THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Three days ago a list of the GTA4 achievements began floating about the web. It’s still not known whether they are true or not, but either way it provides an interesting look at what the achievements could be. You’ve probably all seen the list by now, but if you haven’t, then here it is, but complete with a discussion of each one and some cool stuff that Rockstar could put in.

I’ve split the achievements into 4 categories: interesting, fun, standard and self explanatory and story - in that order. The standard category is where the more mundane of achievements go, but also the ones that are self explanatory eg. Win 20 singleplayer street races. These achievements may be fun, but only the funnest go in the fun category, which is reserved for the achievements that look like they’ll be the most enjoyable to get eg. blow up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds. Interesting is the section in which the achievements go if they tell us something about the game we didn’t know already, or if I have had any ideas of what they could mean. Finally, the story category, is for story achievements.

So without further ado, away we go.

Interesting Achievements

Driving Mr. Bellic 10G - Unlock the special ability of taxi.

This achievement requires you to unlock the special ability of taxi. This is a bit strange when you look at previous entries in the series, where you just get into a taxi (no need to unlock) and press in the right analogue stick to activate the missions. In the old games taxi missions were just picking up fares, for more and more money, in less and less time, but these look to be different. To start with why is it a special ability? It could be that you unlock the ability to transport people, when on a mission. We already know that there are numerous ways to complete a task and this could open up another option. For example: picking a target up in a taxi, pretending your taking him to a conference or something, and then driving it off a pier, jumping off at the last minute, then shooting him when he’s in the water. I hope this is what it is, not just a strange way of saying, unlock taxi missions.

Retail Therapy 10G - Unlock the special ability of buying guns from a friend.

Next up is the Retail Therapy achievement, worth a rather small 10G. This achievement is for unlocking another special ability: to buy guns from a friend. Like with the taxi ability, this could be unlocking some gun dealer in the singleplayer, or it could be something much better: trading guns and weapons with a buddy online. Picture this: you got GTA4 on launch and have now completed it, a friend of yours was a bit late to the game and is just starting it. He complains to you how he only has a pathetic pistol and a weak SMG, and so you offer to sell him your police issue shotgun for a certain amount of money. It could be a neat way to made some dough, but there are a few problems with this theory. Primarily that, if a guy had just started the game, he wouldn’t have enough money to buy any decent gun off you. That said, it could still be useful if you have two veteran players, one of which has a rare unlockable weapon. However, as I said before, this is probably some singleplayer gun dealer, especially as it’s classed as a ’special ability’.

Over Fulfilled 10G - Complete all 10 Exotic Export orders.

The Over Fulfilled achievement, is probably stealing cars and getting them to a dock, hence the achievement description: complete all 10 Exotic Export orders. This isn’t really a new idea, but it could be fun driving an expensive sports car, while being chased by people who want to stop you for some reason. Alternatively, it could be finding cars and bringing them back to the shop, much like the ‘Chop Shop’ missions in Saints Row, or the Impound system in Crackdown. Actually, looking at it now, I think the first option is more likely, as will become apparent when you look at the next achievement.

You Got The Message 20G - Deliver all 30 cars ordered through text message.

The phone in GTA4 is much expanded, complete with a radio, camera, and the ability to call people at leisure. I’d imagine this achievement requires you to deliver 30 cars that someone has ordered by sending a text message to your phone. I guess this will be the one where you hunt down a car and deliver it to a garage.

Manhunt 15G - Complete the most wanted side missions from the police computer.

I presume this is: complete the ‘most wanted’ side mission. As opposed to: complete the most ‘wanted’ side missions. Interestingly enough you now get these missions (previously called vigilante) from a computer, not just by pressing the right analogue stick when in a police car. It looks like Rockstar are making it a bit more realistic, but it’s hard to imagine why the police would recruit Niko to hunt down criminals. Unless they want to use Niko’s criminal contacts.

Cleaned the Mean Streets 20G - Capture 20 criminals through the police computer.

Basically complete 20 of the missions discussed above. That is, unless it means you literally have to capture criminals through the computer ie. pulling a drug dealer through the monitor to capture him. Funny? No.

Sightseer 5G - Fly on all helicopter tours of Liberty City

What is a helicopter tour? I can’t imagine Rockstar would force the player to sit in a helicopter that flies round Liberty City, when the player could do it themselves,but actually flying the helicopter, not just sitting in it. Anybody got any ideas? Just leave them in the comment box.

Warm Coffee 5G - Successfully date a girl to be invited into her house.

Obviously a reference to the Hot Coffee mini-game controversy, this shows an expansion on the dating from San Andreas.

That’s How We Roll! 10G - Unlock the special ability of helicopter.

Then there’s another of these ’special ability’ achievements. I don’t know why, but they’re bothering me. They seem to be worded strangely, like there more than just unlocking something. The That’s How We Roll! achievement is the best example of this. Instead of saying: You unlocked the helicopter. It says: Unlock the special ability of helicopter. Unlock the special ability of helicopter? Weird. To class it as a special ability it must mean that you can use a helicopter in missions, I’d be surprised if it just put a helicopter at your house. Any ideas?

Dial B For Bomb 10G - Unlock the special ability of phoning for a bomb to be placed.

Another ’special ability’. The more of I see these, the more I think they are to do with ways of undertaking main and side missions. Obviously getting a bomb to be placed would be very useful in an assassination or when taking over some territory, though I doubt this will be allowed in multiplayer, to keep it balanced.

Join The Midnight Club 10G - Win a ranked multiplayer race without damaging your vehicle too much and with damaged enabled.

The achievement title is a reference to Rockstar San Diego’s Midnight Club street racing franchise. Presumably not damaging your vehicle ‘too much’, is completing the race without destroying your car, or only doing a certain amount of damage. Hopefully the racing will be decent, and that the damage will look nice.

Fly The Co-op 15G - Beat our time in ranked versions of “Deal Breaker”, “Hangman’s NOOSE” and “Bomb da Base II”.

As far as I’m aware these are all co-op missions, and the achievement will see you trying to beat times that Rockstar have set. Bomb da Base II might be a reference to the Bomb da Base mission in GTA3 (mission 27).

Auf Wiedersehen Petrovic 30G - Win all ranked multiplayer variations, all races and “Cops ‘n Crooks”, as both sides.

The achievement title is a reference to Auf Wiedersehen Pet (’Goodbye Pet’ in German. Pet is a name), which was a British comedy-drama about a group of 7 British migrant construction workers. Anyway, as for the GTA side of it, the ‘Cops ‘n Crooks’ multiplayer mode sees one team of police officers trying to stop the other team of criminals from escaping, which sounds awesome. To get the achievement you have to win all the ranked multiplayer modes, all races and “Cops ‘n Crooks”, as both sides. That sounds pretty time consuming so I think the 30G reward is about right.

Liberty City (5) 20G - After meeting all possible friends, the ones left alive all like you above 90%.

This reveals that all the main characters probably have a disposition meter and can like or dislike you, depending on your actions. I’d guess that as you progress through the main story, you meet lots of friends and after you’ve completed the main campaign some will be dead. This achievement requires you to get all those remaining people to like you above 90% on their disposition meter, either by doing tasks for them, or bringing them gifts.

No More Strangers 5G - Meet all random characters.

Most likely is that you just have to see every random pedestrian at least once.

Fun Achievements

These are all the achievements that I think will be the funnest to go for.

Rolled Over 30G - Do 5 car rolls in a row from one crash.

And what a crash that will be…

Walk Free 50G - Lose a 4 star wanted rating by outrunning the cops.

This is always a fun thing to do, get 4 star, then escape. It was very difficult to escape from a 4 star wanted level in the previous games so hopefully there will be more ways of doing it this time - like calling to get your car switched, not just resprayed.

Chain Reaction 20G - You must blow up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds.

For all you Maths fans, that’s an average of 1 a second.

One Man Army 40G - Survive 5 minutes on 6 star wanted level.

I don’t need an achievement to try doing this. It looks to be tough though due to its 40G reward.

Assassin’s Greed 20G - Complete all 9 assassin missions.

What I’m hoping for from these missions, if some Hitman-esque assassinations, or maybe assassins creed (look at achievement title). You know the stuff I mean: using disguises, sneaking in through windows (which is probably possible now that Niko can climb telephone poles), and dragging bodies into cupboards. If these are done well, they’ll be amazing, but if they’re done badly they will really suck. However, knowing Rockstar’s previous track record, I very much doubt they’ll leave something rushed or unfinished. Apart from Bully Scholarship Edition, that is. I kid, I kid.

Under the Radar 40G - Fly underneath the main bridges in the game that cross water with a helicopter.

The GTA series sees a return of bridges! Who knows, there may be a storm that prevents you from going over them, until you’ve completed a certain story mission. Just a guess. Anyway, flying under the bridges shouldn’t be too hard with a helicopter - they usually fairly easy to control. It’s just a shame we cant do it with a plane (there are not planes in GTA4).

Standard and Self-explanatory Achievements

As said in the intro, these are all the sort of achievements, we expect to have in a GTA game.

Pool Shark 10G - Beat a friend at pool.

This achievement requires you to beat a friend at pool. This is probably online, and will be probably be like the pool game in San Andreas. However, it could be with a friend offline or and AI opponent in the singleplayer mode. Either way you can bet it will just be a pool mini game - which is not complaint.

King of QUB3D 15G - Beat the High Score in QUB3D

This is probably one of the mini arcade machine games, like in other games in the GTA series, and Bully. Not sure what the name suggests, maybe a sci-fi or puzzle game?

Finish Him 15G - Complete 10 melee counters in 4 minutes

This reveals that the hand to hand combat system has been revamped a bit - there are now counters. Hopefully we can see some cool moves, and a chance to buy or unlock new ones as the game progresses. The combat is one of the things in the GTA series that has never been quite right, and hopefully this is a step forward.

Genetically Superior 25G - Come first in 20 singleplayer street races.

GTA4 has at least 20 street races. Yay… I doubt Rockstar will put a Midnight Club quality racer in here, otherwise no one would buy Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

Wheelie Rider 30G - Do a wheelie lasting at least 500 feet on a motorbike.

Could be fun to get, but shouldn’t be too difficult.

Gobble Gobble 10G - Score 3 strikes in a row, a turkey, in 10-pin bowling.

Another mini game now, but this time it’s bowling. Hopefully it’s done well and has online and offline multiplayer. That said it will never be as fun with the PS3 or 360 gamepad as it is with the Wii mote.

Courier Service 10G - Complete all 10 package delivery jobs.

Probably just a set of standard side missions involving taking a package from A to B, with guys chasing.

It’ll Cost Ya 5G - Complete a taxi ride without skipping from one island to another.

Not quite sure what this one means. Anybody know?

Half Million 55G - Reach a balance of $500,000.

Self explanatory. Complete missions and earn $500,000.

Dare Devil 30G - Complete 100% of the unique stunt jumps.

The stunt jumps are back and there must be quite a few to warrant the 30G reward.

Key To The City 100G - Achieve 100% in “Game progress” statistic.

Complete the game, unlock and find everything. This could take you a while. The achievement name, ‘Keys to the City’, might be a reference to the mode in the ‘Free for all’ Crackdown expansion pack that let you spawn items and activate god mode - a lot of fun with a friend. Maybe if you get 100% completion in GTA4 you get some tools like that, I know I’d sure love to spawn 100 explosive barrels in Liberty City, but I think it’s unlikely.

Teamplayer 10G - Kill 5 players who are not in your team, in any ranked multiplayer team game.

Not really anything to say on this one, just don’t team kill and you should be ok.

Take It For The Team 10G - Be on the winning team in all ranked multiplayer team games.

Win one match in each multiplayer mode, of which there are 15.

Top Of The Food Chain 10G - Kill 20 players with a pistol in a ranked multiplayer deathmatch.

Self explanatory. It does show that there is more than one pistol as it says ‘a pistol’ not ‘the pistol’, but that was kind of obvious anyway.

Top The Midnight Club 20G - Come first in 20 different ranked standard multiplayer races.

By the use of the word ’standard’ it implies that there is also custom races. Rockstar have obviously set up at least 20 different tracks complete with conditions, that are balanced fairly, and racing on these is how you get yourself an achievement.

Wanted 20G - Achieve the highest personal rank in multiplayer.

This is probably a rank like in Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 - as you win more games, you increase your rank. In Call of Duty 4 the ranks are all army ranks, but these will probably be more gangster (I’m hip). I personally love ranks in games as you get rewarded the more you play, this would be great to see in GTA4 and hopefully a higher rank will unlock weapons or clothes. I’d imagine getting to the highest rank in GTA4 will be equivalent to becoming an Elite in Rainbow 6: Vegas, though it might be a bit easier, since the achievement is only 20G.

Cut Your Teeth 5G - Earn a personal rank promotion in multiplayer

As above, except here you are rewarded for getting one rank, not the highest rank.

Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie 10G - Kill a Rockstar developer in a ranked multiplayer match.

Pretty easy this one, depending on how good the developer is. What they usually do with these achievements though, is that you unlock it if you beat a developer, or someone who has beaten a developer. In other words, if I kill a Rockstar dev, then you kill me, we will both get the achievement.

Endangered Species 50G - Collect every hidden package in the game.

50G is quite a lot, so expect about 100 packages to collect. As in previous GTA games, they’ll be scattered all over the map, probably with a reward for collecting the all such as unlimited breath under water. In San Andreas they replaced the hidden packages seen in the previous games with horseshoes, tags, snapshots and oysters. Rockstar have obviously decided to go back to the old ways, with just one collectible item: the hidden package. Another thing they might do if put a reward in each package, getting better and better the more you fin - a much better idea in my opinion.

THE STORY ACHIEVEMENTS ARE UP NEXT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Story Achievements

I’m not really going to say anything on these, since I don’t know anything about the story, and can’t really gain anything about it from these achievements.

Lowest Point 5G - Complete mission “Roman’s Sorrow”.

Roman is Niko’s cousin who persuades him to move to Liberty city. The low 5G implies this is either an easy or early mission.

Impossible Trinity 10G - Complete mission “Museum Piece”.

Full Exploration 20G - Unlock all the islands.

You’ll get this by completing the story.

Gracefully Taken 10G - Complete mission “I’ll Take Her”.

That Special Someone 10G - Complete mission “That Special Someone”.

You Won! 60G - Complete the final mission.

Liberty City Minute 30G - Complete the story missions in less than 30 hours.

Fed The Fish 5G - Complete the mission “Uncle Vlad”.

Phew! Well there you have it. Every GTA4 achievement, discussed in detail (except a few). Now I know the achievements might be fake, but looking at the names and the descriptions they seem fairly plausible to me. Hope you enjoyed reading through and if you disagree with anything or have any ideas, just hit us up with a comment in the box below.

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Sources: 360Sync