hen Rockstar added multiplayer to the Grand Theft Auto experience, it didn’t throw in deathmatch and capture-the-flag and call it good. Nope. With GTA IV, players can go online and play more than a dozen different multiplayer games, including straight-up races to mission-based co-op fragfests. As good as those games are, the Free Mode really is the main attraction. Letting up to 16 players loose in Liberty City—with pedestrians, traffic, cops and all—was a stroke of evil genius, not to mention a technical achievement. Once you’ve gotten past the initial thrill of creating mayhem and capping all comers, you and your partners in crime might be craving something a little more structured. With that in mind, we’ve come up with a ton of games to occupy your time in Liberty City. And be sure to watch our video of some of the games in action—we had a blast working on these, and we can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with in the weeks and months to come.

King of the Fire Truck
4-8 players
Special Settings: Police Off
Special Rules: Player in fire truck must stay stationary

This is the Liberty City Fire Department’s version of king of the hill. Drive down to the fire station in Fishmarket South and look for a fire truck. If one doesn’t appear, drive a few blocks away and come back to try to force spawn it. Once someone has a fire truck, drive it to the Helitours helipad that’s just a little bit farther south. Move a few of the helicopters out of the way and park the truck in the center. One person is the sprayer, and the rest are trying to get in the truck. The sprayer uses the water hose on the truck to try and knock back the advancing players There are three passenger seats in the truck, so this is our podium. The first person to get in gets first, second in is second place and third is third place.

Tip: If you’re trying to get into the truck, try and zig zag when you run to throw off the sprayer.

Party Bus
8-16 players
Special Settings: Police Off, Traffic Parked
Special Rules: No grenades, no leaving the bus after starting

No, this isn’t the party bus you rode on in college. This party bus is a driving death machine. In the drive-by game, players make teams of four and head to Star Junction. There you can usually find up to four parked buses. Load up on weapons that can be fired from a vehicle like Uzis and pile into the buses. There are four ends to the dual street architecture of Star Junction. Each bus starts from one of these ends and starts barreling towards the middle. Players can now open up fire on the other buses and try to either take them all out or destroy the bus using bullets. Last bus alive is the winner.

Tip: Go for the tires. It won’t stop the enemy bus but it will cause hilarious agony.

Hide ‘n Seek
4-16 players
Special Settings: Vehicles Parked, Blips Off, Gamertags Off, Police Off, Auto-Aim Off
Special Rules: No car use allowed, only “it” player can use weapons

Classic hide and seek rules apply here, but with the GTA twist. This is one of those “the more, the merrier” types of game. We strip free mode down to its core by turning a lot of stuff off here. One player is picked to be “it” and the rest are “runners” that go and hide. Pick an obvious beginning “base,” like one of the many Ron gas stations. Only the “it” player may use weapons, and it’s not a bad idea to give him/her a few minutes to load up. The “it” player must start counting down from one minute while everyone else scatters in different directions. After the “it” man announces that the min is up, everyone has to try and get back to the base alive. Having the radar blips turned off prevents the “it” man from cheating and seeing where the “runners” are coming from. The first person to make it back alive gets to be “it” next round.

Tip: If you’re a “runner,” you won’t show up on the radar but you will have a colored marker above your head when in visual range of another player that gives you away. Crouching will make this go away, but it will make you move slower.

Tip: If you’re “it,” don’t hover around the base too close or no one will want to approach it. On the other hand, you also don’t want to stray too far away from the base or let it out of your sight if you decide to go “runner” hunting. Also remember auto-aim is off so don’t get too cocky.

Aerial Bocce Ball
5-15 players
Special Settings: Spawn Near, Police Off
Special Rules: Minimum One Player Ref, Teams Must Have Two or More Players

Have everyone meets up at the Helitours area just south of the Broker Bridge. Everyone except one player will pile into the helicopters and fly as high as possible. The goal is to jump out and land as close as they can to one of the “H” markings. Think human-on-human target practice. The player on the ground is the referee and will watch where the bodies land and keep track of who is closest. The teams will have to work together. The pilot of the chopper wants to aim as well as possible for when the players jump out.

Tip: when you’re piloting, make sure you take in account for who’s jumping out of what side of the helicopter or you may miss by a mile. Use the right stick too position the camera directly about the vehicle.