game and guess what? I started off from the saved point.

To those whiners: Please take the time to confirm if a game is broken or not before writing some non-sense review to scare people off. Save yourself the embarrassment of being proven to be both wrong and ignorant.

The Lost and Damned

The Ballad of Gay Tony

The DLC in this made me so immersed that I actually believed I was an IRL member of the sons of anarchy so I went to my local harley davidsons dealership and bought the cheapest bike I could find and as I pull into the road I get hit by an oncoming bus and I wake up in hospital only to realise i'm a small child from a small suburban town in bradford.

Great game, the game engine to be fully realized in physics and control of the character. Open world, complete freedom of action - and it pleases.

As I write this, the release date for GTA V is fast approaching. Hard to believe it's been 5 years since GTA4 was released.

GTA: Episodes from Liberty City (EFLC) moves the base GTA4 game forward nicely. There's two smaller storylines, each about 12-16 hours of gameplay. Both stories are interwoven with the main GTA4 storyline. Niko Bellic and other characters make appearances in these games, and certain loose ends are tied up in these episodes.

The stories are strong, the supporting characters are interesting, and the protagonists are fun to play. Luis Lopez, the main character in The Ballad of Gay Tony, is my new favorite GTA protagonist - even better than Vice City's Tommy Vercetti. These two smaller games are much more interesting to me than Niko Bellic's story.

EFLC delivers some technical fixes and gameplay improvements to the base game. Most notably, we now have mid-mission checkpoints, so if you fail a mission, you can pick up part-way through. This really decreases the frustration level of the game. Less notably, but important to me: traffic is more realistic. And, motorcycles are easier to control.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is the standout episode. It brings back the over-the-top flavor of Vice City and San Andreas. The missions are crazy fun, including a shootout on top of the Empire State Building, hijacking a subway car, helicopter duels, and a race around Manhattan -- excuse me, "Algonquin" -- involving parachutes, speedboats and fast cars. There's a new cage-fighting mini-game, and everywhere you turn in this one, there's fast cars to boost. And, as mentioned, parachuting! There's 20 optional missions involving base jumping and parachuting skills. Excellent fun. The Ballad of Gay Tony pulls out all the stops to show off what this game engine is capable of delivering. And maybe, hopefully, it shows that Rockstar hasn't forgotten how to have fun.

If you need a GTA fix before GTA V appears and you skipped these episodes, you should definitely take a second look.