The Best DLC I've ever bought
Simply put, The Ballad of Gay Tony is Rockstar North's swan song for GTA4. All of the time and effort they've spent making this game has amounted to this masterpiece. The protagonist is Luis Lopez, an ex-felon who's turned his life around through the nightclub business. But of course, this is liberty city and trouble is never farther away than a simple snort of coke. In this case, Tony, Luis' boss and mentor, borrows money he can't pay back from the Ancelloties, the mob family Niko was fighting against in the main game. From there, Luis gets into more and more shit; it's what you'd expect from a gta game. The story is top-notch; it's tight and flows well. GTA 4 was about achieving the American Dream; TBOGT is what happens when you reach the big stage. A big part of the story are the characters, or more precisely, the npcs. Luis fits the GTA-character mold of people trying to find their place in life and find peace that may not even exist; the npcs expand the story. "Gay Tony" is the owner of the hottest nightclubs in Liberty City and is about to see his empire crumble due to the rough economy and his own mistakes. He's made it big, and he can't cope with losing it all. Going along the same line is Yusuf Amir. Yusuf is the son of a billionaire Arab; he has more money than he can spend, and trust me, does he spend. Unlike Tony, Yusuf's future is secure; however, he still isn't satisfied. He wants his father's approval, yet finds that no amount of money can buy that. Still, Yusuf stays ignorant, asking Luis to do ridiculous things, like STEALING A FUCKING TRAIN, to satisfy his father. TBOGT also provides a deeper insight to the side characters in Niko's story; let's just say the player gets a much deeper look on who Brucie really is. GTA has always been about the bonds the player feels with the characters; these bonds enhance the story.
On top of the story, TBOGT has superb gameplay. It seems obvious that Rockstar took fans' whinings for a more sandbox experience to heart. Now, Luis will have a vast selection of tools of complete destruction. Of the new weapons, the most fun are sticky bombs and the MG, a gun with a clip of 200 bullets. The helicopters have completely revamped; you can finally get a real attack chopper in the Buzzard, a rocket-firing, gold-plated beat. In addition, you get a NOOSE tank. It's kind of a hybrid hummer that doesn't stop for shit. Literally. Traffic is no longer a problem; the NOOSE tank rides a wave of cars. If you're bored, start firing rockets and stare at the fireballs. Furthermore, Rockstar has revamped the side missions; you actually want to play all of them. A pretty fun one is cage fighting. You are in a cage, boxing/kicking as many dudes as you can before you die. I really liked the fact that Rockstar put some thought into this. If you want, you can place bets on dudes fighting and even take a dive. It's a nice, albeit small touch. But the true side missions that will take most of your time are base jumps. Base jumping plays a huge role in the game. There are a lot of missions that require you get in a chopper, fly to a place, and jump out with a parachute. You're pretty much gliding throughout the city and opens up a completely new method of travel. The side missions I mentioned require you to pass many obstacles; for example, in one case, you have to base jump from a tall building onto a moving boat. It's even harder than you think and hella fun.
The Ballad of Gay Tony takes about 8+ hours to finish if you just grind through the story missions. I took a bit longer because the side missions were too distracting. At the end of every story missioin, the game will grade your performance and give you a percentage grade. It's takes some effort to get above 80% and only diehards will 100% them. At the end of the story, you can go back and replay the missions; if you 80 and 100% all of the missions, you get a good chunk of points. But I feel I'm going to go back to The Ballad of Gay Tony not just for the achievements. This is a full product, and an absolute steal at 20 bucks. This might have been GOTY if MW2 didn't come out, but it's definitely the best DLC of this generation.
