Grand Theft Auto: The Guide For San Andreas On PS2

Parental Warning: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is not a game for children. The rating is MA which is meant for adults over the age of 18. The review for this game is loaded with language and suggestive words and also not meant for those under age 18. The reality is many children under the age of 18 do in fact play this game and are probably reading this review right now. That is between them and their parents. I cannot supervise children who read this review nor can I be in your living room to stop them. That is your job.

If you are a parent, at least be aware if your children are playing this game and set down boundaries for them. If you choose to let them play, make sure they know the difference between fantasy and reality, most children do understand the difference and would never do these things in real life. A handful of disturbed individuals, regardless of age, may be unduly influenced by this game. If you are responsible for such a person, please make sure they are not playing it.

Grand Theft Auto is a game that glorifies killing and general bad behavior including drugs and illicit sex. It is a game for sick degenerates who think it is funny, myself included. All of the Rockstar series of the Grand Theft Auto Games are rated MA.

San Andreas Vehicle Missions

If you took the advice and traveled around San Andreas on all the vehicles you know how to drive like an expert, you should try to get the vehicle missions out of the way. The reason you want to do these vehicle missions now is so you will not have to travel all over the place once the other parts of the island are open, it makes these missions even harder to do. Besides, you don't want to come into these missions with all the enemy gangs shooting at you when you come into their turf.

Steal a police motorcycle and head over to CJ's place to store it in the garage. Save it. Go back to the garage and get on the police motorcycle and go to the Cluck N Bell.

If you die or get arrested, reload the game and do this mission again without losing the police motorcycle. [Note: This is not a cheat, but a glitch that will not show up in your stats at all.]

Press the R3 to start the vigilante mission right outside the door of the Cluck N Bell [Note: This works in any place you can enter and exit, but for some reason the Cluck N Bell seems to work best.]

Hop off the bike and go inside. Wait about 10 - 20 seconds [there is no exact measurement here, just make sure you leave before you are down to 29 seconds to get back on your bike] then leave the building and hop back on your bike.

Sometimes it will count the kill while you are inside and sometimes it won't. Sometimes it will count the kill when you get on the bike and sometimes it won't. If you have to enter the building more than 3 times without a kill, chances are you are stalled and will not get anymore registered kills. If this happens, let time run out off your bike and attempt the vigilante mission again.

Your game may also freeze while doing this. This is why you should quit after completing level 12 so you can save it. At least you have your armor. If it happens, reload and start over. Just keep doing this until a kill is registered and repeat all the way until you complete level 12, eat then go back to CJ's place and save it. You will have a lot of money and 150 armor points. It took me three attempts to get past level 12 without something going wrong. The furthest I ever took it was to level 24.

Although not necessary, if you want to make serious money return back to this mission after you saved it. If you go pass level 19, the money on each level gets really serious. Aim for level 22 and at this point you will have over $250,000.

If you choose not to repeat the vigilante mission or once you get tired of repeating it, head to the house for sale that is North of the hospital and to the Southeast of Downtown. Buy this house and save it.

Getting Serious Grand Theft Auto (GTA) Cash

Go to the casino nearby in Downtown underneath the Intersection loops. Use one of the booths to place a bet. Bet all of your money on the one with the highest odds [11/1, 12/1, or 13/1].

If you win, you have really increased your money then you can go back to the home you just bought and save it then play again until you are tired of winning so much money. Just make sure to only save after each win.

If you lose, hit start and load your game to your last save point and try it again until you win. By doing this a few times, you will quickly become a multi-millionaire which will give you a great respect boost.

Getting Safe Houses All Over The Place

I had you staying low key for a reason. If you were far away from a safe place without much money, you have very little chance of making it safe to avoid your wanted level. Now you have the money, you can buy many safe houses all over the place which gives you more options when you get in trouble.

Use this money you won to buy all of the available homes which will be easy access save points.

You can also go to all the clothing store to buy at least one expensive outfit from each clothing store, but don't go crazy and buy everything because you may need to buy something later if you get a wanted level and need to ditch it should the clothing stores become the nearest place to hide from the law. Buying clothes will eliminate your wanted level. If you buy them all now, you won't have this option later.

With all the territory bought, all that money and fancy clothing, you should have a lot of respect. Your driving missions are now easier. But there is still much work to be done.

Ambulance Mission

Have CJ fatten up again and save. Find an ambulance and do to level 12. You can usually find these by the hospital. If all else fails, hit people until they are dead - make sure cops are not around or you will have a wanted level. If you get enough casualties an ambulance will arrive.

Since you maxed out your driving skills, you should not have a problem with the vehicle rolling over causing you to fail before you complete 12 levels. The ambulance is really bad when it comes to flipping over and catching fire, but with maxed out driving skills, it will roll back over so you can drive it. If you do fail, reload the game and do this mission again.

Hit R3 in an ambulance to start. A blue blip will appear on the map where your patient is. This is a timed mission so be quick. Get as close as you can to the person without running over them or landing on top of them so they can get in your ambulance faster. Don't wait for them to close the door, just drive to the yellow blip where the hospital is located.

After the patient is dropped off safely at the hospital, 25 seconds is added to your clock. You get sent out to collect more patients that you need to bring back safely. Each level will increase the number of pickups. Your ambulance can safely hold 3 at a time. As you get to level 3, you will need to rely on your map to get the best route to pick up groups of people in a general area and get the quickest route from there to the hospital. Don't bump the ambulance too much or you will kill the people inside.

If you leave the ambulance, the mission is over. If you kill your patient, the mission is over. If you get killed or arrested, the mission is over. If you fail, reload the game and do this mission again because you do not get credit for the earlier levels. You will have to start over at level one anyway, so it makes more sense to start over when CJ has maximum health and weapons.

The bonus you receive for getting 12 levels is extra health to 150 and a ton of money.

Complete it. Eat up. Get armor and paint. Save it.

Note: If you at least pass the police vigilante mission and use your 150 armor, you may want to consider waiting to do this one until you have finished the Green Sabre mission are are booted out to San Fierro in the Whetstone area. You will need to import an ambulance from another area, but it will be well worth the trip. Just be careful with it on the way as there are no Pay N Sprays in town. This area is very small and gangs are not going to get in your way. The mission is a piece of cake in that part of town.

Firetruck Mission

Start a fire by running into several cars and having them blow up (or cross the street from the hospital and go west to find one). A firetruck will eventually show up. Steal the firetruck and do it until you complete level 12. If you die or get arrested, reload the game and do this mission again.

Once in the firetruck, press R3 to start the mission. A blip on your map tells you where the fire is located. You can tap L3 quickly to turn your sirens on and off if the noise is too much of a distraction.

To control your water hose use the Right Analog Stick to aim it and L2 to rotate it and press Circle or L1 to shoot.

Aim the water so it hits the fire. The fire will go out and you will hear a sound to confirm the fire is out. Be careful not to let the people you are trying to save get too far or they will be harder to spray with water. When you are finished with one area, then you will be prompted by the blip where the next fire is located. As you increase each level, there will be more vehicles and more people on fire.

Whatever you do, do not exit the vehicle or you will have to start from the beginning. Be careful not to run over people or accidently shoot someone or else your game will get harder.

You are timed on this mission, but are given extra time at the end of each completed level. It is best to rush through putting out the flames and using your extra time to carefully get to the next area.

When you complete this mission you will have a ton of money and you will be fireproof on foot which will be necessary in a few missions.

When complete, eat up, get your armor and paint and save.

Note: The easiest place to start this mission is on the northeast part of Los Santos near Red Stone. Drive the firetruck pass the north end of the beach on the east side and go near where the road starts to curve towards the west. Start your mission there and you will mostly stay out of the busy city.

Taxi Mission

Steal a taxi. Regular taxis are less likely to flip over, but cabbies are faster. If you maxed out your driving skills, I would steal a cabbie if I were you. If you die or get arrested, reload the game and do this mission again.

Pick up 50 people and drop them off. For doing this all of the taxis and cabbies will come equipped with Nitro.

Note: You do not have to do 50 in a row to pass. You could do a few at a time and stop to do something else then do the cab mission later and will not lose credit for the first few passengers.

When you get your taxi or cabbie, press R3 to start the mission and look for your first passenger who will have a blue light over their head.

Once they are in the car a timer and a Tip Meter will appear on the screen. You must take the passenger to their destination before the timer runs out of time or the mission is over.

The Tip Meter will determine what kind of tip you will get. If you bump the passenger around too much or take too much time, the tip amount will decrease. If you maxed out your driving skill, you should not have too much of a problem with a dissatisfied passenger.

If you are quick, you will accumulate extra time to do further missions. If you aim for cutting 30 seconds off the maximum time given, by the time you dropped off 10 passengers you have more than enough time to do a Pay N Spray if you must or to do the occassional runs from one side of town to the other.

You get a bonus for 5 in a row, so it pays to stick with this mission for all 50 passengers. If your car gets banged up, go to a Pay N Spray and fix your car.

Once you finished with your 50th customer, eat, get armor and paint and save.

The Pimpmobile

Find a Broadway [the pimpmobile which can be found in various places around Los Santos around Temple, Market, Downtown, and Mulholland.] There is one usually parked behind a gas station where you will find a bouquet of flowers in the front. Get in and press R3 to start the mission.

Start your pimping mission by picking up and dropping off girls in a safe and timely manner. If you see the "johns" getting rough with your girls or refusing to pay, beat them senseless. Keep your car looking nice by going to a Pay N Spray when needed.

If you die or get arrested, reload the game and do this mission again.

After completing Level 10 for Pimping, prostitues will now give YOU money when you pick them up instead of you paying them.

Eat, armor, paint and save it.

The Buglary Mission

Next, go to the group of crummy looking government housing homes nearest CJ's house between 22:00 and 6:00. You will find a Boxville. Enter it and start the mission by finding a home to rob. Find a group of homes that are close together near CJ's house and park the van in between. Quickly and quietly grab all you can before 6AM. Do not wake the people up! Get out before morning and drive to the lock up by 11AM.

If you die or get arrested, reload the game and do this mission again.

Save the game. In the meantime, go to the gym and start using weights to increase your muscle until you run out of time. Eat then save. Wait until it is 22:00 and repeat the burglary mission and follow it up with the gym then save. Keep doing the mission until you earn $10,000 in stolen goods. Save... you know the drill.

Vehicle Missions In Conclusion

There will be a trucking and a freight train mission much later in the game, but by the time you get there you should be an expert at it. You need to pass other missions in order to unlock those vehicle missions. With the basic driving skills out of the way and maxed you can now drive, fly or ride in any vehicle without too much trouble.

These vehicle missions will count for 100% completion of the game. In San Andreas, you do not have to worry about the Unique Jumps for completion as you did in Vice City. If you wish to find the locations for the jumps click here. You will get extra money for doing them and it will give you extra practice when you need to jump on a motorcycle in a mission, but these really are not necessary if you maxed your driving skills.

Winding Down CJ's Readiness Program

You should be quite rich and have a few safe places to hide should you get in trouble with the law. You have increased health and armor. You should also have maxed out your weapons firing rounds so you won't run out of bullets when you need them most.

As it stands now, you can pass anything that comes your way pretty easily, but do these extra tasks and you will really kick butt.

Muscles And Stamina

Go to the gym and lift weights until you reach your limit for the day. Eat then go for a swim. While swimming around, take this map with you, to locate the oysters around the Southeast section of the island. Don't stray off into the unlocked territories or you will get a wanted level.

When a new day has passed, get back on land and go back to the gym to work on the muscles then go back to oyster hunting.

Keep recycling these options until you have maxed your muscles and stamina and found all the available oysters on the safe part of the island.

By doing this you will increase your health which will allow you to take bullet wounds a lot better with less damage to your health. You will be able to run, cycle and swim faster and longer. And by getting the oysters, you will increase your sex appeal as well as increase your capacity to hold your breath under water longer.

Save it.

Finish The Tags In San Andreas

After this point, keep CJ as slim as possible to do the missions. Keep him on a salad diet 3 times a day. While you are working to get him fit, it is time to get this map and find all 100 tags to spray over using this map. If you collected the paint with each save, you should have more than enough paint to get all of the tags. When all tags are done, you no longer need to collect paint.

Once you get all tags completed, CJ's house will be loaded with weapons.

An interesting glitch that will help if you get arrested or end up in the hospital and lose all your weapons - Go to CJ's house and collect your weapons. Save it. Go to the living room by the tv and go back to the kitchen and more weapons will respawn. Collect and save. Keep repeating until you max out your weapons and then use it as a save point for the rest of the missions.

Should you ever get arrested or die, always have a save point where you have your weapons maxed, full armor and a car or vehicle in the garage.

I think it is best to save at CJ's house until the rest of the island is open because you have easy access to the weapons and a garage to save a vehicle should you need to take it to go back to a failed mission.

Being A Gangster

Make no mistake about it, CJ is really a bad guy. After all, this game has him as a hero for killing cops and those he feels deserve it, although he doesn't do drugs, killing is fine, especially to uphold the name of his gang and reputation. You have to make CJ decked out with respect in order for him to recruit gang members when you need a force behind you in certain missions. Respect can be earned by completing missions, the money you have, the clothing you wear, the tattoos, and senseless acts of violence and destruction.

When you have maxed your health attributes, change into your gang green colors because by then you are ready to conquer rivals who see CJ in the street.

Go to the tatoo parlor across the street from the Pizza Place near CJ's house. Fill your body full of ink.

You would not want to do this before you had places to hide, maximum health and arms, and excellent driving skills because once you are marked and in gang colors, every rival will shoot you on sight.

You will now want them to shoot at you so you can shoot back and increase your shooting level for each weapon. Besides, it is the easiest way to get respect! Stay near CJ's turf and look for Ballas who are incredibly easy to kill. Gun them down using one weapon at a time until you have reached hitman level on that weapon then switch to another weapon.

Keep doing this until all your weapons can be used at a hitman level. If you have cycled through hitman level on your first set of weapons, seek out the other free weapons and max out their firepower then continue the gang/cop targets until all weapons are maxed out to hitman level.

You will want to stay near home because you will eventually get a wanted level and may have to shoot out with cops. When the heat gets too much, go inside the safe house and save it. All stars go away and you can start shooting rivals again. If you run low on armor, save it and find your free hidden armor and go back on your shooting spree. When all of your weapons have reached hitman level, you will have better aim, can shoot more quickly and in some cases carry two of the same weapon at a time.

As long as you have perfect health and maxed out your weapon slots, shoot some rival gang members and a few pedestrians while you are at it in front of one of your safe houses. The police will soon arrive prepared for a shoot out. Shoot them with all the weapons in your slot until you become a hitman in all of them. If you are ever low on health, run back inside, save, and do it again.

Wrapping It Up

If you followed all of these hints, the rest of the game will be a piece of cake.

You will be rich. You will have a perpetual source of income from the hookers. You will have more than enough cash to buy homes when they become available. You will have access to safe houses where you will need them most. You can afford to eat and buy clothes or pay a bribe. You will be in the most fit condition and able to move quickly. Your vehicle skills will make it impossible for you to fail a mission for a fiery crash. You will be able to gun down your opponents quickly while you can stand taking hits better than everyone shooting at you. You will have a lot of respect and sex appeal. You will know the Southeast part of the island like the back of your hand. You will know where to get free weapons and how to max them out.

In other words, you have everything going for you to make every mission as easy as possible to pass. I leave to you the rest of the game to figure out on your own. I don't want to spoil the storyline. This was only intended to give you the edge in playing the rest of the game.

The rest of your gang will now be more respectful of you and you will have less nagging about your driving during the missions. You will be able to recruit a lot more gang members which will give you more respect allowing you to max out the respect bar. More women will pay you compliments. Best of all, the game will be easy to defeat!

Yes, all the gangs will come after you severely, but you have more than enough power to handle anything coming your way.

A Few Tips

• Always save the game when you finish a mission. You can then grab extra ammo and armor and save again. This way if you die or get arrested, you can start over when you had everything going for you.
• When the new parts of the island open up, take a vehicle and explore the territory so you will know all the passages before you do any missions. Be sure to buy the available homes as soon as they are open.
• Should CJ get in severe trouble during a mission, he has a few options - go to a Pay N Spray, go to a clothing store and change clothes, go to his safe house and change clothes or find a police bribe. As long as the mission is not timed, the clothing option works well. Otherwise find a Pay N Spray or a bribe by pausing the game and locating one on the map.
• When recruiting the gang members, do not allow them to follow you into battle as they will get killed and you wil lose respect. If you are maxed out on everything, you can handle these battles alone.
• When you do the CRASH mission to open the next part of the island, you will lose all of your weapoons and gang territories you acquired, so don't bother fighting for gang territories until CJ is returned back home to do missions and before you start Riots or after you have finished End Of The Line [there is just too much chaos between those two points to bother].
• Be sure CJ eats on a regular basis. If he doesn't he will lose health and muscle and you will have to force him to work out again.
• Make sure you have CJ visit every gym and fight the instructor to learn a new move from each one.
• Girlfriends are more trouble than they are worth and do not count for 100%. If you use the save and reload option, you do not need the girlfriends from the hospital or the police station to save your weapons, but you may want to attract the policewoman for awhile just to get a police outfit then dump her. You are automatically given 2 girlfriends when passing a mission, but it is best to ignore them.
• Grabbing horseshoes and oysters will increase your sex appeal and luck, so make sure you grab them when the rest of the island opens up.
• Remember, it is only a game. Stop and take a break before it drives you nuts.

Go To Hell!

Just a note of interest, not a key point in passing the game. If CJ is full and has at least some ammunition, have some fun and send him to hell. There is a Burger Shot near where he lives. Or you can use any fast food place, but Burger Shot is the easiest one to do.

Get on an airplane, fly it and jump out. You will have a parachute you can use. Have CJ go behind the counter at Burger Shot. In the back there is a fry basket with a small space to the side and heating vent above it. This seems to be the magic spot.

Jump on this area repeatedly while running in towards the wall. Eventually, CJ will fall through the crack and fall all the way down to hell [don't get too frustrated as it may take you only a few seconds or up to an hour to hit the spot]. Sometimes the trip is bad and he will break his neck and return to the nearest hospital - that is if he does not have a parachute. Or he might land in a nice spot with a little damage without a parachute, but are you willing to take that chance? Bring a parachute and be safe.

Eventually he will land in a darker world. Sometimes on water and sometimes on land. Have a bit of fun by exploring the underworld. If you go too far north or too far west before the rest of the island is open, you will get a wanted level and you can see the cops after you, but they can't do anything to you. You can kill them and take their weapons.

Sometimes you will find oysters in the underworld.

It is really a waste of time, but it is an interesting diversion if you are bored.

Here is the long list of mission hurdles you must cross:

Los Santos Area

Sean "Sweet" Johnson I

1. Big Smoke
2. Ryder
3. Tagging Up Turf
4. Cleaning The Hood
5. Drive-Thru
6. Nines and AKs
7. Drive-By
8. Sweet's Girl
9. Cesar Vialpando

Lance "Ryder" Wilson

1. Home Invasion
2. Catalyst
3. Robbing Uncle Sam

Cesar Vialpando

1. High Stakes, Low-Rider

Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris

1. OG Loc
2. Running Dog
3. Wrong Side Of The Tracks
4. Just Business

Jefferey "OG Loc" Martin

1. Life's a Beach
2. Madd Dogg's Rhymes
3. Management Issues
4. House Party

Officer Frank Tenpenny

1. Burning Desires
2. Gray Imports

Sean "Sweet Johnson

1. Doberman
2. Los Sepulcros
3. Reuniting the Families
4. The Green Sabre

Badlands Area

Officer Frank Tenpenny

1. Badlands

Catalina

1. First Date
2. Tanker Commander

The Truth

1. Body Harvest

Cesar Vialpando

1. King in Exile

Catalina

1. First Base
2. Against All Odds
3. Gone Courting
4. Small Town Bank
5. Made In Heaven
6. Local Liquor Store

Cesar Vialpando

1. Wu Zi Mu
2. Farewell, My Love

The Truth II

1. Are You Going to San Fierro?

San Fierro Area

Carl Johnson's Garage

1. Wear Flowers in Your Hair
2. 555 We Tip
3. Deconstruction

Smoke's Couriers

1. Big Smoke's Cash
2. Yay Courier

Syndicate Missions

1. Photo Opportunity
2. Jizzy
3. T-Bone Mendez
4. Mike Toreno
5. Outrider
6. Snail Trail
7. Ice Cold Killa
8. Pier 69
9. Toreno's Last Flight

Wu Zi Mu

1. Mountain Cloud Boys
2. Ran Fa Li
3. Lure
4. Amphibious Assault
5. The Da Nang Thang

Syndicate Missions II

1. Yay Ka-Boom-Boom

Zero's RC

1. Air Raid
2. Supply Lines
3. New Model Army

Back to School

1. The 360
2. The 180
3. Whip and Terminate
4. Pop and Control
5. Burn and Lap
6. Cone Coil
7. The 90
8. Wheelie Weave
9. Spin and Go
10. P.I.T. Maneuver
11. Alley Oop
12. City Slicking

The Desert Area

Mike Toreno

1. Monster
2. Highjack
3. Interdiction
4. Verdant Meadows

Learning to Fly - PILOT SCHOOL

1. Takeoff
2. Land Plane
3. Circle Airstrip
4. Circle Airstrip and Land
5. Takeoff Helicopter
6. Land Helicopter
7. Destroy Targets
8. Loop-the-Loop
9. Barrel Rollb
10. Parachute Onto Target

Airstrip Missions

1. N.O.E.
2. Stowaway
3. Black Project
4. Green Goo

Cesar Vialpando IV

1. Zeroing In
2. Test Drive
3. Customs Fast Track
4. Puncture Wounds

Las Venturas Area

Wu Zi Mu II

1. Fender Ketchup
2. Explosive Situation
3. You've Had Your Chips

The Truth III

1. Don Peyoteb

Ken Rosenburg - Yes, THE Ken Rosenburg

1. Intensive Care
2. Meat Business
3. Freefall

Officer Frank Tenpenny

1. Misappropriation
2. High Noon

Madd Dogg

1. Madd Dogg

Salvatore Leone

1. Saint Mark's Bistro

The Heist

1. Architectural Espionage
2. Key to Her Heart
3. Dam and Blast
4. Cop Wheels
5. Up, Up, and Away!
6. Breaking the Bank at Caligula's

Los Santos Again

Opening Mission

1. A Home in the Hills

CJ's Mansion

1. Vertical Bird
2. Home Coming
3. Cut Throat Business

Sean "Sweet" Johnson

1. Beat Down on B-Dup
2. Grove 4 Life

The Riots

1. Riot
2. Los Desperados
3. End of the Line

Completion Checklist

Click here for a document you can print. Use it while playing the game so you can check off the necessary items to obtain 100% completion of Play Station 2 Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas. [6 pages if you are printing on 8.5"x11" paper]

Return to Part one of the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas strategy guide here