The Ballad of Gay Tony, with a namesake that caused enough buzz on its own, is the closing point in the large story arc spanning GTA IV and its two episodes.  Gamers are given a chance to explore the nightlife and flamboyant nature of Liberty City as they take on the role of Luis Lopez.  Luis, while definitely not as iconic or memorable as Niko Bellic, is the likable right-hand man of Gay Tony.  Tony is the owner of several night clubs in Liberty City, and Luis is dedicated to getting him out of awful situations.  What a friend.

As far as stories go, I honestly think TBoGT is the weakest of the three in GTA IV’s series.  Don’t assume that it’s a bad story by my stating that, it’s actually just an okay story.  It just so happens that the two entries that came before it were better.  Essentially, Tony is over his head in debt because he called for help from two different creditors… the unlawful kind.  Each owns Tony, and therefore, as Luis, players scramble to get the night club owner free and clear of foes.  Too bad Tony and his drug loving ways are too much to make this possible.

The circumstances that put you in situations where you’ll need to hijack a helicopter and sink a yacht are a bit forgettable.  But this is a game that relies less on its plot points and more on the characters it delivers.  And that’s where TBoGT succeeds most in my book; the characters here are my favorite to-date.  Sure, Luis’ slinging friends from before the time he was locked up didn’t really do much for me, but Tony himself is almost worth the price of admission.  Rockstar did well to make Tony a gay man, it provided a level of trust to his and Luis’ relationship.  It forced sort of an odd situation where mobsters would make gay jokes giving you more incentive to shoot them directly in the head piece.  The homosexuality of the man I struggled to protect actually worked towards making me dislike those that made fun of him more and more towards the end of the game.  Bet that doesn’t make the nightly news.

Aside from Tony, the side characters range from solid to flat-out great.  Yusuf Amir, the Arab man who has everything but still wants to steal more, came off originally as being a bit to over-the-top for my liking.  Two hours after meeting him, and his solid gold Uzi, I actually found him to be one of my favorite characters.  It’s like that for everyone here.  Rockstar made everyone so over-the-top that they are all almost lovable (or love-to-hateable).

Oh, and Brucie’s back and I like him much better the way he’s portrayed in TBoGT.