With a name like GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony, the latest installment of Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 was bound to get the Daily Mail confused about what what it was railing against, and stir up all sorts of controversy. But is it actually any good? We’ve just had a play, so read on for our impressions.
We’ve seen GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony on video. We’ve swooped on a disco full of early details, but now we’ve had a go at GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony, and we can safely say it’s every bit as funny, addictive and camp as you could hope.
It’s still set in the GTA4 4 universe of course, but unlike the slightly too serious original and the Lost & Damned DLC released earlier this year, it doesn’t even try to be anything other than absurd. We played through a bunch of missions on GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony, and as you might have guessed, it’s got an awful lot in common with GTA Vice City and San Andreas.
GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony: new video outed
You play as Louis Lopez, a man at the top of Liberty City’s glamourous nightclub scene, and a business partner to glamour queen, Gay Tony. He’s caught up with a bunch of gangsters in a business deal gone awry, and it’s your job to keep them off his back.
The first mission we were shown started off in style, with Lopez parachuting out of a helicopter (You can fly higher than ever before) and onto the top of a skyscraper, before blasting your way through into a board room and shooting your target through the head. And er, a window. Firefights go down as standard, but the basejumping element brings back a lot of nostalgia for anyone who played San Andreas and tried to guide CJ down in to the desert, and you can expect lots more of this nonsense: Rockstar says that money is rarely in Lopez’s world, so you’ll never be strapped for cash (or a ‘chute).
GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony: five ways it rocks!
As if to prove a point, the next mission we played saw us stealing a subway train and carrying it off by helicopter, in a ridiculous set up that clearly spoofs the movie Swordfish. Again, as we were climbing along the top of the train cars, ducking under bridges and shooting police choppers, the rail gun element felt like something straight out of a GTA 3 series game. That’s no bad thing: from the very start of this mish we had a big grin on our face, thanks to the gangster banter Rockstar’s scripted in, and the brilliant climax with the train going airborne is a fantastic finish to a task.
The third mission we played, Going Deep, gave us the chance to test out GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony’s new weapon set, including sticky bomb – a remote mine you can slap on just about anything. Holed up in a car park, you have to dispatch armoured truck loads of corrupt SWAT cops, and the sticky bombs are the way to go. We set up a chain of them, and a press of the D-pad set them off one by one, causing without a doubt the biggest explosion we’ve ever seen in a GTA game.
Just the name of the final mission we tried out summed up the silliness Rockstar’s sloshed all over GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony. Called “Sexy Time”, the task sees you stealing a helicopter for the most stereoyped Arabian gangster (Nailed, right down to the awful shell suit) you could imagine, then blowing up a yacht full of shady, Eastern European “financiers” and hunting them down on speed boats (Nod to Vice City right there) with your chopper.
Why’s it called Sexy Time? No particular reason, but it’s funny, which just about sums up GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony. None of the missions we played followed any sort of logic, but when you’re skydiving and stealing trains, what does it matter? Rockstar’s injected a healthy dose of nonsense in to GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony, and it’s all the better for it.
Want to find out more about GTA 4 Ballad of Gay Tony? Read about the new secrets, weapons and gameplay modes in our feature right here!
Out 29 October | £TBC | Rockstar
