written by dawnclover

Yeah so, I wasn’t really sure what name to give to the 7th article on this GTA4 Special. So, whatever yeah? Let’s move on to what’s important. Guns! Of course, if you’re not new to the GTA series you know there are gunshops where you can use your hard-earned money to get some sweet fire power. You get a look at every weapon (well, almost, there are variations to each weapon) in every gunshop. Of course, early in the game most of them are not available to buy. But yeah you just walk up to a weapon, press L1 to try it on and see if you feel dangerous with it like, “you feel lucky? punk?” and then press X if you want to buy it or L1 if not. If you already have the weapon, you can buy ammo for it by pressing X. You can also buy armor in the gunshops, wich is your friend. Really.

Then we have dear old “Pay ‘n’ Spray”. If you don’t know what this is, you probably never played any GTA games before. You can use the “Pay ‘n’ Spray” to change the looks (and fix) your car. You can do this for fun, or to get cops attention to something else (this won’t work if they see you going inside P’n'S). Of course, nothing in Liberty City is free (as in real life), so you gotta pay to get the job done. Also abou car-care, you have now the “Car Wash”. Yes, the cars get dirty! Be it blood (as I told you before) or dirt, if you don’t like the appearance of your vehicle, just drive to one of those (this won’t fix your car). Again, not free of course.

The weather in Liberty City changes as in real life. You get those rainy days, you get some foggy days (reminded me of London sometimes), and this affects your gaming. If it’s raining and you’re driving, prepare yourself because the car will be more loose! After a while you’ll get the hang of it though, if it’s foggy it’s sometimes harder to see stuff in front of the car (thick fog doesn’t happen often). Also, of course, there is a night/day system. Each day goes to night in real time and you can actually see the sun go down and see the impressive shadow system at work and then the sky turning darker into the silence of the night. Well, “silence”. I wish they would make some snow too, but that would be a bother to make, they would have to make the streets with snow all over and then make it melt somehow. But it would be awesome. My favorite time of the day is when it’s more sunny! I just love the colors in the city. Specially in Star Junction.

Speaking of city, you have 2 options when on mission or if you want to get to someplace. You can either steal a car and drive yourself, or you can be lazy and get a cab (this will cost money of course). You can enter a cab as a passanger by holding the TRIANGLE button (if you only tap it, Niko will steal it). When inside, you can choose where to go and then, you either enjoy the view while the guy takes you to your destiny, or you can skip the scene (this will cost a little extra money). I personally prefer driving myself, it’s cheaper. And I get to know the city better. I only went by cab once, and I don’t think I’ll be doing it again – unless it’s requiered for some kind of mission of course.

If you choose driving, and if you are a crazy driver (on the game, of course), like me, and crash all over the place (once, I was driving on a crowded street, and I was crashing everywhere and some random pedestrian just threw himself to the ground and shouted: “WOMAN DRIVER!!!!” – i laughed so hard my stomach started hurting – genious!), be careful, because now either your car gets on fire and eventually explodes (beautiful realistic explosion by the way), or your car breaks down and you see Niko trying to make it run but the engine not responding – sometimes he can get it running, sometimes not. If not, and you are running or following someone, be fast and change cars.

Also, when you are stealing cars, if you played GTA before, you know some pedestrians will try to get their cars back, if you start accelerating when they reach the door they will grab the door and not let go while you drive, this is fun because you can crush them in a wall or other cars or even throw them at a light post. Fun. Also, I had a funny experience earlier today. Some random guy in the street gave me money, saying he was rich. What the hell?

There are more ways to go around Liberty City, and, like in other GTA games you can take the train. You just go up to a train platform and ride it wherever you need to go. You either watch the whole thing, or skip it. I hope on future GTAs they include BUS rides. That’s the only public vehicle I think they are forgetting (it’s in the game and you can drive it, but I don’t think you can use it to take you anywhere). Also, you have the subway, that works just like the train, but underground. It’s fun to ride on the underground lines with your car too, but it’s kinda dangerous! *laugh*

One thing new about going around Liberty City, is that, in certain bridges you are required to pay a toll of 5$ to go through. You just have to slow down at the barrier, Niko will pay the dude and off you go. You can of course go through free, but the cops will be onto you and sometimes it’s just better to not draw attention, though these are pretty easy to escape from.

More on GTA4 soon.
Over and out!