Just finished the game, and Rockstar are ridiculously good at what they do.
I love how the game begins during an intense scene from GTA4. How they meld missions in TBoGT into past missions from GTA4 and TLAD. And the characters, man, just as memorable as any in the GTA4 world.
I would say my biggest gripes are the helicopter air combat gameplay, which is very touchy and not easy to perform at all. Then, the lack of difficulty towards the end of the game.
All in all, this is another solid story, which brings lots of things together from past capers.
As much as I would love to have another episode from Liberty City, Rockstar seems to want to move on to different locales. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
I still haven't played The Lost And Damned, but I want to play both. Does anyone know if there will be some sort of dual-DLC discount? #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@DefHamster: GTAIV DLC, $19.99 each. Act now and receive BOTH DLC episodes for the low low price of just $39.99. That's 1 penny more than if you bought them separately! Operators are standing by. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@Slothboy: You're right. I'd still rather have the safety of the disc though. Who knows what'll happen to DLC in a few years. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
As a LADY who actually loves the entire GTA series, I am against the mindset that GTAs need a new dude each time. Niko Bellic is a rich enough character who could be revisited, and not just standing behind a bloke in a scene. Maybe it's just because chicks love accents though. #maybe. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@Vedli: You don't need to. LATD was awesome. (though I did enjoy and finish Niko's story)
I haven't played Gay Tony yet, but LATD was a complete stand alone title. I really liked it.
In a lot of ways LaTD was the best of all worlds. It had some different mechanics, (i.e. better motorcycle handling, allies, some different weapons) so it felt distinct enough.
But at the same time, I knew the city. That makes it more realistic. Sure, Niko wouldn't know where anything is at the beginning of his story (he's literally fresh off the boat), but Johnny and Luis would. They live there. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
That's a whole lotta love Steven. The recognition factor is what gets me about GTA IV and it's expansions also. If you never lived or spent any significant time in NYC it is really hard to explain, but Rockstar has done probably THE absolute best representation of this town that I have ever seen in a video game. It is supreme attention to detail. Not only do they nail the look of the town, but they nailed the feel of the individual neighborhoods as well.I'm glad the 2 expansions turned out so well. I'll be picking this up tomorrow.
WELL THEN. I don't think I even needed such an amazing review- i was sold from trailer 1! I love Liberty City- I still travel down it's roads every night, sometimes just to marvel at how beautiful the game is. Parachuting has got me more than ready for tomorrow! #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
I think this is what GTA4 should have been. What I'm reading here is what I had hoped to read/find when GTA4 launched, in terms of gameplay, characters, craziness, chaos, etc.
I suppose this is the time when I regret selling my 360 back for a Wii... #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@NoHoldsBarred: Well I do miss Dead Rising from time to time, but yeah. Played LO, finished ME and Tales, I think I've seen the best of the 360 that's not available anywhere else (opinion here, guys. My humble opinion), up until this.
@Friedhamster: It ended up sitting there, since its library is so similar to the PS3's as far as my tastes go. Great console, great games, I just couldn't deal with the dual console thing when both had almost the same games. Wii is special, and while PS3 is still used for main gaming, I feel Wii is filling up a bigger gap.
@FP_slomo788: Honestly, it's no different than 4. It just features different characters, and some club life. It plays and feels much the same as GTA4. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@wtf_G: Damn it. I was excited for this although I don't think it will hit the PS3, just because I thought Rockstar had it again for GTA5. Oh well... #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
Wait, so if i buy this game, would 10 percent or more of the profit be donated to the gay and lesbian alliance? If that's the case count me in! #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@arbsnotdead: It's a nice idea, but you'd then see the Italian Plumber's Association, the Distressed Princess Coalition, and the Xtreme Fortune Hunter Club all clamoring for video game sales dollars.
Just because it has gay in the name doesn't mean it has to donate money to any of the alliances; as much of a 'friend' as I am, that's a ridiculous request.
Buy it, donate $4 to the HRC or GLBT association of your choice, and lead by example. :) #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@MindPrints: How? I have this downloaded onto my hard drive but haven't been able to play it ever since it first downloaded. How do I access it? #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: I am no longer a fan of digital distribution...it screws you over real bad if your console messes up. And yeah, it's a good thing I just bought GTA IV ($10.00!). Can't wait for the next episode. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@RROD74: Wait, I'm confused now. You have GTA4, and you can't get TLAD to run? I think I misunderstood your first post. (If so, my apologies for the kvetching) #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: Ok, so yes, I do have GTA IV now. The problem is this: I had both (disc and dlc) but only the the main campaign would run (w/ niko) and I couldn't get TLAD to run after the initial download. I sold GTA IV (and all my other stuff a while back for some $$) but now have everything back but still have no clue how to get to TLAD. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
Not sure really about the destruction argument. You site prototype as a game that did it right, but when I played it I thought it was laughable and ugly at best (therefor not believable).
Fences, mailboxes, hot dog stands, and other various items blow up in a cloud of newspapers pretty well.
Maybe they can set up missions that do the things you want and leave a perma mark! #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@MrBrau: I didn't say Prototype did it right. I simply said it did it. Red Faction did it better and, compared to Protoype, more dynamically and attractively. As I wrote above, adding destructibility to a GTA could come at the cost of other qualities that work well in the series. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@Stephen Totilo: Sorry, next time ill quote you correctly :S
It is probably hard to juggle between the two, Red Factions main selling point was destruction. It kind of felt like all the buildings were made of cardboard and Styrofoam peanuts. Some day it will be a perfect balance! #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
Now I'm even more annoyed with my purchase of the PS3 version, nuts.
But anyway, I recently switched my video game news source to Kotaku after growing more dissatisfied with IGN's review. Everyone of this sites reviews have been spot on, in my opinion, and I love how you tells us how much of the game you played and how you did at the end. So thanks, and keep up the good work. (PS You also seem to be actually good at the games, if you watch the IGN video reviews sometimes they are really bad. Why write about games if you can't play them?) #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
@Hibbleton: You don't need the original to play the expansion pack (the disc-based one). You can keep playing GTA4 on the PS3 and the expansions on the 360. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/29/09
PC Version of the episodes? #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
I love how the game begins during an intense scene from GTA4. How they meld missions in TBoGT into past missions from GTA4 and TLAD. And the characters, man, just as memorable as any in the GTA4 world.
I would say my biggest gripes are the helicopter air combat gameplay, which is very touchy and not easy to perform at all. Then, the lack of difficulty towards the end of the game.
All in all, this is another solid story, which brings lots of things together from past capers.
As much as I would love to have another episode from Liberty City, Rockstar seems to want to move on to different locales. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
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10/29/09
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10/30/09
10/28/09
I said it but everybody was thinking it, right? #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
I haven't played Gay Tony yet, but LATD was a complete stand alone title. I really liked it.
In a lot of ways LaTD was the best of all worlds. It had some different mechanics, (i.e. better motorcycle handling, allies, some different weapons) so it felt distinct enough.
But at the same time, I knew the city. That makes it more realistic. Sure, Niko wouldn't know where anything is at the beginning of his story (he's literally fresh off the boat), but Johnny and Luis would. They live there. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
I suppose this is the time when I regret selling my 360 back for a Wii... #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
@Friedhamster: It ended up sitting there, since its library is so similar to the PS3's as far as my tastes go. Great console, great games, I just couldn't deal with the dual console thing when both had almost the same games. Wii is special, and while PS3 is still used for main gaming, I feel Wii is filling up a bigger gap.
10/28/09
10/29/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
Just because it has gay in the name doesn't mean it has to donate money to any of the alliances; as much of a 'friend' as I am, that's a ridiculous request.
Buy it, donate $4 to the HRC or GLBT association of your choice, and lead by example. :) #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
If I'm not mistaken, this is mentioned in the DLC summary that pops up when you go to purchase it.
In other words, you're out twenty bucks unless you buy GTA4. #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/29/09
10/28/09
Fences, mailboxes, hot dog stands, and other various items blow up in a cloud of newspapers pretty well.
Maybe they can set up missions that do the things you want and leave a perma mark! #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09
It is probably hard to juggle between the two, Red Factions main selling point was destruction. It kind of felt like all the buildings were made of cardboard and Styrofoam peanuts. Some day it will be a perfect balance! #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
But anyway, I recently switched my video game news source to Kotaku after growing more dissatisfied with IGN's review. Everyone of this sites reviews have been spot on, in my opinion, and I love how you tells us how much of the game you played and how you did at the end. So thanks, and keep up the good work. (PS You also seem to be actually good at the games, if you watch the IGN video reviews sometimes they are really bad. Why write about games if you can't play them?) #grandtheftautoivtheballadofgay...
10/28/09
10/28/09