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Grand Theft Auto IV • Walkthrough • Cheats • Quick Strategies • Side Missions • Characters • Secrets • Maps • Multiplayer • Achievements • Storyline Choices • General Info • Soundtrack

Contents 1 Weaponary & Combat 2 Vehicles & Travel 3 Dealing with Friends 4 Easy Cop Removal

Weaponary & Combat

• Do not test fire weapons in the gun store. The owner will attack you.

• If you have a weapon you like, don't fire the last bullet you have. You'll throw away the empty weapon.

• When using a cab, always choose to skip time. One of your friends might call during the ride, and you'll probably miss the call.

• To be more effective in combat, lock onto targets with the L-trigger and then nudge upward slightly to aim at the head. Get used to about where this is, and with practice you can bring down squads of enemies with a simple pistol.

• Use cover wisely, taking time to set your aim for a headshot before popping out of cover can save you valuable health in a standoff and will keep ammo usage to a minimum.

• If you can, get up high. This gives you a better view of the enemy and makes it harder for them to hit you.

• Grenades are hard to find and expensive to buy, so keep them for the later missions when you need to dispatch a group of cops in one toss, or when you need to create a quick blockade to stop pursuing mobsters.

Vehicles & Travel

• Use "Romans Car Service" its free and easy to get around and is a good utility for use after a death. You will have to keep up your friendship with roman but going out drinking once in a while is good enough for him.

• You can keep a couple of cars at your safe house. You may want to make one of these cars a police car, so you have access to the car's computer. This is especially helpful if you're doing the vigilante missions.

• In addition to safe house parking spots, you can also keep cars at any potential safe house parking spots as well, even if you don't own or have lost said safe house. Simply place your vehicle in the spot surrounded by yellow lines and marked "RESIDENT PARKING". Each spot typically has space for two vehicles. Be warned that the game occasionally glitches out and parked vehicles can disappear. Police have occasionally been seen taking parked vehicles (including yours) during chases, and emergency vehicles like ambulances can knock them out of their save "zone".

• If you come across a helicopter and want to keep it, you can park it in front of your safe house and save it just like any other vehicle. You may have to ram it into the parking space with a car.

• You would rather die than be arrested. Getting yourself arrested has you losing all of your weapons, whereas dying simply subtracts a small percentage of your available cash.

• To avoid the $5 fee at a toll booth, drive through it in an emergency vehicle (such as an ambulance) with the sirens going. If you're on a bike, you can squeeze through along the outer wall of the bridge without tripping the toll booth.

• When pursuing someone in a vehicle, open up the menu and find your target on the Map. Set a waypoint to whomever you're chasing and the most direct route to them will be displayed on your minimap. Do this every ten or fifteen seconds to readjust your route to your prey's current location.

• A quick way to steal a cop car, ambulance, or firetruck is to call 911 on your cell phone. The vehicle will come to you! Now all you have to do is take it.

• At the start of a new game the bridges of Liberty City are blockaded by police. Running any of these barricades will get you a six star wanted level. Attempting to cross by boat or helicopter will also result in a six star wanted level. Before unlocking Alderney a certain tunnel under Algonquin will be barricaded on both ends, keeping you from getting out without raising the police's ire. In this case you have no option but to die, cheat, or fight your way out.

• Escaping the wanted zone: At 1 star, the wanted zone is small. At higher levels though, it can be difficult to get out of the area let alone hide long enough to clear the stars. If your wanted stars are grey, you are out of the line of sight. Police will continue to patrol the wanted zone, but you can actually hide from them if you stay out of sight (hence the game's recommendation that you switch vehicles or use alleyways). A quick getaway can be found via Roman's taxi service. Hop in as a passenger and head somewhere outside the wanted zone. When you arrive, find a hiding spot quickly as the cops will be looking for you still.

• Fire Trucks: Each fire truck in the game is equipped with a water cannon. Shoot it the same way you normally shoot guns while driving. You can use it to knock down pedestrians or hose down cars. Shooting police with the water cannon will get you a two star wanted level. The Fire Truck is also quite effective in multiplayer as the hose keeps them from firing back or running away.

• GPS Shortcomings: The GPS is useful, but it doesn't always give you the best route. The GPS doesn't know that you can go the wrong way on a one way street. It won't show you alleys or off-road shortcuts. Finally, the GPS gives you the shortest route, but this route often has a lot of turns you have to slow down for. Sometimes it's faster to use straighter streets that aren't quite as direct. To overcome all of these problems, study the in-game map while you set your waypoint and look for shortcuts or straightaways.

• Fire Escapes: Many buildings in Liberty City have fire escapes on the outsides, and they make great sniper positions and offer access to rooftops. To climb up them, park a car beneath them, then jump up on to the stair part of the escape. Niko cannot climb onto the part of the stairs that are supposed to swing down.

• Niko moves up and down stairs quite slowly. Jumping can slide you up the stairs quickly and bypass the animation.

• When driving, try to avoid hitting cop cars. Anything more than a minor scrape against them will get you a one star wanted level. Running down pedestrians can gain you a wanted level, but for some reason it doesn't always "stick" when around street cops. Lazy gits.

• If fighting passers-by or pedestrians, it may be good to allow them the first punch. Nearby police will arrest them instead.

• Drunk Driving is very simple, just keep your speed down and you will have no problem controlling your automobile. Remember... drive carefully, if you get into a police chase it could soon turn into something nasty. If you get back to the drop off point you should lose all police while in the cut-scene.

Dealing with Friends

• If you hang out with your friends enough, i.e. invite them out to places to build their opinion rating of you, they will eventually allow you to call them and ask for stuff. What you get depends on the friend:
  • Roman: call his taxis to your current location and ride them as a passenger for free, and taxi driver missions
  • Little Jacob: weapons dealer
  • Brucie: car theft missions, helicopter transport
  • Dwayne: gang members to help with missions
  • Packie: car bombs

• Having a hard time understanding Jacob and Badman? Turn on subtitles in the display menu. It makes a world of difference. It also translates the Serbian that Niko and Roman say under their breath, and the Russian the Mafia speaks.

• Friend Calling: If one of your friends calls you to spend some time with them, always accept. It you don't want to hang out with them, call them directly afterwards and cancel the plans. This way they won't be offended and you won't get a negative opinion rating.

• Friend Calling 2: If you want to call a friend, make sure you are aware of the time and their sleep habits. Your friends need their rest. Calling while they are asleep will cause a loss of relationship.

• Prostitutes: Prostitutes appear only at night and only in certain areas. You can hire a prostitute by pulling up next to her and honking you car horn. To complete the transaction, you must take her to a secluded area like an alley. Keep in mind, there is a statistic (found under stats) that shows how many times the player has used a prostitute.

Easy Cop Removal

• If the police are after you, go to the nearest safehouse and save, the cops will not be after you anymore. NOTE: The safehouses are only available to you if you're not currently on a mission.