To answer the first and most obvious question: No you do not play as Gay Tony in Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. Instead, you play his loyal and grateful right hand man Luis Lopez, a Puerto Rican tough guy who occasionally surprises with level-headed decision making not typically associated with this classic stereotypical character archetype. Gay Tony is, however, the center of the story as it revolves around him running the best Liberty City clubs and the apparent dangers of keeping them that way. Through Tony, a gang of wild and eccentric side characters are introduced that, in typical Rockstar fashion, are completely over the top. To match this supporting cast is the same solid gameplay and storyline to be expected from a GTA title.

With as interesting a cast and story as Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony possesses it was important that the gameplay itself be just as interesting to compel a player to complete missions to progress through the story. Luckily Rockstar was smart enough to go with the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach and simply added a few features and refined a few less. An underground cage fighting game was added that is a nice way to make some extra cash in between missions and is actually really fun. The typical escort and transport missions return but with a nice new addition: a rating system. Now at the completion of a mission a score will be given based off of your performance. With categories such as completion time and damage taken adding up to a final score, it adds a bit of replay value for those wanting to achieve the highest scores possible. At times things like this makes the sandbox title feel a bit more linear, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that having a benchmark to go off of is a bit compelling.

Perhaps my favorite addition is the new TV programming available for viewing; they are laugh out loud funny. If you don’t believe me, watch the Anime episodes. There’s more than enough here to justify the $20 price tag and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony easily matches the previous Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned episode in the content department.

The looks of this new episode really aren’t any different from GTA4, though you can see a difference in the art direction when it comes to Liberty City nightlife controlled by Gay Tony versus the grime of The Lost and Damned and the poverty of GTA4. Liberty City still seems to live and breathe like a real city with so much going on around you and the appearance that even if you weren’t playing the game, things would still be moving right along.

As usual the sound is a huge draw to Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony. The voice acting is top notch with every moment sounding as intense or comical as was intended. The sound effects are tight and the random things you hear people talking about just walking around the street range from disturbing to hilarious. Throw in a diverse and never dull soundtrack (I now see why they say the music in Gay clubs are better) and you get one of the most interesting audible experiences on Xbox 360.

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony does a good job of bring the GTA4 series to a close. It’s both charismatic and depraved at the same time. Displaying the same charm and grit that the previous two titles did each in their own way. If you haven’t played Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned you can buy the Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City disk with both episodes for $40. Easily one of the better deals since Half-Life 2 Orange Box.

Sandbox type games aren’t for everyone but the Grand Theft Auto titles have always been the flagship of the genre, no change there. If you are a fan of the genre or just about any show that comes on the FX Network, go and play with Gay Tony. “It’s not wrong, it’s just different.”