Rockstar North impresses with a ton of bonus content that is perhaps just a little too similar to the core experience.
Pros: Same fully realized world as GTAIV; More great writing and acting; Checkpoints are a savior; A lot of content here; Ballad of Gay Tony's additions are often over-the-top fun
Cons: The Lost and the Damned feels TOO similar to GTAIV; Unimpressive and poorly optimized visuals
Whatever your opinions of their games are, you have to give Rockstar North credit: they put time and effort into everything they make. This same approach luckily carries over to DLC. GTAIV was already chock full of content, so it would have been easy for the company to ship a couple of mission packs, or weapon packs, or horse armor and call it a day. But instead, as if to show the rest of the developers a thing or two, Rockstar has created two fully fleshed out stories with several hours of bonus missions, which are now available together in the Episodes from Liberty City pack.
In The Lost and the Damned, you take the role of Johnny Klebitz: a biker from the Lost gang who laments the darker turn of the gang and its boss, Billy, who was recently released from prison. As you progress, the story gets darker and darker, and the already thin line of trust gets worn thinner as the once brotherly alliances are put to the test. It's an interesting story, although one that seems to have the usual GTA problem of losing focus midway (which is a shame given that the downloadable episode is shorter than most GTA games as it is).
It also has the usual GTA gameplay for better or worse. You steal and drive cars and bikes (the latter of which have been tweaked to be much more fun since you'll use them a lot in The Lost and the Damned), and then shoot enemies with a variety of weapons (the same useful cover system is luckily here too). The small changes come in the form of the brotherhood which you can train by taking part in gang wars (simple optional skirmishes) and who can be called for support during missions. The Lost and the Damned also adds checkpoints, so you can restart a mission in the middle, rather than repeating some of the long drives, which is probably its best addition. Other than that, The Lost and the Damned is virtually identical to GTAIV from a gameplay perspective, which isn't a bad thing, but takes away from the experience a bit because of the massive déjà vu.
The Ballad of Gay Tony fares much better in all respects. First, the story is much more interesting. You play as Luis Lopez, who works for Gay Tony, a nightclub owner who helped bring him out of the drug trading business. As the nightclub business starts going poorly Luis and Tony have to work their way out of an increasingly chaotic situation where several people want them dead. The plot is actually among the best in the GTA series since the mentor/boss relationship between Tony and Luis is fleshed out in a deep and more realistic way, and it avoids the series pitfall of losing focus midway.
Secondly, The Ballad of Gay Tony makes meaningful additions to the formula with its increased arsenal of weapons and vehicles. You'll get explosive shotgun rounds, new SMGs, parachutes, attack helicopters, remote detonation charges, and even a tank in the course of the expansion. It creates a more over-the-top and interesting campaign, not to mention you get plenty of fun toys for the sandbox portion of the GTA experience. Without a doubt The Ballad of Gay Tony is the better expansion, and it even tops GTAIV itself in many places.
Unfortunately, neither The Ballad of Gay Tony nor The Lost and the Damned are impressive visually. The engine's visuals are showing their age, and the game is extremely poorly optimized. My machine is equipped to run most modern games on high settings and I suffered framerate drops frequently even on medium; a pretty pitiful showing all around, and I would recommend you get a different version if you can, so you can at least run the games. Sound design fares better with some good new licensed tracks added in the expansion and the same rock solid voice acting that the series always has.
Grand Theft Auto Episodes from Liberty City is a weird game to recommend because the people who will want it most (the diehard GTAIV fans) are the ones who are likely to find its similar gameplay most disappointing. Still, with the stellar additions from The Ballad of Gay Tony, a ton of content for completionists, and a strong presentation all around, GTA Episodes from Liberty City is worth checking out, if just as the prime example of how to expand a game right.