The Ballad of Gay Tony is the final explosive chapter of the GTAIV story
The Ballad of Gay Tony puts you in the shoes of another citizen of Liberty City, the part-time club manager, part time thug Luis Lopez. The story plays out with players taking control of Lopez, aiding the titled character gay Tony from running himself, and his business into the ground, all the while helping out other criminals in the process. Of course this is a very generalized overview of the plot, but hey, it's best to be discovered on your own.
Since this is an expansion, nothing really else needs to be said about the game, and how it plays or looks. GTAIV is an old game, and is starting to look so. The characters models and animations are beginning to look old, and the controls in this expansion feel loose and less responsive then the main game and previous dlc The Lost and The Damned. In saying that however, it isn't a negative, since again, this is an expansion to an already existing game.
So lets look at the new stuff TBOGT brings to the table. Firstly, it brings some much needed colour to this Grey-drenched game, in terms of brighter colours for on screen prompts, maps and the pause menu. It also brings in a lot new side missions including Drug Wars, Base Jumps and the awesome Triathlons.
In terms of missions, TBOGT probably stands as the best of the three different stories. This is mostly due to the new character of Yusif Amir, who sends the player on an selection of missions that are just awesome. Yusif will have you take a military helicopter, steal a tank in mid-air, and hijack a train carriage. You're also supplied with new weapons on various missions which will add some explosive presence during gameplay. Needless to say, TBOGT plays out like a 90's action film. It's a step forward from the usual, 'go here and kill a bunch of guys' missions one found in the previous two GTAIV stories, and even though Ballad has some missions which are essentially the same, it tries to do it in a new flashier style.
The story itself is great, and a lot more interesting than TLATD. Luis is forced to question his loyalties to Tony, while at the same time help his aging gay mentor fight his drug abuse problems and drive their business into the ground. As expected, the story interweaves with both Johnny and Niko's, as you'll see certain cut scenes from their respected narratives played out from a different side. In sheer story telling, GTAIV is one of the finest examples in gaming, by setting up an extensive world from the start and allows certain aspects of said story to be inter weaved with other stories without feeling tacked on. Those diamonds!
The side missions as mentioned earlier are new additions to the GTAIV world, but sadly don't really serve much purpose. There's the base jumping missions that really require split second timing and a lot of patients. The Drug Wars missions which involves Lopez and two others going out and shooting thugs, and stealing their smack. The only true stand out side missions in my opinion are the triathlons, where players jump from a helicopter, down into a boat, race to a beach, get in cars and race to the finish line. All pretty exciting I think, and well fitting for the action driven narrative present in Ballad.
There is also a cool feature to allow you to manage one of Tony's clubs, standing around watching for any unruly behavior, and getting to kick people out, but doesn't really reward players with anything.
All in all, The Ballad of Gay Tony is solid. As an expansion, it's fantastic, as with LOATD, it provides a good ten or so hours more gameplay to GTAIV. I think more new features could had been added, such as inclusion of more thought out side missions and more things to keep the players engaged. The story missions themselves were fantastic, and some were engaging and action packed, but felt all to familiar for my liking at the end of the day. I really believe its the story of loyalty between Luis and Tony that really brings this expansion to life.