Entertainment/Gaming Consoles

[vsp]

See, maybe I'm just strange, but I didn't have much of a problem with The Exchange in GTA3. (Method: Run out of Catalina's mansion like my ass was on fire, get in a waiting Stinger, drive to the hideout and collect my weapon/armor powerups, drive to the dam, snipe everything that moves, collect rocket launcher, blast chopper, roll credits.)

Keep Your Friends Close took me a while, partly because I didn't realize that the armor + health at the bottom of the staircase regenerated. Choosing the proper "finishing" weapon helped; Sonny goes down much quicker when you have him Say Hello To Your Little Mini-Gun Friend.

There are five Assassin missions, the last of which is around and on top of the Cherry Poppers ice-cream factory. Phil has a couple of fun missions, which open up once you've finished the Malibu. When you get to the screeching horror of a mission that is The Driver, let us know so that we can provide the appropriate sympathy.

That's either the assassin mission that's last then or a Malibu mission, eh? Since you said Phil's were fun

I used shotgun on said badguy and it didn't take long at all. I didn't even need the armor to regenerate, though it was nice that it did.

I never had hidden packages in GTA3, so I guess that's why it was harder for me. I don't have 'em here in GTA:VC either (well, okay, 12 of them I do have), but since they left my weapons, I guess it wasn't too bad. I had like 80 rockets, 1300 uzi rounds, etc. I <b>had</b> some 80 PSG-1 rounds, stupid sniping Auntie Poulet mission.

[vsp]

The Driver is a Malibu mission, and easily the hardest mission in the game. It makes Death Row seem like Romper Room. The other Malibu missions are entertaining, particularly the last one (The Job), but the Driver... brrrr.

Quick preview: you're auditioning a getaway-car driver, and he'll only join you if you beat him in a street race. (Why you'd NEED said driver if you're a better driver than he is... er... let's move on.) You don't get to pick your vehicle or your opponent's, though they're reasonably evenly matched. Doesn't sound too tough, does it? Heh.

I'm guessing you don't get a chance to blow him up? Either that, or he's in a bulletproof Cheetah or something... Or it fails the mission? 'cause that would be my first course of action.

Easily the hardest in the game, eh? Well fuck.

Just out of curiosity, how did you rate Martha's Mug Shot? I found that one to be annoying, but not particularly difficult now (I did it again at a friend's house).

I'd probably rate the hardest mission for me so far as "Death Row".

[vsp]

Yep, no blowing-up permitted. It'd be hard for him to work for you once he's dead. (His car IS bulletproof, as it happens.)

Martha's wasn't too bad, once I worked out where to take the pictures from. Then again, I've been known to cause five-star alerts and run from the FBI just for yuks. Uzi'ed the agents on the way down the stairs, went to my waiting car and VROOM! Off to the races.

Death Row is far from easy, though there are ways of making it easier. My method started the same way that most everyone else's does -- drive like a mad bastard to get there on time. When I got within visual range of the barricaded entrance, I bailed out, letting my rolling car take out Guard #1, then sniped the others at the entrance. Switched to the submachine gun, with judicious use of the auto-target system; if I heard a noise, target -> shoot a few rounds -> keep walking. This got me to Lance with a minimum of damage and a clear path to the entrance. At that point, instead of taking the Sentinel or the (sometimes there) Trashmaster... the Cheetah I'd bailed out of was still there, having been spared major bullet damage by my technique. Lance and I got in, I whipped by the Comet pursuers, and they had no chance of catching me...

My method started with flying the chopper over there, landing, and then rocketing the first batch. I used auto-target too, but I got chewed up pretty good on the way to Lance.

No matter, it's done now, and when I finally got it, I got out of there with hardly any damage. But I must have tried it 20 times before getting it finally.

Once, I don't think the Trashmaster was there and I took the Sentinel... HA.

Oh yeah, my method for Martha's Mugshot was much the same as yours, except completely different. They pretty well showed me where to take the shots from, so what I did was what I already described here. But then I had a chopper waiting out back, and it was quick work to get back to the movie studio and end it.

But before that, the agents were making quick work of me with their uzis. It sucked something fierce.

Argh. What was it, No Escape? That was easy. And "The Shootist" was absurdly easy - I got a 74 when I had to get 60, and I didn't really try the last round (I had like 62 going in to it). Then I got to the Driver, and almost beat it the second time (my first time on any mission, unless it's really easy, is to scope it out and make a plan - that was the case here). I was like "w0rd, I'm gonna be able to tell jeff that I beat it in like 3 tries." Wrong.

So here we are an hour after I get back from dinner (and thus resumed playing), and I finally beat that fucking asshole Hillary. No no, I beat him twice. But the first one didn't count.

See, on like my twentieth try, I actually got through the last checkpoint. Yeah. Right through the goddamn middle of the fucking red orb. And I just kept on going. And then, 2 seconds later, it goes "Mission Failed - you didn't win the race!" I have never come so close to destroying a game CD. I don't know if it was a bug or if they fuck with you like that, but I was goddamn pissed.

Countless other times I would be so far ahead of him as to be assured a victory, and right on the last big turn (after the bridge), he passes me - after having been nowhere in sight for the last 30 seconds (I check rearview very often). Huh? Does this game like to fucking cheat or what?

On two occasions, I ran that mother fucker off the road into an impossible position. One was where he ramped off over the stairs near Cortez's place and, again, was not behind me for the remainder of the race - until he passed me just after the bridge. BULLSHIT.

Then there was this classic: I was getting on to the bridge, I had gotten lucky and he took a detour up the first bridge after hitting a car, so I was WAY ahead - plus, I happened to have a <b>perfect run</b>, i.e., my car was in perfect condition - and on the bridge, what do I run in to but THREE FUCKING COP CARS. Of course, while I'm reversing and getting the fuck out, he flies past me and finishes. I have never seen a game cheat so fucking bad.

And you know, it occurred to me at dinner, this fucking asshole HAS to get killed, because there's no way GTA would have someone else driving after a mission that's sure to have a shitload of stars. NO FUCKING WAY. So it was probably all for naught. I bet you'll tell me I'm right. I'm pretty good at predicting this game overall I think and I feel more strongly about this than anything else. I bet my fucking paycheck I drive that shit. Goddammit.

[vsp]

(hee hee hee)

One post. ELEVEN variations of the word "fuck." Yep, that's what Hilary will do to you, and what he did to me...

I've beaten him three times -- once on my own game, once on my friend Rick's game and once on my wife's save when she started playing it. In some cultures, I believe this would qualify me to have my name chanted by crowds on religious feast days.

Hilary meets an appropriately pathetic end. There is that much justice in the world.

The guy that designed that mission's a fucking asshole. Anyone that knows that fucking asshole's a fucking asshole.

The race itself is hardly difficult, and I've driven a Sentinel enough to be very comfortable with it (i.e., only hitting shit when he was pushing me into it, or when cops appeared out of the blue right in front of me on a damn bridge where I couldn't detour). The cars aren't equal, but that's okay. I could deal with that.

The problem for me was how the game obviously has a bit of logic that goes "if the player is about to win, make him lose somehow". It doesn't help that the Sabre Turbo's acceleration is a trillion times better than the Sentinel's.

What an asshole mission. Definitely the low point of the game, and if I thought that there was anything else like that in the game, I would probably stop playing it.

[vsp]

The cars aren't EQUAL equal... but, with the benefit of hindsight, you're not at as big of a disadvantage as I first thought. Hilary's Sabre Turbo has somewhat better acceleration, but a lower top speed, which helps balance it. Think about the beginning of the race -- you can keep pace with Hilary (within a car length or so) all the way to the first sharp turn, easily, unless you hit something before then. It's not a case where he peels out and essentially gets a quarter-mile head start while you're still shifting into third gear, and you have to make up that difference.

What Hilary has, and you don't, is the benefit of CPU steering. You have to think about how to handle each turn, to remember the course, to deal with unexpected traffic and flying cop cars -- he doesn't. He just goes, and takes a decent line on every turn automatically, and you have to manually do the same to win. (Hilary does drive a bit erratically when you're close -- maybe you make him nervous -- and sometimes he'll make unforced errors.)

And, as you've noted, the game cheats to high hell. There are set traps that trigger when you approach and leave Hilary alone (a sharp right turn that has two cop cars slamming together comes to mind, as does the ambush after the last bridge). The cops seem to go after whoever's in second place more strenuously -- which is generally you. If Hilary gets too far ahead, he's gone; the cops and traffic no longer harass him, as they do you when you're the one with a huge lead. Hilary can always close the gap, but that's nothing new with driving games in general; hell, that's why I could never get into Mario Kart, because you could lap everyone twice and still end up with a photo finish.

The street races at Sunshine Autos are a lot more entertaining, if that's a comfort.

The cops slamming together become stupidly obvious to me after the second run and I managed to avoid it from there on out. The only time they really got me, as a matter of fact, was that one time on the bridge, when there was three (THREE! I only ever see two! Not three!) cars on the fuckin' bridge. And of course, he somehow scoots around it, though they're blocking the whole damn thing. I couldn't believe it. I was stunned.

At least that shit is done now, though.

The top speed was another thing; it was like VC was fucking with me. The Sentinel <b>would not</b> reach its top speed if I continually held down the gas. I had to let up and then press again, and it would shoot off. Otherwise, I'd be crusing along at the equivalent of 50mph and that motherfucker would just shoot right past me. Took me probably 5 races to figure that out. I've never had that problem in a Sentinel before, and I didn't have it again after I drove last night. I dunno what was up, maybe my controller got sweat in it. But that was aggravating as hell too.

Well, The Job was pretty cool. Took me about five tries. I had heard other people complaining about it but I didn't find it very difficult at all. The hardest thing for me was getting Cam in the car. I just capped him before we ran out and all of a sudden it was much easier. Seems like Phil wants it more than Cam.

So then I went and beat Phil's missions. So I have all of the property asset missions done. I think I'm just on to the assassin missions now. As far as I know, that's all I have left. I still haven't done Check In At The Check Out or whatever it's called. I ran it once as my trial mission, and it basically looked like a) remember to pick up my weapons and b) skillful driving. Do you find it difficult?

I just added it up, and it looks like my properties are making some $53,000 a day. Nice! If I run one of those races every game day, I can pocket $83,000. I'm not over a million yet, but I'm getting close.

I've had a lot of fun with Vice City, and once I 100% it, I will probably play through it again. The only mission I see myself really dreading it... well, I don't have to say it. You know it.

Man, can 2:30 just hurry up and get here so I can go home and play Vice City?