Game Review: GTA IV

The Press THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

Gaming writer Gerard Campbell got to play with new content for Grand Theft Auto, which won't be out until October. He was impressed.

GTAIV, an open-world game from Rockstar that puts you in the grime-sodden boots of immigrant Niko Bellic as he tries to live the American dream in a fictional city resembling New York City, is one of those games that defines it genre.

Earlier this year, Rockstar released the first Xbox 360 downloadable content (DLC) for GTAIV, The Lost and Damned, which told the tale of motorcycle gang member Johnny Klebitz and played his story out parallel to the events that befell Bellic.

Come October 29, you'll be able to play the next lot of DLC for the game, The Ballad of Gay Tony, on which I've had some hands-on time.

You play Luis Lopez, a Dominican immigrant who is the righthand man/bodyguard/friend of Tony Prince, aka Gay Tony, Liberty City's leading nightclub owner. Prince owns straight club Maisonett 9 and gay club Hercules but has sold stakes in the clubs that amount to more than the establishments are worth. Prince needs to keep the creditors at bay, which is where Lopez comes in.

Rockstar says where The Lost and Damned DLC showcased the dirty underbelly of Liberty City, The Ballad of Gay Tony highlights the prosperity, glitz and glamour the city has to offer.

The first mission we're shown is called "Dropping In" which sees Lopez flying in a helicopter, high above Liberty City, with a chap called Timur, who wants to buy the Liberty City Rampage ice hockey team but the owner is body checking that.

You have to parachute on to a helipad at the top of the MeTV building and assassinate the hockey team's owner.

Unfortunately, Lopez is spotted landing by a security camera and has to shoot his way to the boardroom several floors down.

It's here that Rockstar shows off one of the game's new weapons - the P90, a Belgian-made sub-machine gun that can fire 900 rounds of ammo a minute.

Once Lopez has assassinated the owner, an explosion rocks the building and security guys arrive. It's time to get out of the building. This is where the parachute comes in handy. Lopez shoots out a window, then basejumps to an awaiting flatbed truck. Mission successful.

Rockstar says other new weapons in The Ballad of Gay Tony include homemade sticky C4 bombs, which are remotely detonated, a golden Uzi, and an AA-12 automatic shotgun that can fire exploding shells, useful in the next mission, "For The Man Who Has Everything".

In this one, Lopez has to jump on to a moving train from Broker Bridge then crawl to the front carriage so Yusef Amir, a Dubai property developer, can use it in a theme park he wants to create.

While he is crawling, Lopez is assaulted by LCPD gunships, SWAT teams and armed police. The exploding shotgun shells pack some punch, and pump three or four of them into a helicopter. A nice touch is that clicking the left thumbstick puts Lopez into a crouch - hold it down and he'll go prone, something you'll need to do regularly to duck under overpasses and platforms.

Once Lopez reaches the front carriage, a cut scene kicks in showing him disconnecting the carriage. A large transporter helicopter swoops in, picking up the carriage and a startled Lopez, deposits him on a nearby baseball field and flies off.

The last mission that I saw is called "Sexy Time". The opening cut scene shows Lopez visiting Amir, who wants Lopez to get something for his father: an attack helicopter parked on a three- storey luxury yacht owned by arms dealers and moored near Liberty City's Statue of Happiness (a comical take on the Statue of Liberty). Amir acts like he's a Middle Eastern gangsta rapper.

I'm handed a controller and it's time for me to take the controls again. After driving to the docks near the Statue of Happiness, I move Lopez to a nearby speedboat and head to the moored yacht. Parking alongside it, I guide Lopez stealthily on to the deck, up some stairs and into the unattended helicopter, lifting off.

The next part of the mission is to destroy the yacht with the aircraft's rocket launcher and Gattling gun. With a bit of skilful manouevering, I manage to position the helicopter just metres above the rolling waves - the helicopters warning system constantly beeps, telling me I'm too close to the water - and launch a barrage of rockets at the yacht. After a few minutes, a cut scene kicks in, showing the luxury oceanliner sinking into the water, Titanic-like.

The Ballad of Gay Tony will come as both a downloadable title and as part of a standalone retail package called GTA: Episodes of Liberty City ($69.95) that will feature both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony episodes.

And newbies to the GTAIV world won't need a copy of GTAIV to play Episodes of Liberty City either. GERARD CAMPBELL

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