XBox 360 Review: GTAIV : The Ballad of Gay Tony

These last few months of 2009 sure have resulted a crowded marketplace for games, with many “must-have” titles competing to be at the top of your holiday wish lists. So should the recently released second expansion chapter of Grand Theft Auto IV, “The Ballad of Gay Tony,” make your list? With all the fun that it presents, we believe so. Die-hard GTA fans already have this title and probably have played through it twice. But if you’re on the fence, the bottom line is that Rockstar doesn’t disappoint on this go-round.

With the graphics and gameplay unchanged, the focus is on introducing the gamer to yet another perspective of the grimy underbelly of Liberty City. You play the entire game as Luis Lopez, a former drug dealer who is now the bodyguard and business partner of Anthony “Gay Tony” Prince. Tony owns two nightclubs, Maisonette 9 and Hercules, where you are also a manager. Tony gets himself involved with the wrong people and, of course, it’s your job to get him out of the mess he created. The story gently intertwines itself with the original game and first expansion pack “The Lost and Damned”, but those aren’t prerequisites. But, of course, you’re only going to get some of the jokes and humor if you’ve walked the streets of Liberty City as Niko Bellic.

Similar to all GTA games, you meet a plethora of characters, most of the them being hilarious oddballs that will give you jobs and missions to compete. However, Rockstar did a good job making sure this wasn’t just another protagonist running through the same tiring set of repetitive missions. This time around, be prepared to take to the skies; there is a heavy emphasis on helicopter based missions. On top of that, they also brought back the parachuting capabilities of GTA San Andreas. I’m not going to say that there aren’t any run-of-the-mill missions, but there are a handful that are simply exhilarating, making you smile and chuckle involuntarily.

Also new to the game are a number of mini-games, though they seem to be hit or miss. From managing the club’s security to going to a driving range for some golf practice to a new dancing mini-game, these activities are probably worth only one play-through. Another mini-game is an underground cage-fighting tournament, where you can throw down with local hooligans, UFC style. Despite the fact that hand-to-hand combat is always the weakest point of any GTA title, this mode seems to still be both fun and challenging.

What I found to be the most fun is the new BASE jumping mode. There are 15 different BASE jumping locations scattered throughout the city all with varying levels of difficulty. You either have to land in a target, land on a moving vehicle or pass through various mid-air checkpoints after you’re dropped from a helicopter. This mode is just tons of fun - I wish there were more jumps to complete than the 15.

Also new to the 360 is the ability to repeat missions, a feature that was introduced in Nintendo DS exclusive GTA:Chinatown Wars. Anytime after you complete a mission, you can replay it by bringing up a menu on the in-game cell phone. Even more, each mission has a completion percentage, which corresponds to a set of mission requirements. For example, there are missions that you have to completed in a certain amount of time or with a specified number of headshots. It’s completely optional, but those that can’t get enough of the game will find that getting 100% completion of some of these missions very challenging.

TBOGT lets you plunge yourself in the world of online multiplayer, which features updates to the popular Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Races and GTA Races modes of the main game. The online mode is fun for a spell, but don’t expect it to have the longevity of a Call of Duty or Halo title; there just aren’t enough people online and the fun doesn’t last long.

Again, since this is a plug-in to the original game, there are no updates to the graphics. And speaking of the visuals, they’re starting to look a little dated (the original game came out in April of 2008) when compared to other games out there. But none of us have ever played GTA for graphics, so it’s easier to be forgiving here.

Start to finish, you’ll get a good 5-6 hours out of this game. If achievements are your thing, getting the full 250 gamerscore here will require a much more significant commitment. Two of the achievements center around finishing all the missions with a high completion percentage, which isn’t a trivial task. Be prepared to slam and throw your controller in every way imaginable.

Overall, Rockstar succeeds at coming out with a compelling, fresh story that will have you engrossed as it unfolds. And after the credits roll, there’s much more mayhem to be had in Liberty City. TBOGT is available via XBox Live or in a retail combo pack with “The Lost and Damned”.