Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

1. Finish “The Party” and “Back Alley Brawl” first. These unlock the Malibu Club save point and establish Ocean View Hotel as your base. Save after each — Vice City has no mid-mission checkpoints, and the Brawl’s chase sequence ends fast if you lose the target.

2. Steal a PCJ-600 or Infernus and learn the first island. Vice Point and Ocean Beach are open immediately. Speed wins timed missions, so grab the fastest thing you see. Lock in the two Pay ‘n’ Spray locations (Vice Point, Ocean Beach) — they clear wanted levels instantly.

3. Start the hidden package hunt now. 100 packages total; every 10 unlocks weapons at your safehouses. Hit 10 for body armor, 20 for the chainsaw, 30 for the Python. Starfish Island mansion packages are reachable before you own the property — swim or boat over.

4. Buy Pole Position Club ($30,000) first. Cheapest asset, generates passive income, opens the “Shakedown” chain. Run taxi fares or pizza delivery to build the buy-in.

5. Let phone missions ring until you’re ready. Ringing phones trigger timed asset missions (Kaufman Cabs, Malibu Club). Answer and fail, the mission stays active and blocks other progress. Ignore them until your arsenal is stocked.

6. Max Uzi or MP5 ammo at Ammu-Nation. Vice Point gun shop opens after “The Chase.” 9mm submachine guns carry drive-bys and crowd control through the Diaz estate missions — stock 500+ rounds before you go.

7. Use Kaufman Cabs garage as a second save point. Buy the asset, the Little Haiti garage becomes a functional safehouse. Central to the second island, closer to Ammu-Nation than Ocean View.

• Properties are save points—buy them to cut the backtrack after you die. Hyman Condo sits dead-center on the map and unlocks early; prioritize it. Every safehouse you own is a respawn you don’t have to drive to.

• Hidden packages pay out as you collect. Progressive rewards stack—body armor, then weapons at your safehouses. Hit all 100 and a Hunter spawns at Fort Baxter. Rampages drop cash on completion and count toward 100%; clear them between story beats.

• PCJ-600 is the fastest thing that won’t flip you into traffic. Spawns near the Malibu Club. Bail with Triangle before impact to skip the ragdoll and keep your health bar intact.

• Police bribes are faster than Pay ‘n’ Spray. Spinning badge pickups sit in alleys and garages citywide. Learn two or three near your common mission starts—grab one mid-chase and the stars drop instantly.

• Asset missions unlock passive income and gear. Finish the Kaufman Cabs, Malibu Club, Print Works chains and those properties generate daily cash. Malibu missions unlock the Kruger; the film studio drops the minigun.

• Helicopters break timed deliveries. Sparrow spawns on the VCN building roof downtown; Mavericks sit on tall-building helipads. Use them for Pizza Boy, Paramedic, and asset runs—traffic stops mattering.

• Body armor respawns; memorize one near your active missions. Armor pickups refresh when you leave the area and return. Washington Beach police station has one behind the building—worth the detour before hard missions.

“Demolition Man” — RC Helicopter Mission

The single most infamous roadblock in Vice City. You pilot an RC helicopter with floaty, inverted controls to plant four bombs in a construction site while rival workers attack the chopper. The timer is tight, the collision detection is unforgiving, and one wrong bump ends the run.

Unblock: Ignore the workers initially—fly high to avoid their hammers, then descend vertically onto each bomb target. Plant top-floor bombs first (third and fourth floors) while the timer is generous, then work downward. The helicopter’s magnetized pickup has more range than it appears; you don’t need to be perfectly centered. If workers cluster on a floor, bait them to one side, then approach the target from the opposite direction. Many players invert the camera controls in the options menu to make the helicopter more intuitive.

“Driver” — Hilary’s Wheelman Test

Hilary King demands you prove your driving skill by completing a checkpoint course through downtown Vice City in under one minute. The route is long, the checkpoints are poorly telegraphed, and traffic spawns aggressively in your path.

Unblock: Memorize the route—this is a pure execution test with zero room for exploration. Use the PCJ-600 motorcycle (parked near the Print Works) instead of a car; bikes thread through traffic gaps cars cannot. Powerslide into 90-degree turns rather than braking. The checkpoint near the mall’s back alley is the most commonly missed; approach from the north side of the street, not the south.

“Supply & Demand” — Yacht Shootout

The final Diaz mission traps you on a yacht surrounded by armed guards with no cover and limited health pickups. Diaz himself spawns on the top deck with a Ruger and can shred your health in seconds.

Unblock: Before boarding, stock up on M4 ammo and body armor from Ammu-Nation. Immediately sprint to the yacht’s interior cabin upon starting—the doorway provides a chokepoint where guards funnel toward you one at a time. Clear the lower deck, grab the health pickup in the cabin, then approach Diaz from the stairs rather than the open deck. Autoaim locks onto him through the railing; you can kill him before he has line-of-sight.