GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Courtesy of Jeux-Video
I am curious to see what Rockstar does with GTA V. I say this because the entire time that I was playing TBOGT, I found myself getting really frustrated with the combat mechanics. Don’t get me wrong, GTA IV is an amazing game consisting of a huge open world with such attention to detail that I can’t even begin to list them. TBOGT, like its predecessors, features very interesting and complex characters, some of which who are very entertaining to listen to considering their colorful narrative. However, this feeling of familiarity in TBOGT falls short of making up for the terrible combat system.
I think my frustration with the combat system derives from my recent experience with Uncharted 2. Being that these two games are similar in the sense that they are both 3rd person shooters, I automatically (but unconsciously) began to compare the two as soon as I hopped on TBOGT. I began to see just how clunky and constricted the combat system felt in TBOGT and I found myself putting down my controller much earlier than I normally would’ve with a GTA game—I also found myself not picking it back up as often. The entire story of TBOGT only takes about 5-6 hours to complete, but it took me about two weeks to do so.
Courtesy of Games Radar
What did keep my attention throughout the game were the intense missions that it threw at me. TBOGT does a good job of keeping you entertained with ridiculous missions that keep you on the edge of your seat. Some of these missions are really hard and require a few playthroughs to really get a hang of them. Rockstar has taken the initiative to minimize, if not eliminate, the friend factor that plagued the original GTA IV. This has made transition from one mission to another, or just cruising around Liberty City, much less annoying and stressful by taking away the feeling of obligation to hang out with your acquaintances.
Courtesy of Modmygta
As stated before, Rockstar once again succeeds at implementing probably the best narrative/dialogue you’ll find in any video game series. When you get worn out on the story missions, TBOGT keeps you busy with its array of mini-games, including: skydiving, fight clubs, club management, dancing, and drug runs. I found all of these fun in their own ways, each one of them worth checking out at least once. The game’s soundtrack has also improved, adding some new contemporary music to the radio playlists to accompany the new vehicles that Rockstar has scattered throughout Liberty City. Once you beat the game, you have the option to go back and play through the missions again in hopes of meeting certain in-mission requirements such as Player Damage or time restrictions. All-in-all TBOGT is worth checking out—don’t expect anything too extravagant or different from what you’re used to, but if you’re a GTA fan then you’ll thoroughly enjoy this addition to the series.
