The Ballad of Gay Tony review with CH Gorog...

With the somewhat downbeat stories of Grand Theft Auto IV and The Lost and Damned, it's nice to see Rockstar opt for a lighter-toned (although not by much given that this is still a GTA IV game) installment to cap off the GTA IV downloadable episodic content with a celebration of explosions and wackos.

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony has the player filling the shoes of Luis Lopez, a criminal turned bodyguard and business associate of famed club owner Tony "Gay Tony" Prince. Prince and Luis run into financial problems concerning the mob. Eventually, the duo has to pull things together in order to survive and ensure that they stay on top of the criminal underworld looking for blood. Instead of being a ruffian working his way up the crime latter like in previous games, The Ballad of Gay Tony has you starting off at the upper crust of Liberty City life where you stave off financial disasters and criminal entanglements.

The two main players in the story are Gay Tony, whose quirky neurotic personality make you cheer him on even as he gives into some of his more dangerous demons, and Luis Lopez, a man trying desperately to escape the confines of his past including a pair of drug dealing dopes who he calls friends. While it is interesting to see the struggle of Gay Tony, Luis’ story isn’t all that interesting; strands of Luis’ life are brought up in the beginning of the story and are never actually revisited, such as his strained relationship with his mother. In all honesty, the story doesn't breach new ground nor does the plot seem as tight as it was in the excellent narrative of The Lost and Damned. Another problem with the game is that some cutscenes, that are reused as a sort of, to quote another reviewer, shared "Tarantino-like" points of view, have different characterizations of the characters than what is established in this episode making some of cutscenes seem jarring when you see a more feminine flamboyant Tony suddenly switch to a more stoic one - thankfully, these differentiating cutscenes don't happen TOO often. What IS great about the story is that the final strands of questions and plot lines come together in this episode as you see what happens to Bulgarin from the main game in Grand Theft Auto IV as well as the diamonds that drove so many parts of the story.

Around 50 songs have been added to the game that are more fast-paced and lighter in tone to go along with the story, so expect to hear some songs you feel like getting down to get your groove on. The voice acting is good all over; like in every iteration of the GTA IV world, the hefty majority of voice acting is always spot on and natural. While the main voice acting is fantastic, often, it is the side characters who really steal the show, such as comedian Omid Djalili as the Dubai Billionaire property developer Yusuf Amir – a ‘playboy’ who is more out of touch with reality than an imaginary friend.

The visuals in the game are pretty much the same as you’ve seen in the other iterations in the story. While there have been no major graphic overhauls the character animations (facial and body) are incredible along with great small details like bullet impacts. The game still keeps its spot on physics allowing for some pretty entertaining quality should you ever find yourself launched off of a motorcycle. The fighting gameplay is almost exactly the same as the previous episodes, with all the good and bad still intact (that damn cover system and targeting is still driving me a little bonkers).

While it’s a little saddening to say goodbye to Liberty City after all the time invested in the story and the game does go with the safe route of storytelling and gameplay, it’s good to see how life moves on in the crazy home of Grand Theft Auto IV and that it ends tying up the loose ends, even though it happens to trip over itself a few times doing so.

Goodbye, Liberty city. We'll always remember your urine-soaked streets, vocal hobos, and bacteria-laced hot dogs.

My review: Buy When Cheaper

Picture belongs to the incredible Patrick Brown.


Ain't no love in the heart of the city.

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