Grand Theft Auto IV‘s storyline comes to a close with Rockstar North’s latest expansion, Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. The successor to February 2009’s The Lost and Damned, BoGT provides the third and final perspective on the original game’s missions involving stolen diamonds and Gracie’s kidnapping.

My experience leading up to playing The Ballad of Gay Tony wasn’t exactly encouraging. The opinions I heard were negative and I didn’t exactly consider another romp through the same city all that interesting. Much to my surprise, my time with the game was ultimately one of my favorite experiences with a Grand Theft Auto title.

Veterans of the GTA series will immediately notice the social status of the main character, Luis Lopez, is significantly different from those of previous titles. Luis is a successful man, earning a comfortable wage serving his business partner, Tony Prince, by managing several nightclubs throughout Liberty City. Keen-minded GTA IV fans will recognize Luis from the diamond exchange scene, Gracie’s rescue, and as a hostage in the popular bank heist mission that happens to kick off BoGT’s story mode.

Luis’ luck seems to run a bit dry immediately following the stick-up. His mother’s financial issues and persistent childhood friends persuade Luis to enter the shadier side of life, taking up drug dealing and mercenary contracts to get over the hump and help Tony’s struggling clubs. Along the way Luis has run-ins with several characters from Grand Theft Auto IV, including Niko, Brucie, and Roman.

Upon completing the first mission in BoGT you’re presented with a series-first post mission report, detailing the designer’s expectation for finishing a mission. Variables within this screen include a time completion goal, percentage of damage taken, number of headshots, etc. It’s obviously included for those who feel inclined to revisit previous missions (another addition to The Ballad of Gay Tony­). However, the whole purpose of individual assignments in a GTA game is to progress the story, so they don’t yield much incentive to attract a second play through. I found the post mission report thoroughly worthless and it became just an extra button press in order to continue my game.

Not much else has changed within Liberty City itself since The Lost and Damned, but The Ballad of Gay Tony does provide numerous new side missions to complete. Performing sky diving feats is the most notable addition, but my new favorite pastimes are the triathlon competitions. Beginning with a helicopter drop, you’re tasked with landing near (or on) a boat, racing other characters to a specified beach, then ditching the watercraft in favor of high-powered sports cars and completing the race on the road. Fans of GTA IV’s race modes will get a kick out of these exercises.

For those with more destructive tastes, BoGT dishes out a few more toys to play with. New attack helicopters and APC tanks are fully usable and prominent within the storyline, as well as some new weapons. You’ll immediately be given a very useful P90 sub-machine gun and later a shotgun wielding explosive rounds. While none of these change the core game play of GTA IV, they certainly make rampaging around the city more interesting.

I was a big fan of GTA IV and the sheer technical achievement that was Liberty City. Much to my dismay, my return trip wasn’t as impressive and I discovered the game’s version of the RAGE engine is aging quickly. While Liberty City is still the most polished open world in video gaming, texture pop-in and the speed in which it loads civilians and cars is becoming more noticeable. A cool new graphical effect I did enjoy was the incorporation of a planned explosion system, which initiates within cut scenes and looks very impressive without dropping the frame rate. It doesn’t add much technical glamour to the game, however, so don’t expect a huge visual improvement from previous GTA IV titles.

Fans of GTA’s humor will have a lot to laugh about in The Ballad of Gay Tony. The TV stations were much more interesting  and worthwhile to watch, new radio ads were spot-on, and character dialogue was improved from previous games. “Princess Robot Bubblegum” shouldn’t be missed, even if you find it on YouTube.

Speaking of the radio stations within Liberty City, a retail edition exclusive is Vice City FM with DJ Fernando Martinez. I kept this station on for the majority of my time with BoGT and it helped push the Vice City vibe the game obsessed over. From the nightclub scenes, numerous references within the story, and inclusion of the aforementioned Vice City FM, The Ballad of Gay Tony drives an obvious hint that yes, another Vice City game is probably going to happen. I can only imagine what the city looks like after its glory years of the 1980’s should Rockstar keep the modern setting of GTA IV.

I understand a lot of gamers didn’t like GTA IV; its departure from the wacky, humorous storylines didn’t sit well with some. If you’re one of these people, I implore you to give The Ballad of Gay Tony a shot. The game reclaims much of its crazy, over-the-top heritage and squeezes out the best Liberty City has left to offer.

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Things We Liked: Addition of new challenges. Cool weapons and vehicles to play with. Character cameos are clever. Ties up GTA IV’s story. Improved TV and radio stations. Constantly hints about another Vice City (Yay!).

Things We Disliked: Liberty City is aging quickly. Technical aspects aren’t as impressive as they were early last year. Annoying post mission reports. Constantly hints about another Vice City (we get it already!).

Target Audience: Grand Theft Auto fans. Thrill-seekers alienated by the realistic approach to GTA IV. Open-world fans. Fans of beating the crap out of homophobic mobsters.

(Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony – Developer/Publisher: Rockstar Games. Distributor: Take-Two Interactive. Available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – Xbox 360 version reviewed. New to CFD!’s reviews? Read our explanation here.)