As I write these words, the credits are rolling on Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. At this point, I figured I'd write up an analysis of the content similar to what I did with The Lost & Damned. However, after wrapping up the game in a little over a week of on-off playtime, I'm left feeling pretty indifferent about the whole thing, and I'm not sure it warrants such an analysis. Before the hate starts pouring in, I'm not saying the game is bad, not by any means. In some respects, it improves on areas that I wanted to see expanded upon in the main game and the first DLC pack. It's longer than The Lost and Damned by a good couple of hours, as well as boasting more interesting achievements and a more colourful supporting cast, the missions are more varied than the ones in Grand Theft Auto IV, it boasts a hell of a lot of content in the way of side-missions, and the new additions to the game's arsenal are a lot of fun to mess around with (especially the sticky bombs). It also does a pretty good job of tying up all the loose ends left over from the last two games. Yet, in spite of all these improvements, The Ballad of Gay Tony is (in my eyes) the weakest of the trinity by a significant margin.

As I write these words, the credits are rolling on Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. At this point, I figured I'd write up an analysis of the content similar to what I did with The Lost & Damned. However, after wrapping up the game in a little over a week of on-off playtime, I'm left feeling pretty indifferent about the whole thing, and I'm not sure it warrants such an analysis. Before the hate starts pouring in, I'm not saying the game is bad, not by any means. In some respects, it improves on areas that I wanted to see expanded upon in the main game and the first DLC pack. It's longer than The Lost and Damned by a good couple of hours, as well as boasting more interesting achievements and a more colourful supporting cast, the missions are more varied than the ones in Grand Theft Auto IV, it boasts a hell of a lot of content in the way of side-missions, and the new additions to the game's arsenal are a lot of fun to mess around with (especially the sticky bombs). It also does a pretty good job of tying up all the loose ends left over from the last two games. Yet, in spite of all these improvements, The Ballad of Gay Tony is (in my eyes) the weakest of the trinity by a significant margin.

Even if Luis isn't an interesting character in his own right, his relationsip with Tony is entertaining.  If we'd seen those two interact more, it would have been a better game.  I still enjoyed it though. 

For me this expansion is more a last opportunity for Rockstar to squeeze in all the toys that makes the world a bit more crazy. I wasn't particularly impressed with the Lost & Damned either but i was grateful for the opportunity to dive back into liberty city, at the very least giving me some new missions even if they werent held together particularly well. Armored cars and parachutes! New helicopters! Everybody knows that Sweep loves helicopters...

Well done. I too liked Vice City far, far more than San Andreas. 
I have The Lost and Damned, not going to get this though.

Nice blog, I still havent got to playing this yet, and i dont have a full expectation i will. I dont have much to say except i agree with your points on san andreas and enjoyed the read.

I really enjoyed your Blog. The games really do get gradually more detailed.