True Crime: Streets of LA Skills and Bonus Unlockables Guide (Xbox) by CLL (cll_007@hotmail.com) Version: 1.1 Date: 20/11/03 If you see any mistakes, or have any comments/suggestions, please email me with the game name in the subject line. And of course, if you have any questions you can always ask. See legal stuff at the end. **************************** CONTENTS **************************** I. Introduction II. What are shields? III. Why do we need them? IV. How to earn shields? V. Skills VI. Driving skills VII. Shooting skills VIII. Fighting skills IX. Bonus Unlockables X. New car unlockables XI. New gun unlockables XII. New grapple unlockables XIII. Credits and Legal Stuff ============================ I. INTRODUCTION ============================ This is just a basic guide to the skills (driving, shooting and fighting) that can be unlocked during the game. There's also info on the bonus unlockables that you can unlock when you have 100% completed a story episode. Note: Xbox controls are used for this guide, otherwise everything else can apply for all versions. ============================ II. WHAT ARE SHIELDS? ============================ In the lower right corner of the main game screen, there are three indicators. The one on the left is the good/bad cop karma guide, the middle indicator displays the level of public disturbance. The one we are interested in is the one on the far right. It displays a number and in most cases will have a shield and another number above that. Observe my very crude diagram below: ----------- x44 <------- This number indicates how many shields you currently have |\_/| | | <------- The shield itself \_/ 67 <------- The amount of points you currently have. ---------- You will always have the points figure. And this fluctuates based on the way you are playing (More on that later). Every 100 points earns you a shield. You can accumulate shields and this is recorded by the top number. ============================ III. WHY DO WE NEED THEM? ============================ Shields are used so that you can unlock new skills for your driving, shooting and fighting skills. These unlocked skills will allow you to drive faster and perform more manoeuvres, shoot faster and more accurately, and make it easier to defeat your opponents in fights. Not all of them benefit you greatly, and some are just fancy tricks, but they look cool and you'll want to get them all anyway. 8) The skills are detailed in another section. ============================ IV. HOW TO EARN SHIELDS ============================ You can earn shields in several ways. The easiest way is to just complete the story missions (green dots on minimap), and you'll earn lots of points (hence more shields) for that. Another obvious way is street crimes. If you're just driving around, random crimes occur and come to your attention via the minimap (red dots) and the radio dispatch. Random crimes can include: - Catching a mugger - Stopping an illegal street race - Capturing an escaped convict - Busting an armed hold-up - Stopping a carjacking - Breaking up fights (between couples, stockbrokers, etc) - as well as many others. Arresting or defeating (fighting/shooting) crime offenders earns you points. Halting escaping vehicles also rewards you with points. Another way to earn points is by performing random searches on people in the streets. Using the same controls as you would to arrest someone, Nick will instead search the person for illegal contraband, either in the form of weapons or drugs. If they're carrying either, they'll get arrested and you'll get points. It's not a very efficient method for gathering points, but only if you're reallllllly bored. ------------------------------------------------------------- - Point Rewards - Shooting offender who is firing at you (neutralizing shot) -> 15 Head shot on offender -> 15 Shooting a hostage-taker -> 15 Defeating opponents (fight) -> 10 Stopping suspect vehicle -> 10 Shooting offender who is firing at you -> 10 Shooting offender (neutralizing shot) -> 5 Finding illegal contraband (drugs or weapons) -> 5 Note: some point allocation might seem strange, but even though you earn 15 points for a head shot on an offender, your good cop rating goes down by one. ------------------------------------------------------------- In general, street crimes are where you'll earn most of your points. And since you can use the skills for the missions, it's advisable to earn some points early so that you can unlock more skills early on as well. Points can also be spent on getting full health at medical clinics, or repairing your car at garages. The amount of points spent getting healed or repairing your vehicle is based on how much damage you or the car took. The more you need to heal/repair, the more points you lose. Also know that you can lose points as well, even losing a shield until the necessary points are lost. You will lose points when you: - Run over innocent people - Shoot innocent people/police officers **************************** V. SKILLS **************************** You can upgrade your driving, shooting and fighting skills at 24/7 branches located around the city. Each time you attempt to complete a skill, it costs you one shield. But it's not too hard to complete skills so you should be able to earn them pretty quickly. ============================ VI. DRIVING SKILLS ============================ Your driving skills are extremely useful and lots of fun to use throughout the game. Simply complete the necessary skills at the 24/7 driving branches to unlock the skill. Manoeuvres 1. Peel-out - hold A + X, then release X 2. Rapid stop - left/right/down + X(*2), then hold X 3. P.I.T manoeuvre - Ram rear corner of escaping car 4. Downshift - down + A(*2) 5. 90' Turn - left/right + A + B 6. Back switchblade - left/right + B(*2) 7. Forward switchblade - left/right + B(*2) 8. Two wheels - left/right/left or right/left/right, then A(*2) 9. Nitro boost - up + A(*3) Driving skills are a lot of fun. Some are very useful, as you'll find yourself using the Peel-out, Downshift, 90' Turn, Fwd switchblade and Nitro boost quite a fair bit, especially in the timed driving missions. Using the downshift and nitro boost can have you with over a minute left to go on the clock. It also makes the missions where you have to escape a real breeze. The P.I.T manoeuvre isn't that good and the two-wheels is more a cool-factor than anything else, but the speed skills are a definite must. ============================ VII. SHOOTING SKILLS ============================ Your shooting skills can be upgraded at 24/7 shooting ranges located around the city. Upgrades for your weapons are automatic, so all you need to do is shoot the perps. Upgrades 1. Dual-target aim 2. Aim assistance 3. Fast reload 4. Fast aim speed 5. Laser sight 6. Flash light 7. Scope 8. Top accuracy 9. Hollow point Your improved shooting skills definitely show throughout the game. It makes missions a lot easier and coupling the skills with the bonus weapons means that even the harder targets in the later game are easy to take down. ============================ VIII. FIGHTING SKILLS ============================ Your fighting skills can be learnt at 24/7 dojo centres. Ground attacks are performed when the opponent is lying on the ground. Combos are for when your opponent is dazed. Attacks 1. Running attacks - Run + A or X or Y 2. Back attacks - Away + A or X or Y 3. Ground attacks - A or X or Y 4. Combo Tiger Sweep - A, Y, A 5. Combo Tiger Claw - X, A, Y 6. Combo Leaping Tiger - Y, X, A 7. Combo Dragon Kick - A, Y, A, Y 8. Combo Dragon Fist - X, A, Y, X 9. Combo Flying Dragon - Y, X, A, Y I don't find running attacks or back attacks particularly useful. For most fights, you really only need ground attacks and a few of the combos to inflict the most damage onto your opponent. Also knocking your opponents into fire or electrical devices will cause them a lot more damage very quickly. And also go one-on-one in fights with multiple people, so you don't get caught up in a flurry of fists. ============================ IX. BONUS UNLOCKABLES ============================ Bonus unlockables are obtained at the end of a 100% completed story episode. If you complete the story episode successfully then a bonus mission will start giving you three green choices on the minimap - driving, shooting and fighting. (You can also go back and play a mission if you didn't beat it successfully). Decide on which bonus type you want to unlock and drive to the destination. You can unlock three extra bonuses for each type. That is 3 cars, 3 guns and 3 grapples. You start off with one of each, so when you have them all you'll have four of each. - You can access your different cars in the parking garage (located with yellow 'P' on minimap). - Your guns are upgraded, so when you unlock a new one it becomes your new weapon. - You always have the different grapples, and can use them in fights. Note: In each chart below '0' is the one you start off with, and does not need to be unlocked. ============================ X. NEW CAR UNLOCKABLES ============================ 0. '66 Classic Car 0 to 60: ??? top speed: ??? horsepower: ??? 1. '69 Muscle Car 0 to 60: 7 sec top speed: 140 mph horsepower: 350 hp 2. '01 Roadster Car 0 to 60: 4 sec top speed: 177 mph horsepower: 450 hp 3. '03 Sports Car 0 to 60: 4.5 sec top speed: 180 mph horsepower: 400 hp I don't have specs for the first car, so if you know them for sure, please email them to me. Summary: Generally each car gets better. The good thing is you can change between them as well, if you feel like a change. Complete all the driving skills at 24/7 driving courses to make good use of your cars. I've been getting a few emails on this, so I have modified the bit on sirens. (thanks go to Ben Knowles and Alex Swindle) Nick's car and other emergency vehicles have sirens that can be used by pressing the left-button on the D-pad whilst driving. The sirens are useful as they cause other vehicles ahead of you on the road to move to the side. This is most useful at the start of the game. However when you unlock the downshift boost and especially the nitro boost for your driving skills, you'll be speeding along so fast that other cars will barely have time to move to the side before you crash right into them. Any stationary cars (at traffic lights) will not move out of your way, so it'll be up to you to speed round them, sirens or not. But if you've earned all the driving skills, then you shouldn't need the sirens. ============================ XI. NEW GUN UNLOCKABLES ============================ 0. .38 Revolver capacity: 6 bullets 3 shots per second 1. .40 Revolver capacity: 8 bullets 4 shots per second 2. .45 Pistol capacity: 10 bullets 5 shots per second 3. .50 Pistol capacity: 12 bullets 6 shots per second Summary: Each gun definitely gets better. They become more powerful, have bigger clips and fire faster. You can't choose an older model, and you wouldn't really want to. Upgrade your skills at 24/7 firing ranges, and watch all those mods made to your gun. ============================ XII. NEW GRAPPLE UNLOCKABLES ============================ 0. Standard Grapples B 1. Whirlwind Throw B, X, Y 2. Arm Buster B, X, A 3. Dirty Boxer B, A, X Summary: Easiest to use when your opponent is dazed. I find there's more than enough fighting skills as is, so these aren't a definite need. Completing the fighting skills at the 24/7 dojo centres is more than enough to win fights. But you'll need to complete these to have 100% upgrades unlocked. **************************** XIII. CREDITS **************************** - Activision for publishing and distributing the game - Luxoflux for developing a such a great game - GameFAQs for hosting this guide - My brother, for the extra help in creating the guide - Deryck Morales, for clearing up some points - You, for reading it. And again, if you have any suggestions/comments or see anything that needs to be fixed, email me (cll_007@hotmail.com) with the game name in the subject line. ------------------------------------------------------- LEGAL STUFF This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. If you wish to reproduce any part of this FAQ, you can contact me at my email address for permission. cll_007@hotmail.com Put the name of the game in the subject line --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 CLL