Rockstar offers GTA IV multiplayer tips

By Robert Purchese Published 9 May, 2008

Guides you in.

Rockstar has cobbled together a guide offering advice on the ins and outs of Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer.

It has a few handy tips and tricks, but mostly describes what's on offer and how to get the most out of it; worth a read if, like us, you didn't know you could phone someone half-way across the map using your in-game mobile so you could call them names.

Also covered are taunts, achievement levels, auto-aim pros and cons, blip settings and pad control diagrams.

It isn't long, and you can find it on the official Grand Theft Auto IV website.

Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29th April and become the fastest selling game ever, amassing 3.6 million sales on its first day and 6 million in its first week.

GTA IV is also on course to become the 2009 game of the year, earning top marks in nearly every review we've come across.

As to which version you should buy, well, pop over to our GTA IV PS3 vs. Xbox 360 face-off to find out.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 4 years ago

    I haven't even touched MP yet, still having fun in SP!

  • Darren #2 4 years ago

    It's easy to forget that GTA IV can be played online because the single player packs in dozens and dozens of hours of high-quality gaming. I'm not interested in it anyway but at least the offline game in this instance hasn't suffered for the sake of including online modes.

  • monkie_king #3 4 years ago

    To me there's a confusing array of choice -- lots of different game types, but then each of those is very, very tweakable. Even subtle stuff like voice chat based on proximity instead of team-chat, or available weapon types, can make a big difference to how a cops and crooks game plays out.

    That kind of flexibility is all well and good if you're hosting a private match with your friends, but for general jump-in-and-play MP I think it'd really benefit from some XBL-style playlists, i.e. a small collection of pre-defined setups that play well.

  • homerramone #4 4 years ago

    I can see explanations of game modes, but nothign about using you mobile in MP or anything similar.

  • LetsGo #5 4 years ago

    Multiplayer GTA is a bit piss poor IMO.....

    It has GREAT potential and it get lots of WOW moments but I mean... a game that doesnt let you be host if you want to be... come on!

  • sickpuppysoftware #6 4 years ago

    It's a fun experience marred by the really stupid menu system. It's very difficult to switch games and oh so easy to accidentally leave MP when all you wanted to do was try a different group because the group you are with are a bunch of crack smoking monkeys when it comes to driving.

  • king_ghidra #7 4 years ago

    Agreed. It was a nice idea to have you access the MP from the SP mobile, but in practice it's pointless and time-wasting.

    Also far too many times you get into a game with only 2 or 3 people or half of the players leave because they don't like the game type or rules.

    A simple MP lobby system as is used in virtually every other MP game is what is required. Or dedicated servers. 24/7 deathmatch, drop in/drop out, have fun. Not spending half of a MP session staring at the game launch screen.

  • Whizzo #8 4 years ago

    It has GREAT potential and it get lots of WOW moments but I mean... a game that doesnt let you be host if you want to be... come on!I think you'll find it does.

    The lobby is the only letdown really, other than that MP is excellent.
    Edited by Whizzo at 09/05/08 @ 12:28

  • LetsGo #9 4 years ago


    The lobby is the only letdown really, other than that MP is excellent.

    Not really just that through. Some of the game modes havn't really been thought out much. I played a cops n' crooks where everyones a boss and when you die, you become an observer. As there isnt any time limit, you can be sitting there for up to 30mins watching some pleb wander round the map! (funfunfun!)
    That’s just one example of many instances of many of the game modes, after a patch and tweaking it will be amazing.
    Edited by LetsGo at 09/05/08 @ 12:31

  • Whizzo #10 4 years ago

    So the cops, who can see exactly where everyone of the crooks are, didn't bother to do what they're supposed to do? I don't think I've been in a round of "One For All" that's lasted more than 10 minutes.

  • LetsGo #11 4 years ago

    Yup and there is NOTHING you can do if someones AFK/being a pleb and just driving around etc...

    This happens quite a lot.

    I blame it on the yanks ;)

  • tobsen #12 4 years ago

    Nice, but not much that a regular game manual isn't supposed to do in the first place.

    Also, is this stuff really worth a dedicated news article? The editorial policies of Eurogamer feel more and more dubious to me lately. Did Rockstar purchase a "XXL editorial coverage package" or what?

  • Uncle_Fishboy #13 4 years ago

    Am I the only person that isn't that impressed by this game? To me it's not much different to the other GTA's. The control scheme is clunky and akward and the graphics ain't all that are they? Why is everyone jizzing themselves over this? I mean yeah it's pretty good but really, get real people, it ain't THAT frikking good.

  • MBar #14 4 years ago

    Am I the only person that isn't that impressed by this game? To me it's not much different to the other GTA's. The control scheme is clunky and akward and the graphics ain't all that are they? Why is everyone jizzing themselves over this? I mean yeah it's pretty good but really, get real people, it ain't THAT frikking good.

    I agree. It's good, but it's not 10/10-everywhere-you-look good. Vice City was the best GTA, IMO.

  • phatb0y #15 4 years ago

    It suffers horrendously from lag too. I've seen it on a couple of PS3s in addition to my own (we're all on different ISPs too) and the amount of dubious double kills is amazing. I sat back and watched a friend of mine play for half-an-hour or so and virtually every death message consisted of two people killing one another at the same time.

    There have been plenty of times when I know damned well I've had the jump on someone and yet they still manage to turn around with zero health and shoot me in the face.

    I've played enough PC games online to not get sour grapes over this (HLDM-snark-gun-lag-frenzy ahoy!), and even in this day and age you expect a bit of rubber-banding and shitty hit prediction, but playing GTA IV is like going back a decade at times.

    Massive potential, but once the novelty of lolphysics and pretty fireworks wears off its poorly implemented and actually quite dire in places. It seems to me like it was tagged on as an afterthought, even if all the pre-release hype about it led you to believe otherwise.
    Edited by phatb0y at 09/05/08 @ 12:59

  • FeralUK #16 4 years ago

    "Vice City was the best GTA, IMO."

    Agreed!

  • AHiFi #17 4 years ago

    +1 to Vice City too.

  • M83J01P97 #18 4 years ago

    You need to download the PDF file for the tips. Might want to edit to article to avoid lots of people complaining that the tips aren't actually on the physical page you are directing people to.

  • WinterSnowblind #19 4 years ago

    Vice City was great, particular it's 80's style and setting. But the city itself wasn't all that fun to explore, easily the worst city in the series, and the story and characters from GTA IV easily beat it :)

  • symmetry #20 4 years ago

    I love it, because in what other game can you race with 10 ice-cream vans, all playing the ice-cream tune simultaneously?

    Absolutely hilarious.

  • Darren #21 4 years ago

    "GTA IV is also on course to become the 2009 game of the year..."

    2009 Game of the Year... surely you mean 2008? :?

  • ps3_2310 #22 4 years ago

    I have not touched the MP yet, and i dont think i will till i kane the single player

  • superdelphinus #23 4 years ago

    It shows you something when describing a hints and tips document on a computer game's website is news

  • agparrot #24 4 years ago

    @symmetry

    I love it, because in what other game can you race with 10 ice-cream vans, all playing the ice-cream tune simultaneously?

    Absolutely hilarious.

    +1

    There is loads and loads of stupid stuff you can do with a decent bunch of players, an imagination and a sense of humour. Lots of EG fellows will be on the 360 with it tonight - I can highly recommend their company for games, I still have some slots for FR. If you can find my gamertag you are probably bright enough to play with the rest of us.

  • reality_cheque #25 4 years ago

    @M83J01P97: No, you can view them all on the page using what I assume is Flash. No PDF to download, unless of course you want to view it offline. Which you would have to do anyway, what with the intarwub not being available when you're offline.

  • monkie_king #26 4 years ago

    @agparrot: noticed you were still on GTAIV when I turned in at 3AM last night =) I'd been busy trying to drunk-drive Roman home on a stolen Faggio scooter. PROTIP: Roman doesn't like being flung into the ocean.

    I'll be up for some MP late on tonight, hopefully.

  • BadBoyBonner #27 4 years ago

    I should be on late tonight too.

    TOP TIP FOR EVERYONE WHO IS STRUGGLING TO SETUP MultiPlayer in GTA IV

    Select Multiplayer

    Select Custom Match

    IMPORTANT BIT - select PRIVATE SLOTS set it to 16 (max)

    Now as the host - you can select the type of game you want and play with just the friends you have invited i.e. no randoms joining and taking over.

    Once you get your head round that (no thanks to Rockstar) MP becomes a much nicer experience.

    Seems simple once you have sussed it.

    Can't help but feel the multiplayer part was developed at the last minute - hence bugger all instructions and rough implementation.
    Edited by BadBoyBonner at 09/05/08 @ 14:51

  • agparrot #28 4 years ago

    @monkie_king

    @agparrot: noticed you were still on GTAIV when I turned in at 3AM last night =)

    I keep trying to make it to bed, but every time I do, I find something else to do... either the phone rings and somebody wants to go out and do stuff, or I notice the friend icon on the radar, or I think I'll just have one more mission, or I end up running around the back alleys trying to find scattered weapons and armour, or in the case of last night I had a few games of QUB3D then tried to ramp up a 6 star wanted level (only made it to 5 before my car 'fell' into the water and I was shot to crap from the air).

    Just remembered got people coming for dinner... hopefully on around midnight, drink permitting.

    /taps foot impatiently for midnight.

  • monkie_king #29 4 years ago

    Yeah, it's very more-ish. I spent about 2hrs going "Hmm, better go to bed now. Oh, I'll just try this ...". Putting the phone on sleep mode cuts down on the distractions, at least.

    I managed to get 6 stars and the Last Man Standing achievement last night, rode the scooter up a ramp onto a train platform, then headed down the tracks and halfway across the Broker bridge. The roadway is on a different level to the train tracks so the cops can't get down to you, just kept moving around on foot so the choppers couldn't shoot me (you're pretty well shielded under there).

  • Duke_Red #30 4 years ago

    Cannot even play the damn multiplayer (On Xbox live) It keeps saying "lost connection with other players"

    What a load of shit.... I'm peeved.

  • Ryze #31 4 years ago

    2008 game of the year, then?

  • T4RG4 #32 4 years ago

    GTA MP menus and general setup/design sucks ASS. Its so bloody awkward, couldnt they have looked at some other games? No end of frustration. When in a game its usually quite good. Hopefully some MP DLC in the future to make more of its potential (oh, and a completely new front-end/MP setup would be good )) )

  • LOLLERS #33 4 years ago

    Not really had any problems playing on XBL. The trick, as with pretty much all games online, is to start your own server as described above and play with friends, rather than random internet people. If you don't have any friends...oh well.

  • Trikk #34 4 years ago

    2009 GOTY?