Sum and substance:

Thumbs up:

The new mini games are great, lots of variety in graphics and gameplay.

Thumbs down:

Controls of the chopper are not easy to use. Some of the missions are frustrating.

Inside the trunk:

Cost: 1600 Xbox live points
Genre: Action
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar North

Whiz kid speaks:

We have been fans of Grand Theft Auto series and there is something new in every game which we look forward too. Although GTA IV had some frustrating moments, all that has been taken care of in this installment and The Ballad of Gay Tony (TBOGT) is arguably now one of the best games of the GTA series.

In TBOGT you are Louis Lopez, a Dominican who is the body guard of Tony Price or Gay Tony. The latter is the owner of one of the biggest straight and gay bars around the town. You are a loyal servant to Gay Tony who takes his employer out of his current state of crisis. Gay Tony has been suffering from bad reputation and is also suffering from losses in business. The game features Liberty City’s glamorous night life, hot women, fast cars and mugging that we have known previous GTA titles to feature.

Your employer, Gay Tony, is a big man in the Liberty City, you get to visit his clubs and spend time around. Now there are mini games in this title and one of them feature in the club where you can woo women or drink all you want. The structure of the missions is pretty much the same and doesn’t take you too far away from GTA San Andreas, one of our all time favorite. The missions are sometimes annoying but not as frustrating as GTA IV, something that we will thank Rockstar for.

Aforementioned mini-games are something that we were quite fond of. At one point, there is Fight Club in which you have to defeat all the men, you either come out victorious or end up in hospital with all of your body seriously damaged. We also liked the base jumping (along with the music in the background) which was publicized a lot in this title.

Character development was something that is the key in all GTA titles and the suite in retained here too. There are three main characters, Gay Tony who is totally devastated, ruined and is constantly whining over his losses, you (Louis Lopez) who must do everything he can to take Gay Tony out of his miserable days and there is Yusif Amir, an Arab millionaire who loves gold and coke and wants to revamp the Liberty City. The voice over is done brilliantly by Omid Djalili, a British comedian.

This title gives us what we have seen from previous GTA titles but it is certainly now boring or monotonous. The graphics have been given touch ups and look a lot vibrant and bright as compared to GTA IV. The frame rate will dip a bit when there is lot of frantic action it doesn’t make the game unplayable.

Nitty gritty:

We thought GTA TBOGT is a very good title from Rockstar studios, get it for the brilliant mini games and for the exciting activities that you will get to do in the Liberty City. The developers are trying to bring back days of San Andreas after giving a so-so GTA IV.

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