How to Pass the Tough Missions in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

Go to Ryder's house. Go to the "R" on the mini-map to start this mission. CJ meets Ryder who has been smoking. He hatches a crazy plan to rob the army.

Get in the van and go to Ocean Docks. After the cut scene with Rider, get in the van parked in front of Ryder's house. Head to the location marked with a yellow dot on the mini-map. Park the van in the red circle.

Climb over the wall and take out the guards. After you arrive at the location, get out of the van and climb over the wall. Take out as many guards on the other side as you can.

Shoot the door controls to the hanger. One way to make this mission easier is to get all the creates in place before you let Ryder in with the van. Shoot the door controls on the hanger to open the hanger door. Take out all the guards inside.

Use the forklift to take the creates outside the hanger. Get in the forklift and use it to bring all four creates at the end of the hanger and bring them to the outside front of the hanger. Don't forget the two creates outside. Have one create in the forklift ready to load in the van. ^[2]

Shoot the gate controls. This opens the gate and allows Ryder to drive the van inside.

Use the forklift to load the van. Once Ryder is in position, use the forklift to quickly load as many creates inside the van as possible.

• If two crates are right next to each other, you can use the forklift to pick up both of them at the same time.

Help Ryder take out the guards. When the "weekend soldiers" show up to shoot Ryder, have CJ get out of the forklift and help Ryder take them out. The most frustrating part of this mission is that you have to rely on Ryder to cover you as you load the van. If he gets too overwhelmed, you can lose the mission through no fault of your own.

Take the van to the storage garage in Willowfield. After you have loaded all 6 crates, get in the van and drive it to the location marked with a yellow dot on the mini-map. The guards will chase after you the whole way. If they become too much trouble, honk the horn and Ryder will throw a crate at them.

Talk to Big Smoke. Talk to Big Smoke to start this mission. He will ask you to help him pick up Jeffery (a.k.a OG Loc) from prison.

Go to Pershing Square. After you get in the car with Big Smoke, follow the directions on the mini-map to get to Pershing Square. Then watch the cut scene with OG Loc.

Go to the Freddy's House. Follow the directions on the mini-map to get to Freddy's House. When you arrive, ring the doorbell. Freddy will try to outrun you on his motorcycle.

Leave OG Loc behind. Drive on the motorcycle with just CJ. This will make the motorcycle handle much better, and will let CJ lean forward for more speed. OG will magically appear at the end.

Know the route. Try to remember where to turn, etc. It's much easier to know where to go if you've seen the route before. It may help to watch some videos to learn where to turn, etc. The turn off of the highway is right after the billboard or overhead street sign.

Drive safely. You don't have to catch Jeffrey, and there are some places where he stops and waits (but he doesn't stop and wait once on the highway.) So the main thing is to not crash.

• To drive more safely during a tricky part (i.e. the downhill before the highway,) release the accelerator, to slow down, and to get more control over the bike, etc. Don't be afraid to break if you need to.
• Keep your distance. Freddy likes to make sharp turns that can cause you to crash.

Be persistent. If you happen to lose Freddy a few times, that's okay. Just go in the direction of the red dot on the mini-map until he resurfaces. Even if you wreck a few times, you can still get back on the bike and continue.^[3]

Go to Cesar's. It's the location marked "C" on the map. Catalina asks you to race to prove your love for her.

Cut through the grass on the right side. After passing through the first checkpoint, immediately cut through the grass on the right and drive in a straight line to the second checkpoint

Cut through the grass after the third checkpoint. After passing through the third checkpoint, immediately cut through the grass on the left to the next checkpoint.

Take the path to the left of the 6th checkpoint. When you reach the 6th checkpoint, immediately take the dirt path to the left. That will put you well ahead of the rest of the cars.

Drive safely from here on. It will be easy to win the race once you're ahead of the competitors. The main thing is not speed here, but to simply not crash, or to go a wrong way, etc.

Slow down on the wooden bridge at the bottom of the hill. It's after the hilltop logging area.

Go between to the two buildings to the right of the corona. Watch out for the fence afterward.

Release the accelerator before a turn. This car likes to spin out easily. If you have to, press both brakes before the turn. Then let go of the brakes and then drift through the turn at a reasonable speed. The car doesn't turn as well if you're holding down the accelerator button.

Talk to Wu Zi Mu. To start this mission, go to the icon that resembles a green dollar sign ($) on the mini-map. This is a heist mission where you need to steel 4 police bikes within a time limit.

Get the first bike. Get a car and go east on the freeway. When you get to the first bike, simply get on the bike. Don't shoot the police officer.

Drive the bike to the truck. The truck is marked with a blue dot on the mini-map. Drive the bike to the truck and drive it up on the ramp and park it on the truck.

Get the second bike After putting the bike on the truck, steal a nearby car and take the Julius Freeway north to the parking lot of the hospital. Run into the bike to knock the cop off it. Get onto the bike and go west to the highway. Take the bike to the truck marked with a blue dot on the mini-map and park it on the truck.

Get the third bike. Steal a nearby card and cut across town, and go to the police station. Get out of your vehicle early and shoot the cops next to the bike. Then you can just run up and get on the bike. Go north on the main Strip in Las Venturas, and there's a church there, with a ramp to the right of it. Use that ramp to get onto the highway easily. Take the bike to the truck marked with a blue dot on the mini-map.

Get the forth bike. Steal a nearby car and go to the nearest overpass to the bike, and get out of your vehicle there. Shoot the last cop from a distance to keep him from getting on the bike. Get on the bike, use the same overpass to get back onto the freeway, and put the bike on the truck, to complete the mission.

• The key of this strategy is it avoids any long chases to get the bikes. So you can simply get on the bike, and put it on the packer.

Talk to Mike Toreno. Go to the icon marked "T" on your map to start this mission. There will be a cut-scene in which Toreno sneaks up behind CJ and then sends him on the mission.

Get in the plane and take off. After Mike Toreno explains the mission, get in the plain marked on the mini-map. It's already loaded up. After exiting the hanger, immediately turn right and speed down the runway and take off.

Stay low. In this mission, you need to keep your altitude low to stay off the radar. The easiest way to do this is to stay over the highway that is to the right of the runway. Watch out for trees, poles, mountains and other obstacles.

Make small adjustments using the analog stick. To maintain control of the aircraft, just make small adjustments to the stick to avoid obstacles.

Fly over the ocean. This is the easiest way to stay low and avoid obstacles. When you get close, fly out over the ocean and stay along the shoreline while flying in the direction of the target on the mini-map.

Fly through the red ring. When you get close enough the yellow triangle on the map, turn left and fly inward over land. Fly through the red ring to trigger the drop. Then turn around fly back out over the ocean in the direction you came.

Return to the airport. After making the drop, turn around and fly back over the ocean. Fly along the shoreline in the opposite direction you came. When you get close to the airport, which is marked by three yellow dots on your mini-map, fly inward and stay over the highways and avoid obstacles.

Land the plane. When you get close to the airport, line up the plane with the line of yellow dots on the mini-map. Lower your landing gear and slow down the plane. Touch down on the runway and stop in the red circle.

Talk to Zero. Go to the icon marked "Z" on the mini-map to start this mission. In this mission, you will use an RC toy plane to take out targets for Zero.

• This is only tough on the original PS2 version. On newer versions, you can save fuel by releasing the accelerator.

Acceloorate to fly the plane. Press the accelerator button to take off from the rooftop. Hold it down to fly the plane. Release the accellorator before shooting.

Use small left-stick adjustments to control the plane. Most people's mistake is making too big of movements with the left stick, causing the plane to go everywhere.

Use banking to control the turning speed of the plane. Occasionally you may need to pull back on the stick.

Concentrate on accuracy. If you shoot the gun accurately right from the get-go, the mission will be much easier. Watch the sparks of the machine gun hitting, to see where it's actually hitting. Once you have accuracy, you can shoot the couriers from much farther away, which is quicker, easier, safer for the Red Baron, etc.

• Sometimes you can improve accuracy by landing the plane on the ground and shooting at the targets from the ground.

Take out the targets. Take out the targets in the following order:

• Start with the nearby courier.
• Take out the one on the bike next.
• Take out the SUV one. It's usually west.
• Take out the van. Check the map. If the van courier has gone somewhere way too far, it's usually best to retry the mission.
• Get the Sanchez next. It's particularly important to get the Sanchez from far away (accuracy), because it can really shoot up the Red Baron.
• Get the other van courier last.

Head straight back to the rooftop. Try to keep the plane flying level to maximize speed. Fly into the red circle.

Get body armor before the start of a mission. You can get body armor from Ammu-nation. Purchase body armor before you start a difficult mission.

Get behind cover. When you find yourself in the middle of a shootout, look for half-walls and fences to get behind and crouch. Stay behind cover to avoid taking damage.

Crouch and tumble. When you find yourself out in the open, crouch down to make yourself a smaller target. Then tumble from side to side to make yourself a moving target.

Keep an eye out for extra body armor and health. Longer missions, such as "A Home in the Hills" and "End of the Line" will have extra body armor and health scattered throughout the shooting sections. Once you take out all the enemies, explore each area to find extra body armor and health.

Use vehicles as a weapon. You don't always have to get out of your vehicle to win a shootout. You can just run them over with your car. But be careful. If the car take enough damage, it will explode. If the engine starts to smoke or catch fire, immediately dive out of the car, get some distance away and head for cover.

Shoot the engine block of cars. When in a chase mission, aim for the engine blocks of cars to get them to explode.

Get the homing rocket launcher. The homing rocket launcher is useful in a lot of missions. It's available after Vertical Bird. To get that, drive a car up next to the guard station at the airport. Have CJ climb on top of the car, then jump up onto the office. Then run around to open the gates. Also, you can park your car in front of the gate to keep it open, and just stand CJ on the line between the sidewalk and the road, to make the jump onto the top of the office. The rocket launcher is on the eastern-most side of the airport, between some fuel tanks, which are to the right of the hangars south (or right) of the control tower.

Get the vehicle you want before a mission. Some races and chase missions require a specific vehicle type. If you know of a high-powered version of the vehicle type, get it before the start of the mission or race.

Slow down before a turn. Especially during races. This helps to maintain control. Let go of the accelerator button to slow down before a turn so that you don't spin out during the turn. Then speed up on the straights.

Look for shortcuts. Many races and chase missions have shortcuts you can take to shorten your distance. You may be able to cut across the grass to get from one checkpoint to another. Look for ways to shorten your distance.