GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

A year and a half from Grand Theft Auto IV's huge release, and expansion numero deux comes out for Xbox 360, downloadable or on an 'Episodes from Liberty City' disk. And despite the title and surface-level looks at the game, it's not just about nightclubs and dripping homosexuality. In this you'll be getting not just more great GTA:IV action, but everything else they SHOULD have put in.

The story starts with a very clever intro that describes how the new protagonist Luis Lopez is not actually someone new; but someone you've been staring at the whole time. He was not just a bystander at the Liberty Bank robbery as the opening cutscene directly shows, but the man in white who ambushes the Museum of History-Jewish Mafia diamonds deal, and the one accompanying Gay Tony when Gracie is handed back. Accompanying Gay Tony is, not surprisingly, what you are doing for most of the game as you are his assistant manager - and NOTHING MORE as it never fails to emphasise - in his nightclub businesses, however his drug addiction and dangerous friends lead him down a dangerous blood-fueled path that you have no choice but to follow him through. Make no mistake as I do not understate 'blood-fueled' path; there are around ten new weapons to add to the armoury including a M249 light machine gun, a .50 calibre sniper rifle and a grenade launcher, brutally over-the-top vehicles with the golden Little Bird military helicopter mainly in mind (not so much the frankly disappointing APC) and some satirically silly yet exhilarating missions which often make you laugh as much as your heart pound. 

So while the storyline and general missions are definitely set for a whole lot of city-rampaging fun, Rockstar have kindly thrown into the melting-pot a lot of extra things which will both please older GTA fans and take the action up a notch. For instance, you may remember in GTA:IV that the fabled Infernus or, as it is meant to be, Lamborghini, will almost never be seen out of multiplayer. It is given to you by Bernie as a gift, but should you lose it, it's likely to be lost for the rest of the game. Well as if as a reward to shelling out 1600msp on the Ballad, Rockstar have kindly given players the ability to find a growling supercar roaming the streets a lot more frequently, and you're almost certain to find an Infernus in particular from 5 minutes searching in the right areas. In addition to this, there are two new supercars up for grabs, an Aston Martin Vanquish (though very similar to the DB9 in the original game) and a Bullet GT making a comeback from previous GTAs. However don't just expect new cars, as the highlight of 'awesome extras' is undoubtedly the parachute, used to make a lot of adrenaline-pumped missions as well as Base Jumping side missions and some brilliantly ridiculous messing around. 

While the character of Luis could have been improved and given depth of Niko Bellic standard, this has to be one of the only small areas in which the Ballad falters. Rockstar have made mistakes and success in many of their previous games, but it seems in this 10-hour-or-so story they've encapsulated everything they do well. I would strongly recommend any owner of Grand Theft Auto IV to purchase this as soon as possible, as this is arguably the 'true' experience. Easily worth the 1600msp or the money paid for the disk, and definitely one of the best things on the Marketplace. 10/10.