After paying a reported $50 million for exclusive DLC for GTAIV, it's fairly safe to say that Microsoft wanted some sort of guarantee that Rockstar wouldn't take the regular half-arsed approach and drip feed the gaming public various random, tacked on missions and new outfits. I'll hold my hand up and admit that I was a little bit sceptical about what would be delivered for the first piece of exclusive Xbox 360 DLC.

Fortunately for the millions of fans of the series, my suspicions have clearly turned out to be the unfounded work of a paranoid pessimistic mind. What Rockstar have delivered is more along the lines of a full game than it is a downloadable add-on.

Depending on your source, it's claimed that The Lost and The Damned contains anywhere up to 16 hours of brand new gameplay, however we can confirm that it's more in the neighbourhood of 8-10, depending on how fast you play through the missions. However, that is certainly no mean feat considering the somewhat lackadaisical approach many other developers have taken to DLC in recent times.

The Lost and The Damned takes place in the existing Liberty City from the original GTAIV, and you find yourself taking control of Johnny Klebitz, vice president of notorious biker gang The Lost. Your first mission is to lead your crew to pick up gang president Jimmy who has just been released from jail. As you play, you'll start to discover that Jimmy is a bit of a crazy dickhead who, long story short, begins to compromise the principles and safety of the gang. And so on you go from there, working your way through the various main and side missions to the finale of the game.

At this stage, you know how GTAIV works, and this is no different. You have the choice of completing the missions as they present themselves, or going off to explore the world. Unfortunately, since this all takes place in the exact same map as GTAIV, you have most likely explored to death.

This is where the new features in The Lost and The Damned come in handy. If you were ever a fan of Road Rash in the 16 bit days, you'll love the bike racing sections. For those not savvy with the Road Rash series, it's basically a no holds barred race through city streets where you try to beat your opponents by any means necessary... and that includes a baseball bat to the back of the head. It's hard to put into words just how fun this all is, but rest assured you will have a bloody good time.

Another particularly nice feature is that your progress through the game happens simultaneously with that of our old friend Niko Bellic, so you'll become involved in the aftermath of some of the missions you played through originally. You'll also run into some old favourites from the original game including Playboy and Elizabeta, plus a certain Eastern European fellow...

Aside from the usual missions (go here, shoot him, collect this, drive her to here etc.