Aliasalpha: You know the odd thing, I've found 3 missions that have proper story now and they also have pretty good (if unforgiving) design, voice work and checkpoints in logical places all followed by narrative cutscenes, almost like it was part of the main game. My suspicion is that they made part of the DLC and then outsourced it to pad out the length or get it done fast because it really does feel like it was made by 2 different groups
All of the DLC was part of the main game at one point; modders found traces of all of them in the base game and it's clear that they were cut very late in development--this is why characters repeatedly suggest Vito should check with Derek and Bruski for work despite them never having any side missions to offer.
I wouldn't be surprised if the original plan was to switch from Vito to Joe for only a couple of missions to fill in the blanks before jumping back again. Also left on the cutting room floor were some additional World War II missions, but since those haven't surfaced in a DLC (yet?) it seems they were cut during development for legitimate reasons rather than DLC exploitation.
This isn't the first time 2K has been caught slicing up a game for DLC purposes; BioShock 2's DLC sat on the game disc in a finished state waiting for you to insert $5 for a 108kb unlocker download. Nothing says value for money like a 2K product!
Navagon: I do like the main game. It has it's shortcomings - like the total lack of Free Ride
There are a variety of Free Ride mods available based on a hidden mission select feature.
This particular one lets you play with any mission or weather condition/era of your choice and even seems to have a choice of player characters.
