For the mission with the same name in Grand Theft Auto III, see Rigged to Blow (GTA III).
- Niko: "Life is complicated. I... I never thought I'd live like this."
- Ilyena: "No?"
- Niko: "When the war came, I did bad things. And after the war, I thought nothing of doing bad things. I killed people, smuggled people, sold people."
- Ilyena: "And you don't worry about your soul?"
- Niko: "After you walk into a village, and you see fifty children, all sitting neatly in a row against the church wall, each with their throats cut and their hands chopped off, you realize that the creature that could do this doesn't have a soul."
- —Conversation between Ilyena Faustin and Niko Bellic while drinking tea.
Rigged to Blow is the final mission in Grand Theft Auto IV, given to protagonist Niko Bellic by Russian Mafia leader Mikhail Faustin from his house on Shinnecock Avenue in Beachgate, Broker.
Description
Niko arrives at Mikhail's house, but he is not home and his wife Ilyena Faustin answers the door. She invites him in and serves him tea from a samovar (a rustic-looking tea dispenser) on their dining table, and tells Niko that Mikhail yells at her for using it, because he thinks it makes them look like "barbarians".
Ilyena tells Niko that Mikhail did not used to be short-fused. Back when they were young and still living in Russia, Mikhail was beautiful, happy, and he made her happy. But something changed years ago and she never quite figured out what it was. She wondered how she did not see it in him, and thinks that she might have changed him. Niko started talking about his life during the war. He claimed to have done bad things during the war and thought nothing about it after the war. He had killed, smuggled and sold people. Ilyena asks Niko if he is concerned about his soul, and Niko vents that he entered a village and saw fifty innocent children sitting on the church wall all with their throats cut and their hands chopped off; he realized that the soldier who did it didn't have a soul (perhaps alluding to Niko not believing in souls).
Mikhail and his partner Dimitri Rascalov enter. Mikhail first knocks over the tea dispenser in a fit of rage and yells at his wife for ignoring him, causing her to cry and run off. Mikhail tells Niko that he wants people to be taught lessons, but Dimitri wants to get his money instead. Dimitri wants Mikhail to calm down so that they won't be in more trouble with Kenny Petrovic. Mikhail is angered by Dimitri's insistence that Mikhail is wrong and orders him to get out. Mikhail wants Niko to pick up a truck parked on Montauk Avenue in Schottler.
Mission Objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
- Go to the old factory and find the truck.
- Get in the truck.
- Drive to the garage.
- Park the truck inside the garage.
- Trigger the bomb.
- Get out of the area.
Walkthrough
Head to the truck location, once Niko enters the truck he will call Faustin, who reveals that the truck a bomb, packed solid with high-yield very sensitive explosives. Niko must drive the truck to a garage in Chase Point, Bohan without colliding much, otherwise the bomb will detonate. There is a light on the back of the truck that indicates when the explosive is becoming unstable, followed by a speeding-up beep.
It is best to take the time, and drive sensibly. Because of the trucks weight it's very slow so the player doesn't need to worry about speed however its brakes are poor and the steering angle is too wide. Most of the streets the player drives through are wide and nearly empty of traffic (although the time of day can be an important factor here). Using the horn can also move other vehicles out of the way. Since the truck is so large, it may be easier to put the camera at a slightly higher elevation than normal, so the player can see what’s directly in his front. Paying attention to traffic lights will prevent most collisions at junctions. Stop to pay the toll, even if the player doesn't usually, as the police will most certainly cause the bomb to detonate.
Roman Bellic should call Niko as he is crossing into Bohan, but Niko will respond automatically, so just focus on driving. Rejecting the call before it finishes will also have no affect on Niko's friendship with Roman. The player has to make a sharp turn when he gets off the East Borough Bridge, so be ready for that.
Arm the bomb, then let Niko make a run for it. Watch the explosion in the cutscene, and keep an eye out for a getaway vehicle. Get in a nearby car and leave before the police arrive.
Niko calls Mikhail saying that he will not do something like this again. Mikhail thought Niko is tougher than this and insults Niko that he is as weak as Dimitri (also mocking him as he is the "ice-cold killer"). From this point on, Niko refuses to do any more work for Mikhail.
Aftermath
Liberty Tree Newspaper
"An explosion has occurred at a garage on Guantanamo Ave and Windmill Street in South Bohan. Investigators on the scene have found traces of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane as well as the remains of a large truck. These are common ingredients in explosive devices. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots and blame terrorists here in Liberty City for the horrific destruction wrought at the garage. Luckily, no employees were present at the time of detonation. The garage is located on a busy street where people walk to go to work and do their shopping. We got lucky this time."
Weazel News Newspaper
"Again, Liberty City shakes with the sound of a large explosion. In response, our liberal Mayor, Julio Ochoa, has raised the terror threat level to Black 8. Residents of South Bohan would have been better off with a warning yesterday, Mr. Mayor. A Russian immigrant, Kenny Petrovic, owns the garage. Mr. Petrovic was unable to comment as we went to press. Why terrorists chose to target this business, we know not. But this does illustrate the point that no one is safe. The enemy can just as easily attack a privately-owned business as a national institution."
"All Americans citizens and residents are terrorists targets and they will stop at nothing before our livelihoods, our freedoms and our very lives are stripped from us. Something like this only serves to remind us of how valuable the sacrifices being made by our sons and daughters in conflict zones around the world really are."
Weazel News Radio
"An explosion in Bohan has citizens scared and our ratings up! Eric House is on the scene."
Eric House: "Reporters are rioting on the scene of an explosion at a garage in South Bohan on the corner of Guantanamo and Windmill."
Pedestrian: "I just heard this big boom and then I saw these flames everywhere and smoke and stuff! It's gotta be terrorists! I said they was coming!"
Eric House: "A foreign looking man was seen leaving the site only moments before the explosion. He is wanted for questioning. In South Bohan, I'm Eric House, Weazel News."
Video Walkthrough
After the Mission
The reward for completing this mission is $700. The missions The Master and the Molotov and Search and Delete are unlocked.
Trivia
- During this mission Niko will automatically get a call from Roman, who will ask Niko if he wants to go drinking. Niko explains that drinking would probably be a bad idea, given that he is driving a truckload of explosives across town, mentioning "If I go drinking with you, I will blow myself up for sure". The call serves no purpose other than as an ironic joke, similar to Little Jacob's calls in Have a Heart and I'll Take Her..., Brucie's call in Undress to Kill and Dining Out and Roman's other call in Shadow.
- Sometimes, as Niko is running away from the garage, he will be hit by a car before the explosion, making Niko off screen when the bomb goes off .
- Niko's famous "life is complicated" line from the debut trailer is said in the cutscene of this mission.
- The mission's title can also be interpreted as a double-entendre regarding Mikhail Faustin's highly impulsive attitude, since he is always set to explode in rage over the slightest thing.
- If the player goes back to the garage and hop on the Flatbed, Niko will be thrown very high into the air and then plummet to the ground, almost certainly dying.
- If the player sticks around after the explosion, he/she can see the owner of the garage call Kenny Petrovic and tell him it was "definitely not an accident". The player can kill the owner without failing the mission after he has made the call, as he starts to walk the streets like a normal pedestrian.
- The player will get a 2-star wanted level for hanging around near the burning garage for too long. This is implied to be because the LCPD and the citizens of Liberty City in general are suspicious and prejudiced against foreigners because of past terrorist attacks; the player can hear the police dispatcher announce "A possible terrorist attack at Chase Point" over the radio. The fact that Niko is foreign and loitering at the scene of the explosion therefore makes him the suspect in the eyes of the populace. The wanted level will decrease to zero once the player gets out of the area just like he normally would in the mission.
- Another mission called Rigged To Blow appears in Grand Theft Auto III, given to Claude by D-Ice with a similar objective but instead of a truck a car was used, instead of detonating the bomb the player must disarm it.
- Also in GTA San Andreas, there's a mission given to Carl Johnson by Wu Zi Mu with a similar objective but instead of using a truck a car was used.
- The garage is destroyed for the rest of the game. This is the same for The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
- Even though this is Mikhail's last mission, it does not give his mission progress 100%, instead the following missions given by Dimitri completes his progress.
- Like with Roman's Sorrow and Action/Reaction, the fire cannot be put out.
- If the player takes Roman's Taxi to the truck, the driver, Mohammed, may drive recklessly into the truck before he even gets into it, due to his reckless driving.
- The bombing method in this mission is similar to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, as both that incident and this mission involves detonating a truck that contained a bomb made from a mixture of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane.
