Basics
Getting a car
There are different ways to get a car. You can block the path of the car by standing in front of it or blocking the way with another vehicle. You can then brandish a weapon or shoot at it, and the driver will run away and leave the vehicle. The driver can also decide to speed away. You can also hijack a car at stoplights or one that is moving slowly. Killing the driver may attract unnecessary attention from the police.
Different cars have different capabilities. Some are elegant, like the phoenix which is too fast and can ruin your chances of completing a mission because it becomes hard to control. During missions, drive aggressively but avoid being reckless because you might keep ruining the cars and waste precious time which you need to complete the missions. With time, you will learn the best cars to use for different missions. You can do stunts with a car. For example, you can hit a ramp with one side of your car and set the car to move on two wheels. You can also make a sharp turn and set it on two wheels. If you can maintain this for two seconds, you get a bonus. The importance of stunts will be discussed later.
Bikes
The advantage of bikes is that they can help you maneuver in and out of traffic with ease. The disadvantage with bikes is that any crash will leave you flying and you might end up losing health and armor. Each bike is also unique in its own way. The PCJ 600 is fast, stylish and agile. The Sanchez is fairly agile and is good for dirt and sand surfaces.
The Faggio and pizza boy scooters are quite hard to perform tricks with. The Angel and Freeway are clunky bikes with good speeds but poor handling. If you are getting away from the police, bikes are good because you can fit into back alleys if you can avoid slamming into barriers.
Avoid territories if you are not ready
Vice city is dominated by organized gangs. Some missions will cause you to anger some gangs. Other times, the clothing you wear can spark off a fight. When you are able to buy property, Italian gangs will hang around your territory. These mean characters protect your territory from invasion.
Flying helicopters in the game
Flying helicopters, both RC and large scale helicopters, can present a challenge, but it is doable. The right hand fingers are used to maneuver the rotation of the helicopter and also the height at which it flies. This can be done simultaneously and is not as hard as it seems. The directional stick can be used to drive forward. These are the simple movements you can use to maneuver the chopper. It might seem hard at first, but it gets easier with practice. It is imperative to learn how to do this as it is helpful in RC missions.
Creating a custom playlist in the game
It is possible to create your own radio station in the game. The first thing you need to do is create a playlist and name it Vice city. Then, you need to sync your device. If you switch to the Tape Deck radio station, your music will play. A cool thing you can do is to have the device play different songs when you enter new vehicles. To do this, you only need to activate the shuffle feature in the playlist.
Completing pizza deliveries
The character is indeed a revered gangster, but it is important to do some extra missions and earn rewards. For pizza deliveries, you need to acquire a pizza delivery bike and tap the job icon to start the missions. These missions do not go unrewarded because after reaching level 10, you are awarded 150 health points.
Completing taxi missions
The first thing you need to do is get a yellow cab and then activate the job icon at the left hand side of the screen. This button appears very small by default. With this cab, you are now required to collect passengers and drop them to their destinations. The destinations are usually marked on the mini map. After dropping the first passenger, you can collect another and repeat this process before the various timers expire. To complete the mission chain, you need to finish 100 concurrent missions.
The advantage of completing emergency missions
Starting these missions is a lot like starting taxi and pizza missions. It is important to try and reach level 12 in each of these missions. The missions in this category include jobs in fire engines, police cars and ambulances. When you are able to reach level 12 in ambulances, you earn the ability to sprint forever. For the police car missions, you get ‘150 armor’, and for the fire engine missions, you earn the ability to resist any damage by fire.
Therefore, it is important to do some of these missions as they earn you incredible abilities that will help you build up easily on the main story line. To turn the siren on and off of emergency cars when driving, simply double tap the horn button.
Packages
There are 100 packages littered around Vice city and collecting them helps you unlock new goodies like weapons and vehicles. An efficient way to do this is to pick these packages in one go. There is an advantage of doing this instead of collecting them individually at your own time simply because you avoid spending hours looking for a package that you have already collected. Reaching a certain number of packages earns you rewards. Let’s look at the rewards.
Collecting 10 packages earns you body armor, collecting 20 packages earns you a chainsaw, collecting 30 packages earns you a colt python, 40 packages earns you a Flame thrower, 50 packages earns you a PSG-1sniper gun, 60 packages earns you a Gattling gun (mini-gun), 70 packages earns you a rocket launcher, 80 packages earns you a Sea Sparrow helicopter which is located behind Starfish Island mansion (Hyman Condo), 90 packages earns you a Rhino tank located at Fort Baxter Air Base, and 100 packages earns you a Hunter military helicopter located at Fort Baxter Air Base. The rewards for 10 to 70 packages are usually located at Ocean View hotel, Vercetti mansion (Hyman Condo).
Acquiring the mansion
There is a magnificent mansion located in the middle of the map. It comes with a helicopter sitting on the roof. For you to possess this, you need to complete all the missions of the game. The assets automatically become available to you once you complete the missions.
Losing the heat
There are times when your wanted level prevents you from going about your business. With a high wanted level, the cops will be all over you. To bring down this wanted level, you need to evade the police and get away from them as far as you can. Another way is to locate a Pay ‘n Spray garage and get your car a new paint job. When this is done, you can drive away without the unnecessary attention. A new paint job costs you $100 each time you do it.
How to be a good seaman
Speed boats can be quite tricky to operate. You want to follow a straight line when driving speedboats. You need to fix your eyes ahead so that you can collect each of the packages that are on the sides. Try to keep the movement from one side to the next as minimal as possible. Turns can prove even trickier. It is important that you try and memorize where each turn is located. This should help you start making the turns early.
If you try and make the turns suddenly, you will spin out of control, and it is quite challenging to come back from spins. When you get close to a turn, try to let off the gas a bit. This enables you handle the boat better. After making the turn, you can then accelerate. As for jumps, make sure you line up your approach very carefully before making the jumps. Avoid messy jumps and motions because it will prevent you from completing the mission within the stipulated time.