I’ve been a hardcore gamer for almost 30 years. One of my favorite series is Grand Theft Auto, especially Grand Theft Auto 5. To top it off, I am also a perfectionist, so I find myself trying to get perfect games in most of the games that I play. Grand Theft Auto 5 being one of them. The purpose for this post is to outline some tips and tricks I’ve uncovered while playing Grand Theft Auto 5. Both online and offline.
The game I am going to write about now is the newest Grand Theft Auto installment, which is Grand Theft Auto 5. I have been playing (at the time of this first writing) over 100 hours in the game. I am close to 130 hours total, with a pretty good bit of achievements. I have finished all the spaceship parts, under the bridges, submarine pieces, nuclear waste, almost all of the freaks and strangers, bought several of the properties, finished about 75% of the main story missions, and I am currently working on the stunt jumps and some other things. Overall I have gotten a lot done in the game. Over the next few months I will finish the rest and close it out for a perfect game. I am taking a break from it right this minute in an attempt to get some time clocked in Skyrim. However, I will be going back to it on and off for the next month or two until I complete it, please note that as I play the game in the coming months I might come back and add to/expand to this blog post to add more information. Let’s get started.
Middle Finger Time
The first thing I have noticed is a fairly simple feature in Grand Theft Auto 5. If you are in a car, motorcycle, or other vehicle. Set your selected weapon to your fists, and fire. Your weapon will be your middle finger. You can give passer-biers, cars, and pedestrians the middle finger and your character will also throw in some color commentary during that time as well. This elicits an angry response from whoever is on the receiving end of the middle finger.
Most people probably already know this, but I didn’t figure it out until late in the game, so I thought I would mention it.
Helicopter Access
In a minute I am going to talk some about the “Under the Bridge” events in Grand Theft Auto 5, but before we discuss that we need to discuss helicopters…because your going to need one to get that anyway.
Basically the game itself makes it pretty hard to get a helicopter unless you know where to go, what to do, and how to get one. After over 130 hours of game play I have found (and memorized) how to get two different types of helicopters anytime you need.
The image above is the first location. Directly where the marker is, there is a hospital. It’s easy to find, just find the lowest interstate heading out of the city. Once there, pinpoint it on your map, I have the location memorized. If you can’t find it, then go near the area and die and let it re spawn you at the hospital. Once in the area circle the building until you see a ladder going up. Once up there, you will see another ladder going up. Up on that roof is one of the spaceship parts anyway, but besides that are two helicopter pads. 95% of the time there is a large ambulance chopper for you to steal. Quick, easy, and without raising attention. There was only one situation where the helicopter wasn’t there, and I just went down the road and came back, and it re-spawned. Most of the time there are two.
Now to explain how to get the better helicopter. Generally you will first go ahead and get the ambulance chopper explained above (makes it a lot easier to find the next one which also happens to be the best one in the game.
The location listed above is a military base. Fly your other helicopter over it, but out of site until you see a helipad. About 60% of the time a Buzzard will spawn there. If not, fly down the road, fly back and check again. After checking 3-4 times at the most one should appear, if not be a little patient. So far I have only found armed Buzzards, not sure if unarmed form spawn here. Anyway, by default it’s armed with missiles and machine guns. It is also the smallest helicopter in the game, which is required for some of the under the bridge events. Some of them can’t be done with the regular sized helicopters.
Under The Bridge
I am just going to point out a few of the “aggravating ones” to save you some time on trial and error. First off the two southern bridges at the bottom of the map are hard to trigger. Basically any bridges that are very close to each other are hard to trigger. If you trigger one bridge, then go under another bridge before the completion message for the first one is over, then it glitches on the second. It’ll either not give credit, or give credit but not update in your menu. Either way go under each bridge one at a time, nice and steady and make sure to give the message from the completion of each one time to complete before moving under the next. Go slow and deliberate and count to make sure you get each one you go under.
Also, make sure that your helicopter doesn’t touch anything. If it bumps the water, bumps the side of the bridge or anything then it will not normally give you credit. Give it some time to practice and it doesn’t take long to get really good at flying the helicopter around.
The size of the helicopter matters a large chopper like the ambulance one, will do most bridges..but there are at least 5 that seem to require the buzzard. Two of them I am thinking of in specifically that were very complicated and I had to have the buzzard to finally get them to trigger.
Tire Destruction
A little fun thing to do on the side. Get a sniper rifle, hide somewhere really good and blow the tires off of passing vehicles. Just something fun to help pass the time when you don’t feel like doing anything else. It also greatly improves your aim by hitting a moving target that is such a small target to hit. Just a way to practice some without having to be in the shooting range.
Sewer Escape
The exactly entry/exit points for the sewer can be seen here: http://gtaforums.com/topic/606124-where-are-the-sewers/ Basically this unlocks after the first big heist. The sewers are glitched. The cops never chase you into the sewers. So anytime the cops are on you, and you want to shake them, head into the sewers. Just head to the nearest entrance and go straight into the sewers. This is great for long missions where it forces you to trigger the police, and you can’t seem to shake that 3 star wanted level for you to be able to complete that mission. Perfect for those, and other situations where you want to get away from the cop.
Get The APP
The most important piece of advice I can give you is get the IFruit app from the android market, and several other platforms as well. Anyway, this app has a checklist breakdown of every single quest, collectible, side event and so forth. Use this app/list as you play the game and check stuff off as you complete it and/or find it. I guarantee it’s the easiest way to track yourself to a perfect game and makes keeping up with stuff very easy.
Final
As I put more time into the game and continue playing over time, I will add more stuff to this post as I find new stuff and/or think about new stuff. I am also willing and able to answer pretty much any questions about Grand Theft Auto 5. So if your stuck, need help, have questions or anything just throw them in the comments and I will answer the best I can.
The game I am going to write about now is the newest Grand Theft Auto installment, which is Grand Theft Auto 5. I have been playing (at the time of this first writing) over 100 hours in the game. I am close to 130 hours total, with a pretty good bit of achievements. I have finished all the spaceship parts, under the bridges, submarine pieces, nuclear waste, almost all of the freaks and strangers, bought several of the properties, finished about 75% of the main story missions, and I am currently working on the stunt jumps and some other things. Overall I have gotten a lot done in the game. Over the next few months I will finish the rest and close it out for a perfect game. I am taking a break from it right this minute in an attempt to get some time clocked in Skyrim. However, I will be going back to it on and off for the next month or two until I complete it, please note that as I play the game in the coming months I might come back and add to/expand to this blog post to add more information. Let’s get started.