Let me start this off by stating that I never expected the Lost and Damned to hit me this hard, this fast. Right from the opening cinematic, the tone and style of the game is set, and I can’t help but feel that this is the game Rockstar was meant to make.
As the game opens, we are greeted by a much gloomier Liberty City than even the harsh reality of Nico Bellic let us in on. The game introduces us to the big players all at once, momentarily zooming in on them and their bikes as they roll out to pick up hyper-charismatic leader Billy Gray from rehab.
Gray has definitely got to be one of the most interesting characters the L&D has to offer us: he is the epitome of the biker boss, complete with silvery hair, tattooed exterior and hard-as-nails interior. At the same time that I want to believe in Gray and support his craziness with every gun, bullet and knife I’ve got, there’s something about the man that made me uneasy right from the get-go… Abuse of power is natural with these types, but Rockstar has definitely done a good job of giving Gray that unsettling silver-tongued snake in the grass personality. I have a feeling things won’t hold together with him for much longer.
The other characters in the gang have been mostly boring stereotypes, but a few have been set up with the possibility of interesting story arcs in the future. There’s Jim, an old biker with a wife and kid, and you just know Rockstar won’t be able to leave that one alone. Then there’s Bryan, a lawyer that Gray lets into the gang because of his connections and who quickly proves himself to be a sniveling brown-noser, worthy of a full four-knuckle punch. Or several. I can't wait for Johnny to finally deliver him the comeuppance he so desperately deserves, and I pray that Rockstar doesn't rob me of that moment. Please Rockstar. Please.
Finally we come to Johnny’s one time love interest, Ashley. In short, she’s a meth-head, and if you know anything about meth-heads, that should be enough; but I will allow for uninitiated minds and explain in a little more detail. She is a female member of the brotherhood that seems to have been around for just about as long as Johnny has, and from the inferences from Gray and the other members of the gang, has been “passed around” quite a bit. Still, I gather that there was a time when it was just Johnny and Ashley doing the nasty and having warm and fuzzy feelings for each other. Now those feelings seem to have been all but eradicated on Johnny’s side, as I can almost confirm that he sees her as nothing but another junkie now. As he should, since the mission I completed before writing this had Johnny blasting through an apartment building full of hostile tweakers to save Ashley’s strung-out self from certain doom. He then took her back to her place (a dilapidated single-room “apartment”) and listened to her rant and ramble about how they were going to ride off into the sunset together. After taking it in and rolling his eyes for a minute or so, Johnny left Ashely to sleep her three-day bender off.
Oh, you’ll notice that I didn’t mention the digital schlong anywhere yet. Well, yes, I did get to that part and did in fact see the thing, but there’s so much more that the Lost and Damned has to offer by way of real story and characters that I just can’t justify giving that publicity stunt the spotlight for more than two sentences.
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