Last week, Rockstar visited our UK and US offices to show us the latest instalment of GTA IV's Xbox 360 exclusive DLC - The Ballad Of Gay Tony. Unusually for a game demo, most of the GamesRadar team were able to get substantial hands-on time, and by the end of the day we all had something to say about the new theme, style, weapons, vehicles and altogether more 'San Andreas-y' feeling missions.
For the uninitiated, Ballad focuses on a new protagonist, Luis Lopez, bodyguard and business partner to nightclub baron “Gay” Tony Prince. As the richest of GTA IV’s three protagonists, Luis has access to better cars and better guns than Niko or Johnny, including Belgian P-90 assault rifles, C4 sticky bombs and rapid-fire auto-shotguns that fire explosive rounds. He also has more activities available to him, including a dancing minigame, randomly generated side missions at his club, BASE jumping from an assortment of buildings and the ability to replay any completed missions.
What we saw during our international hands-on was a thorough introduction to some of Ballad’s new characters, weapons and acitivities, as well as three missions. The first, “Dropping In,” was a showcase for the episode’s new parachuting and skydiving action, as Luis dropped into the penthouse offices of the local hockey team. He then murdered the owner and his bodyguards, all the while keeping in touch with his new boss Timur (actually a henchman for GTA IV heavy Bulgarin) via a Bluetooth headset, before leaping out a window and floating safely down to the back of a moving flatbed truck.
The next two missions introduced us to Yusuf Amir, who GTA IV fans might remember as the developer from Dubai that Playboy X was trying to suck up to. First up was “For the Man Who Has Everything,” which involved Luis inching his way along the top of a moving subway train, ducking overpasses and police choppers, all so he could decouple the lead car and enable Yusuf to steal it by helicopter. Next was “Sexy Time,” which required Luis to steal aboard a gigantic yacht, jack an experimental helicopter and then sink the enormous luxury boat before its occupants could shoot him down.
What we saw during our international hands-on was a thorough introduction to some of Ballad’s new characters, weapons and acitivities, as well as three missions. The first, “Dropping In,” was a showcase for the episode’s new parachuting and skydiving action, as Luis dropped into the penthouse offices of the local hockey team. He then murdered the owner and his bodyguards, all the while keeping in touch with his new boss Timur (actually a henchman for GTA IV heavy Bulgarin) via a Bluetooth headset, before leaping out a window and floating safely down to the back of a moving flatbed truck.
The next two missions introduced us to Yusuf Amir, who GTA IV fans might remember as the developer from Dubai that Playboy X was trying to suck up to. First up was “For the Man Who Has Everything,” which involved Luis inching his way along the top of a moving subway train, ducking overpasses and police choppers, all so he could decouple the lead car and enable Yusuf to steal it by helicopter. Next was “Sexy Time,” which required Luis to steal aboard a gigantic yacht, jack an experimental helicopter and then sink the enormous luxury boat before its occupants could shoot him down.
So, that's what we've played of The Ballad of Gay Tony so far. What did we think? Rather than single out one writer to write up his thoughts, we thought we'd give everyone a shout - that's the venerable Mikel Reparaz from our US office and Dave Meikleham, Dave Houghton, Matt Cundy and Nathan Irvine from the UK. We've set up the preview as a question and answer arrangement with all the editors giving their spin on six talking points. If you want any more info, send them a PM, drop us a line on Twitter or leave a message in the comments.
What do you think of the new storyline and theme?
"I’m actually really excited by it. Just getting to see another side of GTA IV’s story is interesting to me at this point, but I like that they’ve taken it in a more lighthearted, colorful direction, because The Lost and Damned’s grain filter gave the proceedings a more depressing, joyless feel than I think Rockstar intended. Everything’s big and loud and colorful and explosive." Mikel Reparaz
"I really like that Rockstar is using Luis’ position in the centre of the hedonistic and affluent club world as an excuse to go screaming-mad-bonkers with the gameplay and mission design. No longer do we start as a lowly crime-loving pauper scrabbling around for peashooter and cheeseknives." Dave Houghton
"I really like that Rockstar is using Luis’ position in the centre of the hedonistic and affluent club world as an excuse to go screaming-mad-bonkers with the gameplay and mission design. No longer do we start as a lowly crime-loving pauper scrabbling around for peashooter and cheeseknives." Dave Houghton
"The idea of focusing on Liberty City’s gay scene is interesting. I just hope they don’t treat it with the series’ usual broad-brush stereotyping - one Florian Kravich was enough, ta very much." Dave Meikleham
"The theme and storyline are spot on. They hark back to the colourful and comical world of Vice City and the amount of things to do (base-jumping) in San Andreas." Nathan Irvine
"I'm never massively fussed about storyline. As long as I get to do plenty of stupid crazy shit along the way in a GTA game, that's me happy. And Ballad of Gay Tony looks like it'll keep me happy." Matt Cundy
Is Luis Lopez a good choice as lead role?
"Yeah, he strikes me as an interesting guy. At first I was leery about playing as a character who’s at the beck and call of a single boss, but if you think about it, having to protect Tony and run missions for him probably won’t be all that different from Niko’s relationship with Roman." (MR)
"So far I have no reason to think that Luis is a bad choice, but I’ve seen nowhere near enough of his character to decide whether I really like the guy or not. At the moment he’s just another gritty, put-upon GTA anti-hero, but at the moment I’m happy to believe Rockstar will make him more interesting than that. Let’s hope it does." (DH)
"The theme and storyline are spot on. They hark back to the colourful and comical world of Vice City and the amount of things to do (base-jumping) in San Andreas." Nathan Irvine
"I'm never massively fussed about storyline. As long as I get to do plenty of stupid crazy shit along the way in a GTA game, that's me happy. And Ballad of Gay Tony looks like it'll keep me happy." Matt Cundy
Is Luis Lopez a good choice as lead role?
"Yeah, he strikes me as an interesting guy. At first I was leery about playing as a character who’s at the beck and call of a single boss, but if you think about it, having to protect Tony and run missions for him probably won’t be all that different from Niko’s relationship with Roman." (MR)
"So far I have no reason to think that Luis is a bad choice, but I’ve seen nowhere near enough of his character to decide whether I really like the guy or not. At the moment he’s just another gritty, put-upon GTA anti-hero, but at the moment I’m happy to believe Rockstar will make him more interesting than that. Let’s hope it does." (DH)
"The only GTA lead I’ve ever really taken to was Tommy Vercetti. To be honest, I’m fed up with playing supposedly conflicted characters, trying to go on the straight and narrow that have an aversion to killing, who then go on to garrotte more people than Genghis Khan. Luis’ story looks like it might be set in this mould, which would leave me a bit cold." (DM)
"Not particularly. We’ve only seen a glimpse into what makes the guy tick, but he's a carbon-copy of Rockstar’s previous leads. Tough? Check. Shady past? Check. Torn between doing right and wrong? Check. Will kill indiscriminately either way? Check. Rockstar may have missed a trick by not making Gay Tony the lead. It would’ve been interesting playing as a gay man who'd rather swing a handbag than a baseball bat." (NI)
"Rockstar has gone to the trouble of giving the interface a completely fabulous makeover and the trailers suggested a dazzling neon sparkly disco-ball vibe. So I didn't get why I was playing as such a disappointingly not fabulous lead. Lopez looks like he would be at home in San Andreas. But here? He just doesn't feel like he fits the glitz." (MC)
What did you think of the new OTT weapons and vehicles?
"The weapons are fantastic, especially the auto-shotgun with its explosive shells. At the beginning of my hands-on time, they gave me a minute to just play around with the guns, and the devastation I was able to wreak on the cops was breathtaking." (MR)
"I judge the fun factor of video game hardware on my patented Scale of Giggle. If a gun makes me smile, I like it. If it makes me titter, it’s a winner. Gay Tony’s cranked-up death-kit took me from 0 - demented cackle in about 1.5 seconds flat." (DH)
"The new shotgun, which packs bus-bashing, copter-crashing explosive shells, is amazing. I kept deliberately failing missions simply because I couldn’t resist shooting the fuzz in the face. The new helicopter seems like a hoot, too, and was much easier to manoeuvre than GTA IV’s unruly whirlybirds." (DM)
"GTA’s going out with a bang in this one and the new assault shotgun and sticky grenades are there to encourage carnage in the most entertaining way possible." (NI)
"The exploding shotgun shells bring a new meaning to devastation. You want carnage? Holy shit kickers. This is two barrels of super-sized wrecking ball Armageddon carnage. If you've got a bad-tempered elephant, this is the gun that can take it down. Oh, and Sticky grenades + pedestrians = GOOD TIMES." (MC)
"The exploding shotgun shells bring a new meaning to devastation. You want carnage? Holy shit kickers. This is two barrels of super-sized wrecking ball Armageddon carnage. If you've got a bad-tempered elephant, this is the gun that can take it down. Oh, and Sticky grenades + pedestrians = GOOD TIMES." (MC)
Which bit of the hands-on demo impressed you most?
"It’s a toss-up between the skydiving, which was a lot of fun and which I proved to be really good at, and the mission where you’re riding on top of a subway so that Yusuf can steal one of the cars.
"I liked the sense of speed and the wind drag slowing Luis down, and I liked that he occasionally had to flatten himself against the car when a tunnel came along. But mostly I liked tearing attack choppers apart with the explosive auto-shotgun. That was pretty badass." (MR)
"A stratospherically high parachute mission gave me the most spectacular view of Liberty City I've enjoyed yet. The sheer scale of Liberty City is *still* utterly mind blowing. I'm glad the parachute's back." (MC)
"It’s a toss-up between the skydiving, which was a lot of fun and which I proved to be really good at, and the mission where you’re riding on top of a subway so that Yusuf can steal one of the cars.
"I liked the sense of speed and the wind drag slowing Luis down, and I liked that he occasionally had to flatten himself against the car when a tunnel came along. But mostly I liked tearing attack choppers apart with the explosive auto-shotgun. That was pretty badass." (MR)
"A stratospherically high parachute mission gave me the most spectacular view of Liberty City I've enjoyed yet. The sheer scale of Liberty City is *still* utterly mind blowing. I'm glad the parachute's back." (MC)
"The sky-diving infiltration mission really brought home to me how much of a scaled-up, San-Andreas-crazy feel Rockstar seems to be bringing to Gay Tony. Parachuting to the top of a skyscraper from not far below cloud level before butter-knifing down through it with a P90 has exactly the right balance of brutality and ludicrous carnival decadence." (DH)
"The epic fight atop the train carriage that the crazy Yusuf character wants to steal. Blowing SWAT team choppers out of the sky with the new shotgun is bags of fun." (NI)
How does it stack up against the original game and Lost and The Damned?
"At its best, GTA has always been about playing with toys we’d never be able to touch in real life, and that’s what the chunk of Ballad I played through delivered. In terms of gameplay, I like that there’s more stuff to do, even if certain things - like the dancing minigame - are likely going to be throwaway asides I’ll probably try once and then forget about.
"Otherwise, what we’ve seen so far seems to be in line with the last two installments in terms of mission complexity and scope - although I’ll withhold judgment until I’ve had a chance to play through more." (MR)
"I’m definitely more excited about it than I was about LatD. It keeps the grit and texture of GTA IV, but blends it with so much gleefully exaggerated lunacy as to feel almost like a GTA theme park ride." (DH)
"The epic fight atop the train carriage that the crazy Yusuf character wants to steal. Blowing SWAT team choppers out of the sky with the new shotgun is bags of fun." (NI)
How does it stack up against the original game and Lost and The Damned?
"At its best, GTA has always been about playing with toys we’d never be able to touch in real life, and that’s what the chunk of Ballad I played through delivered. In terms of gameplay, I like that there’s more stuff to do, even if certain things - like the dancing minigame - are likely going to be throwaway asides I’ll probably try once and then forget about.
"Otherwise, what we’ve seen so far seems to be in line with the last two installments in terms of mission complexity and scope - although I’ll withhold judgment until I’ve had a chance to play through more." (MR)
"I’m definitely more excited about it than I was about LatD. It keeps the grit and texture of GTA IV, but blends it with so much gleefully exaggerated lunacy as to feel almost like a GTA theme park ride." (DH)
"Again, a bit early too say. But the change in tone from angst-ridden bikers to a paranoia-filled jaunt of base-jumping, criminals caught in their kecks and flamboyant nightclubs seems more in keeping with the series’ previous sense of fun." (DM)
"More comedy, outrageous weapons and more variety of things to do in Liberty City equals a more unique experience than the last two." (NI)
"It looks every bit as incredible and feels every bit as playable as both previous Liberty City excursions. But, fundamentally, there's no drastic difference - it's still trademark GTA. Anyone that's interested knows exactly what that means by now." (MC)
Is it 'gay' enough?
"It’s kind of hard to tell from what we saw - I think the idea of an openly gay character playing a big role in the story is intriguing, if only because it’s venturing into territory that the game industry is still obviously uncomfortable with. I’m interested to see whether Rockstar uses Tony Prince’s apparent homosexuality as a humanizing character trait, or if they just play it for laughs." (MR)
"Admittedly we’re going to have to get further into the rampant glam of Gay Tony’s club realm before we can see just how glitzed-up this GTA is, but between the daylight, city-based missions and Luis’ dour persona, I felt like the only nod to the sparkly madness we were hoping for was the multi-coloured reskin of the options menu. I want eye-searing neon and flaming camp, goddamnit." (DH)
"More comedy, outrageous weapons and more variety of things to do in Liberty City equals a more unique experience than the last two." (NI)
"It looks every bit as incredible and feels every bit as playable as both previous Liberty City excursions. But, fundamentally, there's no drastic difference - it's still trademark GTA. Anyone that's interested knows exactly what that means by now." (MC)
Is it 'gay' enough?
"It’s kind of hard to tell from what we saw - I think the idea of an openly gay character playing a big role in the story is intriguing, if only because it’s venturing into territory that the game industry is still obviously uncomfortable with. I’m interested to see whether Rockstar uses Tony Prince’s apparent homosexuality as a humanizing character trait, or if they just play it for laughs." (MR)
"Admittedly we’re going to have to get further into the rampant glam of Gay Tony’s club realm before we can see just how glitzed-up this GTA is, but between the daylight, city-based missions and Luis’ dour persona, I felt like the only nod to the sparkly madness we were hoping for was the multi-coloured reskin of the options menu. I want eye-searing neon and flaming camp, goddamnit." (DH)
"Well, the menus are a bit pink. Does that count as gay? To be honest, it doesn’t really matter. Look at GTA IV, everyone bangs on about how amazingly gritty it was. But, last time I checked, bombing around in a bright orange sports car, while wearing a thousand buck suit and listening to 80s rock wasn’t exactly the definition of grit." (DM)
"The neon gradients, soft sparkles and liberal use of pink are all well and good, but that promise of 'flamboyant playfulness' wasn't really bursting through in any of the demo's characters or scenarios. The Rockstar rep assured me that it would be more evident when playing from start to finish. And, in fairness, I didn't get to meet Gay Tony or check out his club, so... I think the logo and trailers filled my head with glittery thoughts and I was expecting a little more than pink mission markers." (MC)
The Ballad of Gay Tony will be available to buy on disc as one part of Episodes from Liberty City, which will also include the much celebrated first episode, The Lost and Damned. Episodes from Liberty City will be available in stores on October 29th, 2009 for $39.99/£34.99. You do not need to own a copy of the original GTAIV to play Episodes From Liberty City. The Ballad of Gay Tony will also be available separately as a download on October 29th, 2009 for 1600 Microsoft points.
"The neon gradients, soft sparkles and liberal use of pink are all well and good, but that promise of 'flamboyant playfulness' wasn't really bursting through in any of the demo's characters or scenarios. The Rockstar rep assured me that it would be more evident when playing from start to finish. And, in fairness, I didn't get to meet Gay Tony or check out his club, so... I think the logo and trailers filled my head with glittery thoughts and I was expecting a little more than pink mission markers." (MC)
The Ballad of Gay Tony will be available to buy on disc as one part of Episodes from Liberty City, which will also include the much celebrated first episode, The Lost and Damned. Episodes from Liberty City will be available in stores on October 29th, 2009 for $39.99/£34.99. You do not need to own a copy of the original GTAIV to play Episodes From Liberty City. The Ballad of Gay Tony will also be available separately as a download on October 29th, 2009 for 1600 Microsoft points.
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