GTA IV beginner guide: Roman’s jobs, saving and getting around
Begin Niko’s campaign with a practical plan for missions, saves, taxis and combat.
The original GTA IV base campaign starring Niko Bellic, including its PC Complete Edition version. The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony have separate protagonists, activities and exclusive cheats. Cover artwork comes from Complete Edition; used gameplay pictures depict Niko.
Start with The Cousins Bellic
Drive Roman from the docks to his apartment in Hove Beach, following the route on the radar. This establishes your first safehouse and the starting district. Continue Roman’s nearby jobs before treating the entire city as an open checklist: later missions introduce contacts and expand access.
Keep a manual save before major decisions
Use a safehouse bed to save, and keep several slots rather than repeatedly replacing one file. Safehouses also provide a place to change clothes. A spare save is especially useful before story choices or a session experimenting with cheats, because autosaves can replace a convenient return point.
Use taxis between familiar destinations
Hail an available taxi and enter as a passenger instead of stealing it. Choose a destination such as a mission marker or your waypoint, then ride or pay to skip the journey. Taxis are useful when you want to reach the next activity without another cross-city drive.
Prepare before starting a long mission
Replace lost armor and ammunition before a difficult job, and move between cover during gunfights. Leave room to brake before corners instead of trying to correct every turn with the handbrake. If a mission fails, identify whether health, ammunition or the route caused it before repeating the same approach.
Set a map waypoint before entering a taxi when the destination is not already in its menu.
Picture details
Game artwork belongs to its respective rights holders.