Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

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 where GTA IV stops being so serious and finally has fun. It brings back the chaos, the style, and the over the top missions that made earlier GTA games a blast. Luis Lopez is a solid lead, cool, grounded, and stuck juggling nightclub life, crime, and family drama. The missions are wild, with everything from skydiving to tank battles, and the writing hits that perfect mix of funny and ridiculous. Yusuf Amir, Tony, and the whole cast are loud, flashy, and unforgettable.

The city feels alive again, clubs bumping, cars flying, and everything just dialed up. It's a perfect contrast to the gloom of the base game. If GTA IV felt too heavy, this is the fix.

I started playing this game for a while and it is a lot of fun! This is one of the best GTA games. 10/10. Any GTA fan has got to play this game if they already have not.

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.

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.