1. Welcome Back to Liberty City

The Cousins Bellic

*NOTE: At any time, go to the pause menu and look under Brief to see the mission you are on.*

Once you have the car, notice that there will be yellow routes on your mini map that help you get to where you need to be easier. Just drive around the obstacles and get on the road, follow the map, and you'll soon be at the "Mansion", and at some point learn how to change the radio station.

After Roman leaves, go take a nap to save your game. Either check the controls in the pause menu, use your booklet or up above in this guide, or just wait for the game to tell you, just make sure you have all the controls down at some point.

*NOTE: You can watch TV, but not now, this is the wrong time to watch TV in a video game. Later.*

Now walk out the door, down the steps, and on the street you learn how to run and sprint (hold to run, tap to sprint). Go across the street and buy a hotdog for $5. Feel free to change the perspective; you have long, close, and over-the-shoulder views.

Now go steal a car, hopefully out of sight of cops, and then drive to the "R" on your map to meet Roman.

It's Your Call

After that, note of the message of how to zoom in and out of your radar, and if you hold that button, the view stays zoomed out. Now get in the car and drive along the yellow line on the radar. And even though the rules of the road in real life seem to apply most to this game than previous games, feel free to drive through red lights and into oncoming traffic, but at your own risk.

Once at the marker, just stay still after Roman leaves. Now just wait for a phone call and answer it, then keep waiting. After a time, you say "and these must be the loan sharks" and that is your cue to press the UP button to bring up your cell phone in the lower right corner. Open the menu, all of which the messages tell you, and open the phonebook to call Roman.

When he gets back in, hurry up and swing around the block to go back to the cab depot, which is where you picked up Roman; so if you forgot the route, just follow the yellow route, easy. No need to go too fast, as you will lose the loan sharks very quickly if you half know how to drive. Be sure to take him to the side of the building, and not the garage you came out of.

After the mission is over, feel free to mess around with your phone. Yes, you can change the ringtone, ring style, and a few other things in the options menu. You can even go into multiplayer from here, and if you use the sleep function, the storyline will be stopped until you turn it back off; so best not to touch the sleep button.

*NOTE: Any PS3 people that go into the Sixaxis tutorial thing, don't. In fact, all Sixaxis controls are off by default, so keep it that way. If you actually go into the tutorial by mistake, bring up the phone again to exit because I have no clue what they want you to do as a stunt; I flipped forward and backward and nothing.*

Now, after a while you should get a text message from Roman, so feel free to go drive around and take in the sights until then. When you get the message, bring up your phone, open it, and then call Roman who will tell you to come back to the shop. Just follow the "R" on your map and you should get there, or use the map in the pause menu if you get lost.

Three's A Crowd

After the scene, get in the cab and drive to the south and honk the horn to call the girls in the car. Take them all the way straight north and then Roman gives you a call.

*NOTE: The radio station WKTT is a good one to check out.*

Now you must find some threads. Go back south and you will hit Hob-something-or-other; just go in. You have some glasses, terrible hats, boots, sneakers, jackets, a few kinds of pants, and just a nice collection of clothes all over. Remember, try on whatever you want, don't buy if you don't want them, and know that there are other colors in most of the clothes available. I say just buy some blue sneakers and that is enough, but you can make yourself as terrible as you want to look.

Exit the shop and call Roman, then feel free to call you new love interest, Michelle (in the phonebook on your phone). Now drive back north, up the street to the "M" marker to meet your girl.

*NOTE: Don't forget you can save at Roman's house at any time.*

Bleed Out

*NOTE: You could actually go on the date with Michelle first, it doesn't matter at all. You just do the date, pick up Roman from the hospital, then you get another chance to do this.*

However, during the drive you should get a call from Roman to help him out, which is at the "R" on your map, and you get blue street routes as you get closer. Once at the basketball courts, get out of you car and run around and in through the opening. After a quick scene, use lock on and beat up the two bad guys, which can be done by just mashing the attack buttons if you want.

Now Dardan will be driving away, so run to your car, wait for Roman to get in, and then follow the red dot on your map. Just follow the dot as best you can and at some point he will stop near the docks and run up some stairs, so get out and follow him to an empty room and beat him up. Take his knife and then back in the car.

*NOTE: If you killed him by the glass, he will fall out in a nice little animation.*

*NOTE: The same buttons to change station will change your weapon, or at this point just put away your knife.*

Drive back to the depot, and let Roman out. Michelle should give you a text, so read it and then call, or just go meet her.

First Date

When you go into her house, you are given a brief and highly sensational rundown of the "activities" throughout the city.

As for the date, just calmly drive her down to the "funfair" to the south end of this island. Sorry, no funfair today, but instead go up the ramp and take a left to find the bowling alley door along the boardwalk. Go in, ask the cashier to bowl, and go pick a lane.

Okay, so move around with the LS, then pull the RS back and throw it forward to throw the ball, and you can use the RS while the ball is rolling to apply some aftertouch. Best to move a bit to the left, just a few steps. And feel free to skip Michelle's turn if you want. Don't forget to check the score, and you are Niko, FYI. Also, don't apply too much aftertouch, just a nudge. You guys just play five rounds, so feel free to win as she should get around a 30 or so.

After that, just drive her back to her place and the date is a success. Now, you can call her for a date, but it is best to wait for her to call you at this time. So for now, just go save your game, or visit Roman.

However, go up to Roman's shop and just up the street will be a guy, which is a green marker on the map. Go up to the weirdo and all he does is give you $100, odd but we'll take it. Now go meet Roman.

Easy Fare

Just take the crappy cab up north to the area where Michelle lives and pick up Jermaine. Drive him back a bit to the south and into an alley. After a moment the cops will appear and break up the deal, so just drive forward, on the grass, and start driving away from the flashing zone on the radar that is the cops chasing you. You need to make sure you don't cause much trouble, like running into cars and people, or else that will bring more attention to you. Good driving is the key to outrunning and staying low when out of the zone. Once you are out of the area, just park the car somewhere and your wanted level will go away.

*NOTE: A good tip to driving is using the handbrake.*

Once you shake them, take Jermaine to his next place, somewhere in the center of the area you've been in for this early part of the game. Feel free to use this Pay N Spray to fix your car as the first paint job is on the house. Also remember that this place will clear your wanted levels, and is it marked on your map.

After that, make your way back to Roman's, or save.

Jamaican Heat

*NOTE: This may be a good time to turn on subtitles in the options menu.*

Just go up the street and take a right, then honk the horn to call Little Jacob in. Drive up and to the east a bit and you are given a pistol. Drive him to the alley and then go up the ramp to the marker and crouch. Just wait for the gangsters to show, then follow the messages that help you lock on and shoot. Kill the first three, then wait for one more guy to appear on the roof up above and get him. Then go down and collect the ammo and then get back into the car. Drive him a bit further east and that's it. Kudos if you understood a word he said.

*NOTE: While locked-on, press the RS up to point your crosshair at the guy's
head.*

After that, answer the call by Roman, and after a bit of time, Vlad will call you. Answer and then go toward the safe house, save if you wish, and then go meet Vlad. You will get a call from Little Jacob too, but for now just go to Vlad. Roman will also call you too at some point. But just go to Vlad across the street from your safe house.