Treit and True:

Free Mode Hijinks in Liberty City

Published May 9, 2008

To play Grand Theft Auto IV™ online is to partake of an experience unlike any other. There is simply no equivalent to playing inside a Liberty City that is just as complex and vibrantly alive as its offline counterpart. This is an exceptional first-time experience for gamers the world over, a fact that is perhaps most apparent in the game's Free Mode, as player creativity and the city itself marry to create some outlandishly fun challenges, stunts, and competitions.

Niko says, "Try out Free Mode!"

I've attempted to come up with a few of my own on-the-fly game types. I hope you'll enjoy your time with my suggestions, but more importantly, I hope you can use them as a springboard to create a few of your own home-brew game modes.

You might be surprised just what your own
imagination and the sprawling canvas of
Liberty City can combine to create.

Automotive Skeet Shooting

Taking a newly found stunt jump at full speed is a reward in and of itself, but online with friends in Free Mode these stunt jumps take on a life of their own. For example, while a vehicle sailing free and easy through the air looks great, it's also a prime target for a well-aimed rocket-launcher missile.

What could be more fun than a bit of automotive skeet shooting then? Line up a bunch of folks in cars well away from a stunt jump ramp and then place one player with rocket launcher in hand roughly halfway between the stunt jump and the landing zone.

It's great fun to hear your buddy with the launcher yell, "Pull!" while you thunder down the street, shoot off the ramp, see the missile fly forth on target with your car, and then bail out just in time to witness the fiery impact while plummeting to the street below.

Race to Target

The Race and GTA Race competitive game modes online have their place, but there's something to be said too for simply picking a designated spot on the map, lining everyone up on a street corner, then sending the whole lot racing to find a car and make their own route to the desired location. Just be sure to select a well known landmark, such as the airport runway, lest the competitors get confused about where they're heading.

So many possibilities.

Grand Theft …

You know the Grand Theft Auto name exists for a purpose. Nabbing and delivering cars has always had a place in the series, and what better way to acknowledge the game's roots than an all-out race to steal a set of predetermined cars and deliver them back to a set location.

The trick here is that you need a referee of sorts to not only call out the name of the car, but also to determine which players deliver the cars in what order. To simplify matters and make the proceedings a bit less boring for the referee, consider rotating the referee out after every round. Also, since most players aren't intimately familiar with the names of all the different cars, try calling them out by type, such as four-door sedan, motorcycle, limousine, armored car, truck, etc.

Hunters and Prey

This combination of sniper practice and careful street navigation is fraught with tension. First, cordon off a predetermined area (downtown Algonquin works best for this), of say, four square blocks with half the players finding their way to rooftops with sniper rifles, and the other half milling about the streets of the city below on foot.

The goal here is for the snipers to take out as many of the pedestrian players as they can within ten minutes or so. However, if the sniper hits a bystander by accident, they're instantly disqualified. Likewise, the pedestrian players must stay constantly on the move while in relatively plain sight, though they can walk and blend in with other pedestrians. Swap out the teams of snipers and pedestrians after every round, and you've got hours of good times.

Chase and Escape

Time and time again, you've chased underworld scum through the streets of Liberty City in single-player mode, but it's time to take the idea online with friends. Place an escape car with one player two blocks ahead of a chase car filled with three players. Then, set a designated point for the escapee to reach.

Sound the starting gun and see if the escapee player can outwit the pursuing car with its three submachine-gun toting passengers and make it alive to the escape point without their car catching on fire. It's similar to the Cops n' Crooks game mode, but with all the action confined to vehicles.

Ready to launch.

Biker Flight

Need a quick and easy diversion while you're waiting for a few other friends to show up? Try a little game of Biker Flight, where each player collides at top speed with a parked car at the top of a hill to see just how far they can fly and roll in a single shot.

Sure, it's not a marathon session game type, but there are few things funnier than watching your buddy flail in the air as they launch from a 100mph collision on their way to a serious case of virtual road rash.

The preceding suggestions are just that. Sure, they're fun, but they should get your own creative juices flowing. You might be surprised just what your own imagination and the sprawling canvas of Liberty City can combine to create.

Article by Ryan Treit