Getting and Saving a Maverick Helicopter cheats for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Getting and Saving a Maverick Helicopter

Ever since it launched, gamers have struggled to gain access to helicopters in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Below is a guide for how to get one of the helicopters in this game (the PSP version), and how to store it so you can keep on using it! Methods with and without cheats on False Idols (where you can save it) and Calm Before the Storm (where you can't) are given below.

There are two levels where getting a helicopter is a possibility. There is only one where you can save the helicopter for future use, however. We’ll look at the least useful one first.

MISSION: Calm Before The Storm:

There is a Maverick helicopter in this mission. The objective in the actual level is to follow the helicopter as it zips around Liberty City. First, it stops at a construction yard in Hepburn Heights. Continue to follow it until it lands on the roof in Chinatown.

According to the mission, you would go upstairs to the objective marker to trigger the next stage of the mission. Ignore this, and get on a motorbike (the PCJ600 is best) and physically drive it upstairs. This may take some maneuvering. You now don’t have to worry about the objective marker, as you are on a vehicle so it will not trigger. You can now skirt around the roof, get off your bike at the helicopter, which you can then get in and fly off! Because you avoided the objective marker, you have effectively glitched the game into letting you past.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to now save the helicopter for future use, but you can fly around the immediate area.

Note: you will be able to continue until you crash, or if you fail the mission (by shooting or injuring Massimo Torini or his pals). You are also limited to the area around Torini (roughly Chinatown), as the game thinks you have ‘lost’ him if you stray too far.

MISSION: False Idols:

This is the big one. On this level, you can successfully hijack a helicopter, return it to your garage and store it for future use. It takes a lot of effort to get (though you can cheat to get it), but is definitely worth it, even if just to impress your friends.

The False Idols level involves killing three radio celebrities.

With Cheats:

This strategy is credited to strapwood. To begin, enter the following cheat codes:

Cars Drive on Water: CIRCLE, X, DOWN, CIRCLE, X, UP, L1, L1

Pedestrians Follow You: DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE

Traction/Jump Cheat: L1, UP, LEFT, R1, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, DOWN, X

Make sure you have a sniper rifle in your arsenal. Begin the mission and check your map for the objective indicator at Francis International Airport. Get a vehicle and wait for pedestrians to get in with you (they should do, with the pedestrian cheat activated). Drive towards the objective indicator, enter the water to cross when possible - you can use the jump cheat for this. As you approach the island, you should see the helicopter hovering. Don’t get too close to the island until the helicopter is away from any buildings – once you get near to the island, it automatically lands – you don’t want it to land on a building as you will not be able to get it!

Exit the water and you should see the arrow pointing to the helicopter. Get out and run to the helicopter. You should still have all your pedestrians with you. Kill all of the pedestrians following you except for one. Try to get into the helicopter and you will see it is locked. Your pedestrian will still try to get in, however (you may need to push the helicopter so that there is enough room for the pedestrian). Once he is inside, quickly move around the front of the helicopter (or the side window) and shoot the pedestrian in the head with the sniper rifle. If done correctly, you should be able to press Triangle on the pedestrian’s side, and he will fall out. You can then enter the open door by pressing Triangle again.

The helicopter is on fire, because you shot it, so once you are inside, use the Health cheat to keep it alive:

Health Cheat: L1, R1, X, L1, R1, SQUARE, L1, R1.

You can then fly to your garage on Staunton Island. You first need to wedge the door open, so get a motorbike such as the PCJ600 and park it half in half out. Land the helicopter as close as you can in front of the garage. You can then get out and push it towards the door. Once it is in position to keep the door open alone, get the bike and push it the final way inside. The helicopter has to be diagonal to fit in. A good tactic is to have the body of the helicopter in line with the door, but the tail sticking out of the side. If you then push it into the garage, it wraps around the wall of the garage and should fit inside. Make sure the door shuts, then save the game to store it in there permanently. Getting it out can be tricky too, and requires the same technique as above, but making sure it saves is the main thing!

Withot Cheats:

This strategy is credited to jam8tone.

Getting the Maverick without using cheats requires even more patience! Start the False Idols mission, making sure you have a Fire Engine in your garage (other vehicles work, but the Fire Engine has the strength and speed required for the task), as well as a low car or motorbike, and plenty of RPGs. Once you have started the mission, you are supposed to go to Phil Cassidy’s gun shop, so this makes sense as the place to get your RPGs.

Turn right out of Cassidy's gun shop, and go down the road, taking the second left (at the crossroads at Belleville Park, having passed underneath the skyscraper). You will soon reach a dead end with two billboards. Park your fire engine by the billboards and stand on the white traffic island/roundabout, with your RPG equipped. Look out over the water towards the bridge and you should see the helicopter flying alongside it. It will disappear behind the buildings, so look to the right, down the road you just came down from the gun shop and you should soon see the helicopter emerge from behind one of the buildings – it will be about 30 seconds from when it first disappeared from view.

It will fly right at you, so use your RPG to take it out. Once this has been done, get in your Fire Engine and push the wreckage back to your garage. You need to avoid damaging your Fire Engine too much, as if it blows up the helicopter will disappear. You also need to keep the helicopter in view at all times (or at least near to view) or it disappears. You will fail the mission as you are pushing the helicopter back, but you can ignore this as it does not matter.

To get back to your garage, you will have to maneuver carefully to get the helicopter down the alleyway. Spin it so that the main body of the helicopter is in line with the garage door, but also so the rotor at the back is sticking out to the left of the garage door. Nudge it forward until it is close to the door. You need to leave enough space so you can move anything else out of your garage. Do this, but leave your low car or bike wedging the door open in the corner.

Making sure the helicopter is still in the correct position and at the right angle, get it even closer, before using a lot of power to ram it towards the door. The tail of the helicopter should hit the wall of the garage, spinning the wreckage around so that the tail is sticking out of the door. Use the Fire Truck to hit the tail and send it round to the right, making the helicopter nestle snugly in the garage.

Move back and drive the wedge car or bike out so that the garage door shuts. You should now have a saved Maverick to use! Getting it out of the garage is a little tricky, but repeat the tactics from before and you should be able to get it.

Note: this will take a few tries to get right, but keep the helicopter in sight as much as you can because the main risk is it disappearing.

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