Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

It seems like fans finally got the explosive ending (I mean that quite literally) they were waiting for in this Grand Theft Amazing of a finale of the fourth series.

Luiz Lopez our final macho-man is it seems the Hugh Hefner of Liberty City - making the last two protagonists look like nuns. He also seems to top them style-wise, issue-wise, weapon-wise and about every other wise you can think of. He is loyal partner / bodyguard to 'Gay' Tony Prince, owner of two glitzy glamorous nightclubs in the otherwise mundane outside world.

Obviously being considered a critically acclaimed game you won't be bouncing every night until 'Story Complete' pops up. Instead expect a damn right brilliant story you can sink your teeth into, full of the usual yet still refreshing and more enjoyable tale of backstabbing, jealousy, Russian rockers and Yusuf Amir. This character has to be given particular praise for his bad dancing to 'Arab Money' and hilarious conversations with Luis, calling him every name under the offensive sun.

Like the two previous mass murdering characters, Luis isn't a cheery fellow (despite being a rampant rabbit) and it's roughly ten minutes before everything goes guns up and he actually has a reason to be unhappy. If Tony isn't calling him for help it's his mum in trouble, if his mum isn't in trouble it's Yusuf wanting to show off his 'bling'. But it seems Rockstar has listened to the fans about returning to it's beloved San Andreas roots and made one the most fun, challenging and volatile GTA's to date.

The parachute is back. Tanks are back. Well I say tanks, I mean a single tank which is the most unstoppable machine on wheels, so unless there is a twenty meter wall of steel or a basket of puppies in your way, it's unlikely nothing except will power is going to stop this bad boy. Weapondary has also seen some relentless improvements such as the terrorist friendly sticky bombs and a M249 SAW which packs a bigger punch than Rocky.

So, GTA fan or not this is certainly a near perfect DLC the fans, fanboys and fanatics have needed, to break out of the serious side of Liberty City and start diving and gliding out of whatever the hell they want to and enjoy how much fun there is still to found in this timeless series. DLC of the year? Most definitely, there's unlikely to be a more entertaining experience.

I have always perceived the "episodes from Liberty City" duology as two great DLCs, but each in their own way. The Lost and Damned is pretty much a perfect story DLC, which adds even more depth to the narrative themes established in GTA IV, while The Ballad of Gay Tony further improves on the gameplay by adding many things that fans have been asking for since the release of GTA IV (like parachutes, a much bigger variety of weapons and vehicles, better outfits etc.)

The story is not as amazing as in the original GTA IV or TLAD, but it's still nice to take a break from gloomy crime dramas and just immense yourself in more lighthearted "Guy Ritchie-esque" criminal shenanigans with many new gameplay features.

All in all, a great standalone DLC.

I have no complaints other than it was a bit too short and lacked more things to do.

Main protagonist was cool. He was a gangsta delivery boy for gay tony.

Gay Tony was a cool gay person. Not flamboyant at all. He was just cool.

it does add parachuting which is fun. Its just like GTA 4. Nothing different really other than characters and somewhat of the story, Which was alright.

Verdict: Great game to pastime.

This installment jacks the GTA: San Andreas ambiance and imports it to Liberty City, with new features & mini-games (top-down golf, sky-diving, dancing, club bouncing) some of which get tiresome semi-quickly and are only worth pursuing for the odd achievement. All that out of the way, there's a reason why this is one of the most celebrated entries in the franchise - essentially coming off as a quasi take on Bret Easton Ellis' 'Glamorama', this lights-flashing, dance, dance, raining-confetti-but-the-confetti-are-bullets, the-party-never-stops, glitz'n'glamour high-life after-hours side of L.C. pumps up the volume on the over-caffeinated city that never sleeps (or quits coughing up blood). Missions include rampaging thru town in a S.W.A.T. tank, hijacking a train car, an assault on a yacht via attack chopper, and for the finale, catching a flight that ends up going down in flames while you parachute to safety. It's a rave you won't want to quit anytime soon.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is the best DLC in history for me The DLC story may not be as compelling as the original game story, but it has a high overall quality The gameplay is really amazing, the variety of stages is extremely high and can keep the player busy for hours. Side activities are really fun too The variety of weapons has also increased and we are seeing a lot of weapons The movements of the main character have also become smoother, although I liked the character control system in the main game more A new type of helicopter has been added to the game, which is really attractive A parachute has also been added to the game and its control has become much better and lighter compared to SAN ANDREAS The technical and artistic graphics have not changed from the main game and are still of high quality In general, the quality of this DLC is extremely high, be sure to try it !!