GTA IV Tips

Here are some general tips, hints and tricks to help you on your adventure through Liberty City.

General

• To move up/down stairs more quickly, jump up/down them. You go much faster. Just be careful not to jump in the direction of the stair's edge, as you might vault over the side and fall.

• Shoot the legs! If you can't bring down an enemy by shooting them in the head, shoot 'em in the knees. They'll crumple to the ground and you can get more shots in on them. This is also a great tactic for fleeing enemies.

• The police in this game are much smarter, better shots and more effective than in previous games. Expect to be swarmed even on 3 star wanted levels. Avoiding cop attention is a must, or they will put an end to your day quickly and painfully.

• Use the "Sleep Mode" on your phone. If you just want to cruise around Liberty City without being nagged by mission-givers, go the Options in your phone and choose to turn Sleep Mode ON. This will halt the story's progress so you can call up your friends to hang out with them or just do whatever.

• Un-bloodify your clothes. Did you just get your new suit all bloody and you have an interview in 30 minutes? Go to a safehouse and either sleep (Bear in mind this does cause game time to increase by six hours) or change your clothes & back again. Good as new. However, by saving (and therefore sleeping), time advances 6 hours. Another way to clean your clothes is just to replenish your health: get a soda or some food, call an ambulance, or be creative! Replenishing your health does the trick.

• How to deal with blind firing enemies. If an enemy is blind firing like his life depended on it, aim for his arm/hand, as it is exposed when blind firing. If you hit it, he'll likely stumble out into the open, where you can hopefully kill him.

• Save more cars. Outside of each safehouse, you can save two cars (possibly three, depending on the size of the car).In order to make sure that they won't be lost a trick is to get at least one wheel of the vehicle you want to save into the space.

• Buy armor! If you know a firefight is coming up, buy yourself some armor. If the mission's begun, don't worry. The second destination listed in the taxis besides the "objective" is the weapons store.

• Keep the meter running, cabbie! If you just need to buy some ammo or food real quickly, when the cabbie drops you off, wait a second or two and whistle for the cab again. Then run and buy your stuff. Come back out and he'll be waiting for you right where he left you, if not, then he's around the corner.

• Many of the Assassin's missions can be simplified if you can get hold of a helicopter. Just land on a high position overlooking the target and take them out using the rifle.

• Also, if you leave a crime-scene in a helicopter, it is incredibly easier to lose any wanted level. They also work very nicely for any kind of chase-mission, as they are much faster than cars and you can keep better track of your target. Just be careful not to fly too high, as that counts into the maximum allowed distance to your target. That can make following targets in Algonquin a little tricky.

• If you need to get the one man army achievement, which is staying alive for 5 minutes with 6 stars, an easy way to do it is to get a helicopter and then get 6 stars. Fly as high as you can but be sure to stay in the police search area, and just sit there for five minutes, and you're done.

• If you are ever in need of a Police Car, Firetruck, or Ambulance, but are careful to take one in the middle of town, just call 911 and request one. You can do this somewhere in a dark side-alley, making it much easier to grab the car without too much attention. This can even save you a long trip, as getting into an Ambulance gives you a good amount of health back.

• Another great spot to steal a Police Car is always the local Police Station. The one in Algonquin, which also features Francis McReary's missions, has a Squad Car parked behind it. No one will see you take it.

• Looking for a helicopter with a little more style? The Police Station in Northern Holland features one of the Black Hawks. Good luck stealing it though, the Cops there are armed to the teeth. A one star wanted level is all you will get though.

• Use public transportation. Taking a taxi is cheap and fast, you can even take friends with you.

• We've all been there. You look around, think that everything is clear and as you smash the window of a car the alarm comes on and a Squad Car turns around the corner. No worries. As long as they see you neither sitting in the car nor smashing the window, the alarm doesn't seem to bother them. Just interrupt your action, wait until the Police is gone and then get into the car.

• If you're ever caught in a chase from the police, try to avoid driving too fast and instead constantly make turns around corners (watch out for cars that you may crash into). Also, keep track of where the cops are on your minimap.

• Brake when you turn! Because of the new physics system, vehicles handle more realistically. As a result, don't just hammer on the accelerator. You need to find the right balance between using the handbrake and the normal brake when you take your turns. This becomes an invaluable skill (both online and off) to have when chasing someone or evading an enemy.

• Never attempt to shoot at a car that's traveling behind you. You will end up crashing and quickly owned by police/team 2. The best idea is to either let a passenger do the shooting or brake and wait for them to fly ahead of your car and shoot forward.

• If one is attempting to get the 'one man army' achievement a great idea is to load up on Armour, auto shotgun, Molotov's and carbine ammo. Head to the 'Cluckin Bell' food outlet in star junction. There is a pillar guarding the only entrance, hug to it and start murdering the fat customers. Wait for police and blow them away. Keep this up for 10 minutes and you'll have 6*'s in no time. Another method is to enter a new city when you're not supposed to and just hide for 10 minutes. Some people have also used a hospital. You will find many people to kill and get your wanted level up, and a health pack when you are almost dead. You can also visit littlelacysurprisepageant.com to get five stars, and use a cheat to gain a sixth star (this shouldn't prevent any achievements).

• If you are trying to get the achievement where you must destroy 10 vehicles in 10 seconds, follow this method. Get a large vehicle like a Bus and go to the large, main bridge. Park the bus so it is blocking all vehicles and when you see 10 vehicles, simply fire a rocket launcher at one of them and wait for the achievement to pop up. Damaging the vehicles prior to this (using less powerful weapons) and using grenades as well may help.

• Whenever you deliver vehicles for Stevie for extra cash you can get more money for the vehicle than the initial base value. This could be a glitch but if you damage the vehicle just a little you get more money. If the car is totaled you will receive less money. Damages like broken headlights, small dents, etc. It usually goes up a few hundred dollars. If you damage it just right the price could go up another thousand. Taking a busted up car to Pay'n'Spray will increase the value.

• When traveling back and forth between islands, use a cop vehicle to avoid paying the tolls and attracting unwanted attention.

• Cars and pedestrians respond to your horn, so if you're in a hurry and there are police around, use it.

• Befriend Little Jacob quickly and buy armor and ammunition from him before any major conflict; this will make combat much easier. Be warned, he doesn't sell the RPG, Sniper Rifle, Desert Eagle or Pump Shotgun. So if thats what you need, a Gun Shop is the best bet.

• Want that nice vehicle you saved at one of your parking spaces but don't want to lose it? GTA IV seems to save memory by spawning a lot of the same type of car you are currently driving. Simply get in your car and drive around the block a couple of times. You should suddenly spot one parked up somewhere. Park yours back in the parking space and go and steal the other one.

• If a taxi won't stop for you, chances are that there's already a passenger inside. Simply walk up and 'hold' the button to get into the taxi as a passenger. Hey presto, you'll drag the passenger out of the cab and the taxi driver will now be happy to take you.

• Find a barrel that can explode. To easily make it explode, shoot the top of it.

• To easily gain ammo, get a wanted level. The higher your wanted level the better selection of weapons. Try not to lose too much health and/or armor. When you have your wanted level where you want it, go to any one of your safehouses. Kill some cops and N.O.O.S.E. officers in front of your safehouse. Kill as many as you can before losing all your health. Once your ready, go inside your safehouse and save your game. Be sure not to die. After you save your game, your wanted level will be gone and your health will be fully restored. Walk outside and collect all the weapons and ammo lying on the ground from all the officers you killed. If you died, the weapons probably won't be there.
  • Killing police officers will give you pistol and shotgun ammo.
  • Killing F.I.B. agents will give you assault rifle ammo and/or SMG ammo.
  • Killing N.O.O.S.E. officers will give you assault rifle ammo, shotgun ammo, and/or SMG ammo.

Another easy way to get ammo is from the officers in Police Mavericks and Annihilators shooting down at you. It's a little more difficult and you probably won't get tons of ammo. The easiest way to do this is by using one of the sniper rifles. Zoom in on the gun of the officer shooting down at you and fire. If you aimed correctly, the gun will fly out of the officer's hand. If your able to get to the gun you can collect the ammo. Be sure to do this before destroying the helicopter. If the helicopter is destroyed, you won't find any guns.

• Need an extra parking space? Even if you can't use your first Safehouse to save you can still use the parking space outside.

• Do everything in your power to prevent yourself from getting busted, even if that means getting wasted. If the cops bust you, you lose all your weapons and ammo, whereas if they waste you, you get to keep all your weapons.

• If you think a car may have an alarm, try tapping it with your current car. This will trigger the alarm, wait for it to stop, then steal as normal, the alarm won't go off.

• If you need to get somewhere fast like a date or hang out with someone call using your phone 227-555-0100 and you will get a FIB Buffalo. Turn on the siren and all the cars will get out of your way and you will pay no tolls.

• Take a cab a lot but bring a gun, when you get out, go to the front, shoot the cab driver once,if he runs out keep shooting and you'll get a refund, if he drives away, keep shooting.

• For an easy way to make as much as $3,000 a trip find and hijack a "Securicar" (its a large green box shaped van with Gruppe 6 written on the side. Jack any van, drive around and it should appear eventually) and make sure you have enough shotgun shells to make it easy, take the "Securicar" to the beach or an empty parking lot and proceed to shoot the front grill of the truck, once its on fire stand back. When the truck does blow up money will be everywhere, simply pick it up. NOTE: you may get cops on your case and up to two stars by blowing this up.

• If your in a firefight, and your target is hidding and shooting at you behind a large concrete support beam, you can now blast through it with a heavy weapon and kill your target.

• Ever wanted the parking space outside a safehouse but you haven't unlocked it? Well just park a car there and save at your nearest unlocked safehouse. When you drive back to whatever non-unlocked safe house, hey presto! Whatever car you've parked there is stil there!

• If you are critically wounded and need health without risking a fatal gunshot in a stolen ambulance, paying the paramedics almost $1,000 or filling your gut with questionable food items from the street vendors, you can get an easy heal and gain the moral high ground by giving money to any one of the tramps or saxophone players that you see in Liberty City. It's $10 out of pocket which may sound a bit steep, but Niko will feel so good about himself that he will gain at least 90% health from this simple act of kindness. You can find sax players in the subway, in the park, or any public place where people conglomerate. On occasion, a sax player may accost you, calling Niko such names as "phillistine" or "square." Tramps may be found more often at night, in the subway or in the seedy spots of town. When you approach a tramp who wants change, they will acknowledge your presence with a greeting like "Look who it is" or "'Sup family." Occasionally, tramps will have some amusing commentary amongst themselves. And if you are feeling frugal, after you throw your money to a tramp, you can regain your money if you move for it quick enough. The tramp will continue as if they picked up the money and didn't notice you take it back.

General

• When shooting with an automatic weapon, improve your chances with the auto-aim by firing rapid single shots rather than bursts, and aim just above to hit the chest/head area.

• One way to combat a car speeding towards you is to aim for the driver's side and keep shooting. As the car comes towards, roll out of the way (X+ LS Left or Right), and keep shooting. Auto Aim should help with this.

• When you need to shoot behind you in a car whilst driving, click the right stick in and press Lb. You can release the right stick, the camera is 'stickied' behind you, whilst also allowing you to aim and shoot.

• As the clock counts down in a multiplayer race, hold the handbrake and the accelorator. As it says 'GO', release the handbrake. You'll get a jumpstart.

• In races, be wary of n00bs who like to play pinball on the first lap. Keep your distance of get out in front, and try to aviod collisions.

• Take corners with use of the brake/handbrake. A clean corner is better than an attempt than overshoots and sends you crashing a block away.

• In races, use the radar to anticipate up coming corners, and enemy cars, espically the n00bs that like to do the race backwards and total the decent players.