Liberty City is miserable. It’s grey, it’s raining, and Niko Bellic is probably getting a call from Roman about bowling for the fifth time today. But that’s the charm of it. When Rockstar dropped GTA IV back in 2008, it wasn't the neon-soaked playground of Vice City or the sprawling countryside of San Andreas. It was heavy. The cars drove like boats, the physics felt dangerously real, and the stakes were higher. But even in a game this serious, sometimes you just want to spawn an attack helicopter in the middle of Times Square—or Star Junction, rather. That is where grand theft auto 4 iv cheats xbox 360 come into play. They aren't just shortcuts; they are the pressure valve for a game that takes itself very seriously.
Unlike the previous entries in the series, you don’t just mash a sequence of buttons while standing on a street corner. Rockstar decided to get "modern." You have to pull out Niko’s cell phone. It felt revolutionary at the time, though scrolling through a digital keypad with an Xbox 360 d-pad can be a bit of a clunky experience when you're under heavy fire from the LCPD.
The weird transition to digital cheating
Remember the old days? R1, R2, L1, X, Left, Down, Right, Up... you could do it from muscle memory. With the shift to the HD era, grand theft auto 4 iv cheats xbox 360 moved to the in-game phone. You hit Up on the d-pad twice to pull it out, then you manually punch in the numbers.
Once you’ve entered a code once, it saves in a "Cheats" menu at the bottom of the phone list. That’s a lifesaver. Honestly, trying to type 359-555-0100 while a swat team is ramming your Enus Cognoscenti is a recipe for a quick trip to the hospital.
One thing people often forget is how these cheats interact with the "realism" of the world. In San Andreas, a cheat felt like a reality-warping glitch. In GTA IV, it feels like Niko is making a very illegal phone call to a very well-connected friend. It fits the grit. But there is a catch—and it’s a big one for the completionists out there.
The Achievement Tax
You can’t just cheat your way to a 100% Gamerscore without a bit of planning. Rockstar implemented a system where certain codes "block" specific achievements for that session. If you spawn an Annihilator (359-555-0100), don't expect to get the "One Man Army" or "Walk Free" achievements easily. It makes sense. You shouldn't get a trophy for surviving a six-star wanted level if you literally conjured a gunship out of thin air.
If you're hunting for that 1000/1000 GS, you basically need two save files. One where you're the "honest" immigrant trying to make it in America, and another where you're a god-tier chaos agent with infinite health and a rocket launcher.
The essential grand theft auto 4 iv cheats xbox 360 list
If you're looking for the heavy hitters, the numbers you'll actually use, they haven't changed in nearly two decades.
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Health and Weapons
The most important one is 482-555-0100. That’s your lifeline. It restores your health, gives you full armor, and even repairs the car you’re currently sitting in. It’s the ultimate "oops" button. Then you have your weapon sets. 486-555-0100 gives you the basics—the pistol, the SMG, the assault rifle. If you want the "heavy" stuff, the combat sniper and the RPG, you're looking at 486-555-0150.
Wanted Levels
Sometimes the cops are just annoying. Dial 267-555-0100 to lose those stars. Conversely, if you're bored and want to see how long you can last against the FIB, 267-555-0150 will crank that wanted level right up.
Spawning Rides
The vehicles are where the fun really is.
- Annihilator (Police Helicopter): 359-555-0100
- Comet (The "Porsche"): 227-555-0175
- Turismo (The "Ferrari"): 227-555-0147
- NRG-900 (The fast bike): 625-555-0100
- FBI Washington: 227-555-0100
There are others, like the Cognoscenti or the Sanchez, but if we're being real, you're either spawning the fastest car in the game or the one with the mini-guns.
Why the physics matter here
GTA IV used the Euphoria physics engine. It's why Niko stumbles when he's drunk and why he flies through the windshield if you hit a wall at 80mph. Using grand theft auto 4 iv cheats xbox 360 to spawn a fast car like the Comet changes the game's loop entirely. The driving in this game is polarizing. Some people hate the weight; others think it's the best in the series. When you use cheats to bypass the struggle of finding a high-end car, you really get to feel that weight.
Try spawning a Comet in the middle of the narrow, cluttered streets of Alderney. You'll realize very quickly that having the "best" car doesn't make you the best driver. You'll be fishtailing into a hot dog stand within thirty seconds.
Misconceptions about "Unlimited" Cheats
A lot of old forum posts from 2009 claim there’s a "God Mode" cheat for the Xbox 360 version. There isn't. Not a real one, anyway.
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The health cheat (482-555-0100) restores your HP to full, but it doesn't make you invincible. If you fall off a skyscraper or get caught in a massive explosion, Niko is still going to the morgue. To get true invincibility, you’d need to look into PC mods or very specific glitches that aren't part of the standard cheat system.
Also, the "Money Cheat." Everyone asks for it. GTA III and San Andreas had them. GTA IV? No dice. There is no phone number you can dial to instantly put a million dollars in Niko's bank account. This was a deliberate choice by Rockstar. The game is a story about the struggle for the "American Dream." Having infinite money from Mission 1 would kind of break the narrative of Niko living in a "shithole" apartment with his cousin. If you need cash, you have to do it the hard way—missions, races, or killing a lot of people near ATMs.
Using Cheats in the DLCs (The Lost and Damned & The Ballad of Gay Tony)
When Episodes from Liberty City came out, the grand theft auto 4 iv cheats xbox 360 library actually expanded. If you're playing as Johnny Klebitz or Luis Lopez, the base game cheats still work, but you get some new toys.
In The Ballad of Gay Tony, for instance, you can spawn the Buzzard (359-555-2899). This is arguably the most fun vehicle in the entire GTA IV ecosystem. It's smaller than the Annihilator, way more maneuverable, and comes with rockets. Spawning a Buzzard in the middle of a mission feels like bringing a nuke to a knife fight.
Then there’s the parachute. You can’t use the parachute in the base game without mods, but in TBOGT, you just dial 345-555-0100. It opens up the entire verticality of the city. Suddenly, those skyscrapers aren't just scenery; they're base-jumping platforms.
The "Explosive Sniper" and "Super Punch"
TBOGT also introduced some wacky stuff that felt like a return to the San Andreas era of "fun over realism."
- Explosive Melee: 276-555-0100 (Punching a car and watching it fly is peak gaming).
- Explosive Sniper Rounds: 486-555-0150 (Note: This replaces the standard weapon set cheat in the DLC).
These cheats basically turn the game into a Michael Bay movie. If you're tired of the "serious" tone of Niko’s story, switching over to Luis Lopez and turning on explosive punches is the perfect antidote.
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Technical hiccups on the Xbox 360
We have to talk about the hardware. The Xbox 360 is a legendary console, but GTA IV pushed it to the absolute limit. When you start using grand theft auto 4 iv cheats xbox 360 to spawn multiple vehicles or cause massive chain-reaction explosions, the frame rate will dip.
I’ve seen the game crawl into the single digits when spawning too many Annihilators in a small area. There’s also the "Taxi Bug." If you’re using cheats or driving certain high-end cars, the game’s memory gets taxed, and it starts spawning only one type of vehicle—usually the yellow taxi—to save resources. It’s a well-documented issue. If your Liberty City suddenly looks like a taxi convention, it’s time to save, restart the console, and maybe chill out on the vehicle spawning for a bit.
Actionable steps for your next playthrough
If you're dusting off the 360 or playing via backwards compatibility on a newer Xbox, here is how to handle cheats the right way:
- Manual Save First: Never, ever trigger a cheat and then save over your primary "clean" file. You will eventually regret it when you realize you've locked yourself out of an achievement you wanted.
- The "Cheat" Menu: Don't waste time typing the number every time. Enter the most common ones (Health, Weapons, Wanted Level Down, Turismo) once while in a safe house. They will stay in your phone's "Cheats" menu forever.
- Use the Parachute: If you have the DLC, the parachute cheat is the best way to travel. Get a helicopter, fly to the height limit, bail out, and then spawn a new helicopter on a rooftop.
- Weather Control: Use 468-555-0100 to cycle through the weather. Liberty City looks stunning in the "Fog" or "Thunderstorm" settings, which really heightens the atmosphere of the final missions.
- Check Achievement Compatibility: If you are hunting for "Cleaned the Mean Streets" or "Finish Him," check a reliable guide to see which specific cheats disable them. Usually, health and weapons are the safest, but vehicle spawns are the most "dangerous" for achievements.
Liberty City is a grim place, but with the right codes in Niko's phone, it becomes your personal playground. Just remember to call Roman back eventually. Or don't. With a rocket launcher in your pocket, you make the rules.
How to manage your phone contacts for faster cheating
One little-known tip is that your phone contacts are sorted. While you can't manually "reorder" them, the "Cheats" menu always appears at the very bottom. On the Xbox 360 controller, you can often scroll "up" from the top of the list to wrap around to the bottom instantly. This saves you about three seconds of scrolling—which is the difference between life and a "Wasted" screen when the SWAT teams arrive.
Understanding the "Super Punch" mechanics
In The Ballad of Gay Tony, the explosive punch isn't just a visual effect. It applies a massive physics force to whatever you hit. If you hit a pedestrian, they don't just die; they become a projectile. If that projectile hits another pedestrian, the "explosive" property sometimes carries over in the physics engine calculation. It’s chaotic and easily the best way to blow off steam after a long day.
Final insight on the "Weapon Sets"
Don't sleep on Weapon Set 1 (486-555-0100). While Weapon Set 2 has the "better" guns, the Molotov cocktails in Set 1 are actually more useful for certain missions where you need to flush enemies out of cover without blowing up the objective. Knowing which set to call for based on the mission context is what separates a casual player from an expert.
Reach out to the community on old-school forums if you run into the "save file corruption" bug, though it's rare on the 360. Most of the time, a simple cache clear on the console settings fixes any weirdness caused by excessive cheating.
Go take over the city. Niko deserves it.