Rockstar hasn't let gamers down with their promise of supporting Grand Theft Auto IV with downloadable content. Last generation, although it eventually made its way onto other systems, Grand Theft Auto meant PlayStation. When it was announced that the first iteration of the series on next-gen consoles, a franchise which always had at least moderately lengthy stretches of exclusivity with Sony, would launch simultaneously on the Xbox 360 and PS3, there was shock in the industry. To many, it was the first sign that the previous generation’s trend of third-party exclusivity was coming to an end. The same can’t be said about downloadable content. Microsoft paid a reported 50 million dollars for exclusive DLC for Grand Theft Auto IV, a massive amount of money for content that, until recently, meant map packs and horse armor.

After two rounds of downloadable content, Rockstar has released a standalone disk version of their games called Episodes from Liberty City, allowing gamers to play the stories without needing to put Grand Theft Auto IV in the disk drive. As I’ve said before, I actually played through Grand Theft Auto IV for the story. Every random encounter, every mission, every iota of dialogue helped me work my way through the narrative, further involving me in Niko’s tale. He was an outsider to the country, new to Liberty City, and his story was unique. Seeing his journey to an end and witnessing his American dream was wonderful, and a truly fantastic experience, one with deep routes in classic literature. The same can't be said about the stories of Luis Lopez and Johnny Klebitz, whose games, Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, fill the $40 disk.