When Microsoft paid close to 50 million bucks to secure the rights to the episodic content for GTA IV, many thought it was a cheap way to corner the market for one of the greatest games of this or any generation. Many of those naysayers were PS3 owners as they were left out of the DLC party. I grew up on GTA on the PS2 and its controller for this series, however, having the option to get these episodes on the 360 made my decision an easy one. The Lost and the Damned DLC was terrific, but how does Gay Tony fare? Let’s just say that this rainbow is as bright as ever.

The Ballad of Gay Tony follows the story of a non-playable character Tony Prince, who owns the biggest clubs in the city. Your journey is as his partner/bodyguard/assistant Luis Lopez. Since Tony owes money all over town to the wrong people and is always getting involved in shady business deals, he often counts on Tony to help out. This help will involve you murdering hundreds of people, flying attack helicopters, driving tanks, throwing dynamite, and whatever else comes down the pike. The weapons have been upgraded in both scope and power. One of the earliest missions has you destroying a yacht with an attack chopper. This is the kind of pace you can expect in this episode. You can also expect the usual meeting of both new and old characters, some of which pop up from the main and other episode’s storylines.

GTA has done it all mission wise and you may feel that although some of the tasks at hand have been done before, you are probably right. Simple missions as finding and killing someone, retrieving drugs or money, or kill and chase type missions might feel old. This is akin to when people criticize The Simpsons. What is left to do when you have done it all?  Some of the air to ground missions are downright frustrating, as was the aforementioned chopper mission above. The multiplayer is basically unchanged with newer weapons added with fewer playlists.

The big question here is, should I buy this? Short answer, yes. It is a great way to keep the GTA experience going and it is available standalone game as Episodes from Liberty City. You do not need to own GTA IV to play this. Questions are answered, things are blown up, people get laid in nightclub bathrooms, this is GTA in all its glory. Missions are now timed and graded. There are drug wars to partake in as well as base jumping if you want to roam around the city. The price of both episodes is $39.99, or you can download The Ballad of Gay Tony for $19.99. You get at least a 20 hour single player game (both episodes around 10 hr each), side missions, an online multiplayer, and a free roaming city to explore at your own will. There are full priced games that offer much less than this. I’m sad to see GTA IV finally coming to an end, but if there ever was a way to write the final chapter in a great, great canon of events, this is it.

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]