Guide To Playing PS2 Grand Theft Auto (GTA) Vice City Stories
Parental Warning: Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories 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.
This is the guide for Vice City Stories for the Play Station 2, not the PSP. This contains spoilers as well as tips on how to get through the mission.
Taking the Fall (4/10 difficulty)
Here is where we find out the degree of a butthole Lance can be. The Mendez have been on to the fact that someone is stealing the blow and Lance told them it was probably the Bikers who are behind it. Meanwhile, Vic is concerned that he never gets to spend any time with Louise at all and the relationship is in trouble. Lance tells him to take out his frustration on the Bikers instead.
There are plenty of bikers heavily armed so you will need armor and a quick loading gun like an AK47, although a shotgun will work for this bunch. If you are fire proof and have a quick aim, bring moltov cocktails or grenades to take them out.
Go to the spot which is a construction area via helicopter with Lance who will be doing the shooting. Keep level on the way so he can shoot the ones on the street. At the building site, keep level so Lance can shoot the guys on the roof. Soon you will be shot down and Lance will be held hostage. Once at the spot, your job is to rescue Lance who is being held upstairs. Shoot as many as you can as you go around the front.
Make your way past all the Bikers and get up there to save Lance. Throw grenades as far as you can ahead of yourself to take out as many of the bikers as possible and finish off the rest with your best gun. Repeat as you go up and then you will have a final battle upstairs where an AK47 works quite well. Lance will be okay with a bike he stole from the Bikers. Turns out they didn't steal it after all, Lance just wanted that bike which will now be a feature in his garage.
Reward: $300. The Mendez still want to know what happened to all that blow.
While Lies (4/10 difficulty)
The truth comes out at last. It seems as if Lance has been the one stealing the coke. To make it worse, he has been seeing Louise on the side who has been doing drugs with him. Vic jumps to the conclusion there was more to it than that and is angry with her. Louise tells him off and they have a fight. Vic gets into it with Lance who says he can do whatever he wants with it and plans on giving it away.
Lance has gone haywire and Vic needs to save him from himself. Hop into the hovercraft and pick up the packages he drops. You need to collect most of the packages or you will fail. This one is tricky if you have trouble controlling the hovercraft, especially when it comes to a jump. It is best to avoid it and go to the right of the hill after the bridge.
Reward: $1500. You can now buy the Bover '64 at your Clymenus Suite safe house. Just when you thought all was well, Martinez has left you a nasty message. Time to rescue your girl.
Where it Hurts Most (4/10 difficulty)
Louise needs Vic's help because she is being chased by Martinez's thugs. Although they had a fight, she needs Vic's help. Have a PCJ-600, armor, and M249. Go to the location where she is at King Knuts and you will find yourself in an ambush as Louise has been abducted and is being mishandled. Kill those surrounding you and hop on a motorcycle for best results to chase down her location. There are 3 different locations for the thugs and she will be in the last one of the 3, no matter which order you take it. Kill them because they will shoot you as you try to leave anyway. Do the north most one (the alley near the Hyman Condo) last because it is closest to the hospital and out of the way of the cops.
When you find Louise, you will be engaged in a shoot out. There is a pick up truck in the way, ram through it to have a clear path when you get to Louise. Kill the goons and hop into the car with Louise and take her to the hospital before she dies.
Reward: $500, but Martinez is not through with his plans for Louise yet and lets you know.
Steal the Deal (3/10 difficulty)
Ricardo Diaz lives in a mansion on Starfish Island. Those who have played the original Vice City game will be familiar with this character who was very much into balls in that game. Anyway, he wants the Mendez brothers out of the way so he can take over. Reni has told him lots of good things about Vic and he wants to test him out. Gonzalez has been caught red handed trying to steal product from him. He wants you to steal it back.
Have armor, a rocket launcher or M249, and an AK47. You will stalk him after you get to the Pole Position Club. Follow him, but not too closely. Eventually, you will need to chase him on the water, again, not too closely until he arrives at the spot to the south. There are sentries staked out all over the place who will shoot at you. Quickly get to a safe part of the pier because if you stay on your jetskis or a boat for too long, it will go in flames. It is easier to shoot them down from the pier. Get the ones with the package first and use the rocket launcher to take out the rest. Use the AK47 to shoot the ones on the pier. When they are all mowed down, get into the boat with the stash and return the product at Diaz's place.
Reward: $1500.
The Exchange (3/10 difficulty)
Diaz has made a deal with the DEA to exchange some coke for guns. He has teamed up with Lance for this great plan, so you know it is half-baked. Gonzalez is out to ruin this deal and his goons are at the meeting point to ambush you. I hope you have a laser sniper, rocket launcher, armor, and a fast loading gun.
Quickly pick out the guys on the distant roof points with your sniper, or for quicker results, aim the rocket launcher right under the goons to knock them out. Do this quickly or the deal will be ruined. Once complete, get into the van which does not handle very well and can easily be gunned down. You will be ambushed again by Gonzalez's men on the streets. Quickly make your way to the nearest Pay N' Spray, park your car inside and get out. Use the rocket launcher to get rid of them and get in the car for a repaint job. Quickly drive to Diaz's mansion which is not too far from the Pay N' Spray.
Reward: $1750. Seems Gonzalez is not exactly happy with Vic right now.
Farewell to Arms (4/10 difficulty)
Now that Gonzalez has been fully exposed, Diaz has him under a tight fist. He needs Gonzalez to give the weapons to Cortez. Gonzalez is delivering by truck and Vic will protect him via helicopter. There are Sharks on the street who are going to attack the truck and you need to protect him from them. The truck is quite fragile, so use your M249 carefully as you destroy the vehicles. Try not to have them blow up too close to the van.
Once you get to the airport, the van is being unloaded into the plane. The Sharks are trying to get in and you need to stop them by shooting them at the gates. After a few sweeps back and forth, the Sharks will get in as the plane is almost ready for take off. You need to shoot the Sharks before they destroy the plane.
Reward: $2500. Now the Mendez brothers want to talk. At least you can now buy the mini gun at the mall.
Burning Bridges (5/10 difficulty)
It seems this forced partnership between the Vance brothers and the Mendez brothers just is not going to work. If they wish to live, they must leave town now. Vic and Lance refuse and are knocked out only to wake up unarmed and near the Fuel Depot with goons trying to kill them. Lance is trapped by fire (I hope you are fireproof by now.)
Kill the nearest goon and take his weapons. There is some armor nearby, grab it. Move carefully and get the next few goons and grab their weapons. Find the valves and shoot them as you come to them. Use your ammo sparingly as you do not want to run out when you get to the valves. Dodge the guys shooting you from the helicopter by using the tanks as cover. Near the last valve is a PCJ-600, shoot the valve, hop on and rescue Vic. They have made it clear they want you dead.
Reward: Nothing, but if you look carefully around the building you will find some of your weapons hanging about.
Blitzkrieg Strikes Again (3/10 difficulty)
The Mendez brothers are threatening 3 of your empire sites. You have recruited both Umberto Robina and Phil Cassidy to help out. They will destroy your businesses in about 8 minutes if you don't fend them off, so an M249 or minigun is in order as well as the armor.
Map out your route to save time. Shoot all enemies approaching until the area is safe and get the next one and then the last one.
Reward: $700 for basically an easy empire business mission. Reni and Diaz are open to you again.
Lost and Found (4/10 difficulty)
Martinez has left word with Lance that he is planning on doing harm to Louise. Vic needs to rescue her before Martinez can get her. Go to the hospital where she was left off. She says she is feeling much better. As you go with Louise, you get an urgent message from Lance that he is trapped in a burning building and needs your help. There is a helicopter on the roof of the hospital. Get in and go to rescue Lance. As you rescue Lance, you find out this was a trap by the Mendez brothers who have taken something away from Lance who wants it back. Head out to the goons at sea and keep it level so Lance can shoot them. Get close to the big boat so Lance can retrieve the money and take Louise home.
Reward: $1500. This is the closest thing to a last date Vic will have with Louise.
So Long Schlong (4/10 difficulty)
Reni is afraid for his life. The Mendez brothers are angry with him for introducing Vic to Diaz which is their main competition. Despite being a former lover with Armando, he still wants Reni dead. The only thing that he thinks will save him is to have yet another sex change operation, he's only had 3.
Have armor and an M249 ready. Quickly drive to your closest empire business if you have all 30 completed so you can use the bulletproof car. Go and rescue Reni who is hiding behind a car. Take out both cars which will blow up the shooters and get in your bulletproof car (or if it has disappeared, take any vehicle to the nearest empire and get another one.) Speed south and go to the hospital.
Reward: $1000.
Domo Arigato Domestoboto (2/10 difficulty)
This is one of my favorite missions in the game. Once you get used to how to control the robot, it is pretty easy. Lance is completely stoned after taking a loan from Diaz. Before all the details of paying back the loan, Lance is out cold. It is up to Vic to pay back by destroy Armando Mendez's bearer bonds. It seems Armando has purchased a high tech robot servant that will come in handy.
This is sort of like the Vice City missions where you control something while in a van. This time you are controlling a robot that needs to find the safe. In between the time in finding the safe, the Mendez brothers will have it cleaning, fetching or lighting cigars, or handing them objects which can be accomplished by switching to the correct arm to do the job. One of the arms is a radar which will help locate the safe (which is on the lower level down a long corridor and through the door.) When you get to the safe, you need to open it by entering the code 8423 and use the lighting arm to torch it.
Reward: $2000.
In The Air Tonight (4/10 difficulty)
Reni is now a woman and needs a lift to the airport. As you get there, Mendez' goons are waiting to shoot. Kill them and take the west path behind the Compound to go to the stadium.
Once there, you are on guard duty to keep these guys from killing Phil Collins. They are cutting the lighting cables and if they cut them all it will fall on him and he will really feel "something in the air tonight." As soon as you see them starting to cut, kill them before too much damage can be done. The view is terrible on this, so try to look for the red dots on the map to locate them. Your weapons are not available as the tight security has taken them at the door, so all you have are your fists.
Phil Collins, you either love him or hate him. How much you love or hate him will determine how you feel about this mission. If you can't stand him, at least you can press X to fast forward past some of his songs.
After the second cutscene with Phil heading to stage, he starts getting into the concert mode (press X if you hate his music or relax and enjoy the concert.)
Reward: $2000 and now you can buy a concert ticket to watch that same one song concert you just saw. A bit disappointing. They could at least have a few different songs included. It seems Louise is in trouble again and needs your help now.
Light My Pyre (difficulty 6/10)
Boy does Mary Jo have issues...fantasizing about being groped by the men who kidnapped and threatened the life of her sister. Anyway, the Mendez brothers want Vic and Lance to leave town or they will do away with Louise, then they blow up Lance's car and he chases after the goons on the bike he stole from the Biker gang. You will be glad if you have extra armor and health in this one and are fireproof because it will help you a lot. Also, come in with the M429.
In the direction Lance is heading, look by the tree and you will find a PCJ-600. Hop on and chase the goons who are shooting at Lance before he ends up dead. There are more that will spawn further up the road that need to be killed. This chase will continue to just before the bridge leading to the Mendez house and a short cut scene before you have to drive the rest of the way. Don't go there immediately. Instead, if you need armor or more weapons, there is an Ammu-Nations at the mall. Also, stop by an empire site if you have all 30 empire businesses so you can get a bullet-proof car. Get in that car and drive to the back door, you will have to ram the cars in the driveway to get through. Armando is waiting for you as he tells you both Lance and Louise are resting in peace and assaults you with a flamethrower. If you are not fireproof, you had better pump him quick with your M249before you die. If you are fireproof, pump him full of lead with it anyway to get rid of him. Louise dies and Lance makes it out with a limp.
Reward: $2500. A message lets you know that Diego has escaped and Diaz knows where to smoke him out.
Over the Top (difficulty 3/10)
Diaz is high on coke, but has a great plan, to steal a Hunter from the air base in order to attack Diego. Very risky business and he suggests Lance (who you should be glad to know will no longer be "helping" you on these missions.) Instead, Vic insists on taking his army buddy Phil along for the gig. On the way, Vic is ambushed by Diego's goons. Just do a drive-by and kill them and head on for Phil's place. Phil is understandable upset, but agrees to help as a decoy so he can get on the base. He is drunk as usual and rams his truck into the gate and Vic needs to jump over the wall and sneak past the guards to get inside the building in order to access safe control of the Hunter. Bring the M249 to kill any guard who spots you. Once inside, there are two guards, waste them and get to the marker, quickly head out and go to the helicopter, knock the guy out who is inside and step in and take off. Fly to the Diaz helipad and you pass.
Reward: $3000 and you get your army uniform back which will make it better for you getting back into Fort Baxter.
Last Stand (4/10 difficulty)
A bit disappointing of an end, but still enough of a thrill for those of us who love to shoot 'em up.
Diaz has the Hunter ready to go and he thanks you in advance for making him the king of the town. Vic makes it clear he isn't doing it for him, but for himself because all this business did was tear apart his family and have a woman he loved killed while she waited for him. Diaz tells him they are holed up in a building downtown. Take the Hunter, M249, armor and switch to first person view. Fly to the area and there are three buildings you can have the Hunter hover over while you shoot the guards at the windows of the building. When they are all gone, your Hunter will be shot down and you end on the roof of the building where there will be armor and weapons from the person killed up there. Enter the blue marker and kill all the guards. There's more armor inside if you need it. Using the M249 will mow them down quickly. Go to the next floor and do the same thing. Then a cut scene will take place and Jerry and Diego want to flush you upstairs so they can get at you. Shoot the goons which have appeared and you will make your way upstairs. Shoot the goons and the helicopter shooting at you. Use the manual aim with your M249 to take out the helicopter. Then Jerry and Diego will appear on the roof, so you go up and meet them. There is armor up there if you need it. Take them out quickly and when they are dead, Lance finally shows up ready for work only to find out it's done. Vic wants to lay low for awhile, but Lance has more kilos waiting to sell. Here we go again! Not really, it's the end.
Reward: A long ending credit with a drive through town and a winner's suit in your safe house. It also opens up the mission Skywolf which you will need for 100%.
Side Mission
Skywolf
On the northeast end of the southern runway at Escobar International Airport you will find a Hunter. Hop in to activate this mission. You have 4 minutes to get all checkpoints and destroy the targets.
Reward: $500. You can do it again, but no money.
What Do You Get For 100%?
All weapons have unlimited ammo. All vehicles can take twice the damage before blowing up. And for the entertainment value, you can the use the movie viewer inside The Clymenus Suite safe house.