Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

If you have mixed feelings about GTAIV, I don't know. I thought The Lost and the Damned was great but short. I thought The Ballad of Gay Tony was disappointing. If you're not a big fan of GTAIV, you might just want to forget about it.

its pretty much the same as GTAIV drive here, kill him, chase them. repeat. i think they have a little more replay value but all in all its still GTAIV

Yeah, it's a slightly more fleshed out and condensed (yes, I know that's oxymoronic) GTA4. The missions are more contextual to the story in both episodes, but TLAD is more Vice City (feels real, set in time) and BOGT feels more like San Andreas (more crazy and extreme and focused on gameplay). The superfluous repetitive missions are gone, making the fewer missions here seem like there is more variety.
 
I'd say if you haven't played GTA4, start with EFLC. But to somebody who was tainted by GTA4's blandness, this won't offer enough new experiences for $40.
 
@Ryax said:

" all in all its still GTA "

I bought them and wasn't impressed. Not that I was disappointed, it's just that I loaded it up and was just like, oh, this again. 
 
Only thing I liked about it was improved motorbike control, if that tickles your pickle then ROCK ON.

Didn't play Gay Tony... but I liked The Lost and Damned.  My enjoyment of GTA IV waned at the end.  The campaign felt stretched out and there weren't as many side-diversions for you to do compared to the past GTA games.  TLoD, on the other hand, had a more condensed campaign which benefited it's story.  It was also nice to have a crew to roll around the city with.  Niko's lone wolf personality made Liberty City's rich environment feel pretty lonely.

If GTA IV was your least favorite of the GTA games, then it might not be a great idea to get more of what is essentially the same. 
Having said that, The Lost and Damned is definitely great.  It's actually more focused than GTA IV in terms of gameplay and story.  At times, it can even feel like a wholly different experience, but at the core, it's still using the GTA IV mechanics. 
The Ballad of Gay Tony is one I have mixed feelings about.  It's got great characters, but the story is completely scatter-shot.  Some of the missions are great, but it also felt like this one had more missions that made me hate the whole of the GTA IV gameplay style outright, something the previous two installments hadn't done.  This one is only for those truly enraptured by GTA IV.

If it comes with the love hat then fuck yeah its worth it