With talks already circulating about the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series possibly releasing sometime in 2010, Rockstar has given its highly popular Grand Theft Auto IV title its signature swan song in Liberty City.  The Ballad of Gay Tony as a standalone title is an enjoyable, adrenaline-filled adventure filled with colorful characters, intense missions and some of the most exciting moments that rival even those of the main game itself.  Coupled together with The Lost and Damned and Episodes from Liberty City is a must-buy for all fans and you really cannot ask for better fan service.

Because we already reviewed The Lost and Damned a few months back during its initial release, this review will be solely centered around The Ballad of Gay Tony, and rightfully so as it is clearly the better of the two.  Unlike The Lost and Damned or even the story in GTAIV, The Ballad of Gay Tony puts you in control of Luis Lopez, a gun-for-hire drug dealer who works exclusively for Tony Prince (aka Gay Tony) in the more luxurious parts of Liberty City.  Since Gay Tony owns most of the nightclubs across Liberty City and spends tons of money on the finest of things, Lopez’s story and lifestyle is significantly different than that of Johnny Klebitz (The Lost and Damned) and Nico Bellic (GTAIV).

The story picks up right from the start and even begins with Lopez being caught in perhaps one of the best missions from Grand Theft Auto IV, however Lopez is being held hostage in an ironic twist.  Similar to how some missions in The Lost and Damned had Klebitz teaming up with Bellic in past missions, The Ballad of Gay Tony features similar instances, including a memorable mission aboard the tanker Platypus.  Lopez is not all about meeting up with famous faces, however, as he too collides with some truly bizarre and colorful characters.  From Yusef Amir, a crazy businessman who will go to great lengths to own all of Liberty City to childhood friends of Lopez who just want to have a little fun, the action never ceases for a minute.

Because Lopez has access to higher quality things, that means he also gets to fly around the city in style, thanks in part to a new armored helicopter he will use to get a bird’s eye view of sticky situations.  Lopez also has brand new toys in his arsenal as well, including C4 grenades, explosive shells that can be added to various guns and a new silenced sniper rifle.  Using these various new tools can help in some of the more explosive missions, but for the most part many of them are placed in weird places that are never really quite set for the same situation.  New vehicles and weapons are just the tip of the iceberg; as Lopez also gets one more important piece of equipment that is perhaps the coolest addition yet, the parachute.  Using this simple tool Lopez can gracefully leap off buildings and glide to the streets below, or for those of you looking for a bigger challenge, you can try leaping off the tallest buildings in the city and gliding onto marked cars roaming around the streets.  There are various skydiving challenges that should keep you entertained for hours.

Besides skydiving, you can also try your hand at various other minigames that Lopez can participate in.  Similar to how Klebitz could play in various bar games, Lopez has his own brand of upper-class gambling, including betting on cage fighting, hitting golf balls at a local country club or trying to dance a full song after drinking gallons of beer.  These segments do nothing but break the pace of the story every once in a while but they are well executed and easily obtainable for anyone to understand and enjoy in short bursts.  The replay value from these side missions is very low, but Rockstar has encouraged players to revisit all of the main story missions again thanks in part to a new statistics menu that tells you everything from shots fired, accuracy and time taken.  These stats can be viewed online and friends can battle each other out for the best times and scores.

The Ballad of Gay Tony looks very similar to the previous addition to GTAIV, but with Lopez’s upper-class situations, there are plenty of more colorful and detailed items for him to come into contact with.  With that said, it is unfortunate to notice how dated the game simply looks almost a year and a half after GTAIV originally came out.  Clipping problems occur constantly, problems with pop-ups happen randomly and some characters don’t even move their mouths when they speak.  It still has some very strong animations, more specifically all the large explosions, but you can’t help but notice the aged look.  The music is still around and all of it still sounds as great as it did when we first heard it over a year ago, but the new addition of three brand new radio stations, Vice City FM (!), RamJam FM and Self- Actualization FM all help give The Ballad of Gay Tony its own personal style and sound.

Multiplayer is also available in Episodes from Liberty City and although The Lost and Damned brought many changes and new modes with it, The Ballad of Gay Tony brings only four new modes, all of which are revamped versions of original ones.  The deathmatch, race and GTA race modes have all been updated to include locations and characters from all three storylines but a new skydiving multiplayer competition allows players to soar for the best scores.  If you so choose, you can always roam the city in free mode as well, jumping off buildings and simply seeing where your parachute takes you, which is always a blast.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is perhaps one of the best ways to end the adventures of all of the characters in Liberty City and if the rumors of a new Grand Theft Auto game in 2010 are true, we can’t help but be overly anticipated to see how Rockstar can top this effort.  Everything about The Ballad of Gay Tony comes together to deliver some of the most memorable moments in Liberty City yet, and coupled together with The Lost and Damned, you will be hard-pressed not to give Episodes from Liberty City a try, as you will not find a better bargain out right now.

Final Score: 9.5 | Recommendation: Buy It

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About This Author: Josh Schwartzman

Been into gaming for as long as I can remember and have enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoy playing with everyone and anyone online and I am an avid PS3 and Xbox 360 player.

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