Gay Tony is the best thing Rockstar has done with Grand Theft Auto IV, without question in my mind. Having beat it and done most of the side stuff, I feel like I can finally elucidate exactly why I enjoyed it so much.
 

1. 

   Luis Lopez is the most unapologetic protagonist yet. Where Niko stretched my limits when he would complain about killing right before he went on a murderous rampage, Luis simply doesn't care. Johnny suffered from the same sort of reluctant hero syndrome as Niko, although to a lesser degree. Luis, when being told he is sensitive, responds: "Not really bro, I like killing people for money". It's refreshing to have such honestly from a protagonist- Luis' views are more aligned with what the player wants to do.
2. No slogging through slow beginning parts before you get to the good stuff. I enjoyed GTA IV's slow burn at the beginning as much as anyone, but Gay Tony does itself a favor by excising that fat and cutting straight to the meat. Early on you'll steal a military-grade helicopter from an arms dealer's pleasure yacht, and things only get more intense from there.
3. It finds a unique niche within Liberty City. While obviously Gay Tony still deals with crime in the same way the other two Liberty City stories did, the focus on nightclubs and the downtown area really helps differentiate it. Partying in Tony's nightclubs is unlike anything else available in GTA IV.

4. 

   The satire and the seriousness are more evenly balanced. GTA has always been an uneasy mixture between a satire of America (ignoring London) and a serious portrayal of the urban crime environment. GTA IV slid way down towards being much more serious, as the guys at Rockstar flexed their storytelling muscles. I wasn't a huge fan myself, but some others were. This episode gives a bit more of the satire and takes itself a little less seriously, and I think that makes it vastly more enjoyable. Simply by having to support gameplay, GTA will never be able to tell a serious, realistic criminal story like The Wire or The Godfather, simply because huge cop-killing rampages simply don't happen in real life. It's nice to see Rockstar not try and have a bit more fun.
5. The missions are simply more creative. A lot of GTA IV's missions simply boiled down to going to point A, shooting some guys, chasing a getaway car to point B, killing those dudes, then losing the cops. Gay Tony does this a few times, but they are the exception rather than the rule here. From train heists to torturing pesky bloggers, Gay Tony mixes things up in a good way. Plus, you know... Base Jumping.

Gay Tony is the best thing Rockstar has done with Grand Theft Auto IV, without question in my mind. Having beat it and done most of the side stuff, I feel like I can finally elucidate exactly why I enjoyed it so much.
 

1. 

   Luis Lopez is the most unapologetic protagonist yet. Where Niko stretched my limits when he would complain about killing right before he went on a murderous rampage, Luis simply doesn't care. Johnny suffered from the same sort of reluctant hero syndrome as Niko, although to a lesser degree. Luis, when being told he is sensitive, responds: "Not really bro, I like killing people for money". It's refreshing to have such honestly from a protagonist- Luis' views are more aligned with what the player wants to do.
2. No slogging through slow beginning parts before you get to the good stuff. I enjoyed GTA IV's slow burn at the beginning as much as anyone, but Gay Tony does itself a favor by excising that fat and cutting straight to the meat. Early on you'll steal a military-grade helicopter from an arms dealer's pleasure yacht, and things only get more intense from there.
3. It finds a unique niche within Liberty City. While obviously Gay Tony still deals with crime in the same way the other two Liberty City stories did, the focus on nightclubs and the downtown area really helps differentiate it. Partying in Tony's nightclubs is unlike anything else available in GTA IV.

4. 

   The satire and the seriousness are more evenly balanced. GTA has always been an uneasy mixture between a satire of America (ignoring London) and a serious portrayal of the urban crime environment. GTA IV slid way down towards being much more serious, as the guys at Rockstar flexed their storytelling muscles. I wasn't a huge fan myself, but some others were. This episode gives a bit more of the satire and takes itself a little less seriously, and I think that makes it vastly more enjoyable. Simply by having to support gameplay, GTA will never be able to tell a serious, realistic criminal story like The Wire or The Godfather, simply because huge cop-killing rampages simply don't happen in real life. It's nice to see Rockstar not try and have a bit more fun.
5. The missions are simply more creative. A lot of GTA IV's missions simply boiled down to going to point A, shooting some guys, chasing a getaway car to point B, killing those dudes, then losing the cops. Gay Tony does this a few times, but they are the exception rather than the rule here. From train heists to torturing pesky bloggers, Gay Tony mixes things up in a good way. Plus, you know... Base Jumping.

Torturing pesky bloggers, that seems pretty ridiculous. 

i agree, gay tony is certainly a lot more entertaining. It's a bit more Bad-Boys 2 instead of Taxi Driver.

As much as GTA IV pissed me off, I'm still intrigued with Episodes from Liberty City. I'm thinking hard, oh god!... my brain froze.

Sounds very Vice City.  Where GTA III's protagonist was a blank slate and CJ was a gangsta' with morals, Tommy Vercetti knew that he had to crack a few skulls in order to get what he wanted.
 
I still need to play though BoGT, as TLaD was an awesome expansion.  I really hope the next sequel doesn't have a single character focus that continues throughout the whole game.  All of the GTA games since III has done this and have problems keeping the plot consistently interesting.  They are always stuffed with filler storylines to extend the length of the game.  Having this episodic structure allows Rockstar North to tell more coherent stories that keeps the player genuinely intrigued throughout the whole game.

Nice write-up, Lies. I've downloaded Gay Tony but haven't gotten round to playing it yet (a couple of pretty hefty RPGs are taking up most of my game time), so thanks for keeping this blog pretty spoiler-free. Between this and a couple of other articles I've perused, it sounds like Rockstar have struck a pretty good balance with Gay Tony. This is great news for the San Andreas camp, who wanted more bat-shit craziness. I'm just hoping there's enough great storytelling in there to appease people like me who heaped praise upon GTAIV for its more serious attitude. Regardless, I'm sure I'll enjoy Gay Tony for what it is.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying Ballad of Gay Tony as well. That being said, even if Luis is unapologetic about his work, I still find him to be a sympathetic character. It's mostly because of the little things he does, especially around his family and friends, as they do and say things that sometimes really remind of people I've known personally over the years. I also like that Rockstar has found its balance between insanity and seriousness in this expansion. It feels like just the right chemistry for the series.

I agree with all points. This is by far the most palatable GTA to date. Too bad we had to sit through GTA4 and TLAD to get to it, but it is obviously the climax of this Liberty City saga.

I agree that TBoGT is the best of the bunch.  The gameplay has been refined with the mid-mission checkpoints and inventive objectives.  Yusuf Amir is up there with Brucie as one of the best GTA characters to date.  And, the new toys we get are fantastic.  The APC, Buzzard, and parachute are all making my random crime sprees much more entertaining.
 
Kudos to Rockstar--between this and TLaD, GTA IV will probably be my GoTY for both 2008 and 2009.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is definitely the my favorite GTA to date. I had so much fun playing it, and most reviewers seem to think it's much better than The Lost and Damned.
 @Brym said:

"Kudos to Rockstar--between this and TLaD, GTA IV will probably be my GoTY for both 2008 and 2009. "