Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
By Marc Saltzman,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Highly provocative expansion with drugs, sex, and killing.
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Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
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Based on 18 parent reviews
Not for kids
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What’s It About?
Available as a Xbox 360 download or bundled on a disc with another episode(as Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City) , GRAND THEFT AUTO IV: THE BALLAD OF GAY TONY delivers new game-play to the controversial title, along with new weapons and vehicles that can be used in multiplayer modes. You play as Luis Lopez, a little-known and seedy assistant to Anthony \"Gay Tony\" Prince, a nightclub owner and associate of the Ancelotti crime family in the fictitious Liberty City. In one mission, \"Dropping In,\" you fly a helicopter over Star Junction (Times Square) and land on a building where The Rampage hockey team is hanging out in the penthouse suite. Your job is to take out the owner, but you must first get through his goons, and then escape by base-jumping out of the building, opening your parachute and landing on a moving truck. Another mission, \"For the Man Who Has Everything,\" Luis is challenged with stealing a train car for the over-the-top Iranian millionaire Yusef, which requires an assortment of serious firepower.
Is It Any Good?
If you liked Grand Theft Auto IV, then you’ll love The Ballad of Gay Tony. It offers more memorable characters, irreverent dialogue, daring missions, and a fully interactive open-world you can lose yourself in for hours at a time. Much of your attention will be on dealing with Tony's debtors, addictions, and boyfriend, while also helping to run his nightclubs and play mini-games. The $20 download is well worth the investment, or $40 for the packaged episodes (Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, which includes the first downloadable episode, The Lost and Damned) -- but just as its risqué predecessors, those easily offended need not apply.
Online interaction: GTA IV offers multiplayer online modes but this expansion pack lets you unlock new weapons and use them in a head-to-head mode. Interaction with strangers is unpredictable.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why games like this are appealing to many players. Does it let them live viraciously in a criminal underworld? Does it let them do things they'd never dream of in real life? Or are the many varied missions, open-ended environments, and humorous characters all for sheer entertainment?
Game Details
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Rockstar Games
- Release date: October 27, 2009
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- ESRB rating: M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
- Last updated: August 31, 2016
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