Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - Progress Report 8

Song of the Day

Easy Lover - Phil Collins & Philip Bailey

Progress Report VIII

Story Missions Complete 43/58

Mission 39; The Colonel's Coke - Reni sets us up with a coke dealer who needs some additional help protecting him whilst he transports him. We meet up with the man who ends up being Gonzales, who was seen briefly in Vice City before he came to an unfortunate end...

*sniff* good times...

...but that's not for another two years. Here he tells us he needs to get his coke to his Colonel, who is Cortez from the original. He'll be travelling by boat, and we have to defend him in a sea-copter with mounted guns. Many boats will try to attack Gonzales during the mission, but it's actually incredibly easy to win this mission. In the helicopter are two of his men who are very good shots, as well as his guards on the boat. In fact it's probably best if you don't try to shoot the boats yourself, it's a pain in the neck to aim it right. Eventually you will have to take down an enemy helicopter, but it goes down easy enough. See Gonzales to his lock-up and it's mission complete and we have a new contact.

Mission 40; Kill Phil: Reni this time is joined by an English gentleman called Barry. Barry has a problem, he borrowed $3,000,000 (good grief) from a gangster and they want it back. Our job is to protect him and his client. First we have to pick up the special bulletproof limo that Barry has lined up for us, and then we have to pick up his client. He'll arrive in a helicopter, but then a gang comes up and attacks it. We have to kill the gang members before they kill Barry's man. Once it is over we are finally introduced to the client...

HEY, that's Phil Collins (remember, GTA games in this era did not have great character models...). Now we must drive him and Barry to his hotel whilst gangsters shoot at us, but you should get there without much hassle. Phil and Barry bicker their way into the hotel room. I sense this will be the Genesis of a beautiful friendship...

FINE, I'll stop there with the jokes...

Mission 41; Say Cheese: Vic is getting a bit cheesed off at Reni constantly calling him over without giving any jobs. Vic is a businessman after all. Reni, after a bit of obligatory flirting, asks us to help him shoot his commercial again. This time we start off on a Jet-Ski, which can be tricky to control at parts. Just be sure to hit the jumps at good speed, otherwise you'll land on the ground and you'll lose time as it respawns you. Just go through the checkpoints and keep your Jet-Ski controlled and you'll be fine. After the last jump you'll be asked to ride a motorbike for the rest of the mission. Again take it easy, you shouldn't need to rush, and get to the last checkpoint. After which you get another shining example of Rockstar's classy humour...which I can't find any real pictures of and I'm not searching for Kock on Google thank you very much. 

Reni's next mission won't be unlocked until we do a couple of jobs for our new friend Gonzales, so let's go and visit him!

Mission 42; Home's on the Range: Gonzales is hanging out at the golf course, he has found the traitor that spilled the beans about the previous deal and it's time for revenge. He has tied him up on a buoy, and so naturally what we have to do is take turns hitting golf balls in his direction. This is a simple mini-game though...

 

...just press 'X' when the ! is in the green zone to set the power and then do the same for the aim. If you get it in the green zone both times you will hit the traitor (if you squint you can see him in the above picture) and the buoy will blow up. Gonzales will be pleased and he'll be in touch.

After this mission Lance pages us to tell us that Martinez has split from the FEDs. This opens up more missions for Lance, but let's go to the next Gonzales mission for now.

Mission 43; Purple Haze: Gonzales has taken some of his Colonel's coke and is selling it on his own, and he has decided to trust Vic with delivering it to the buyer. This is a simple mission, just drive to the lock-up, get in the van, get to the meet-up and get bashed by a truck. Yes, the buyers have decided to just take the truck without paying. They hit our van too hard though and Vic wakes up surrounded by coke and in a sort of purple haze and...excuse me, while I kiss the sky...

Okay, I'm back. We phone our buddy who isn't happy with the deal being a bust, he asks us to go the party and steal back the coke, he has another buyer. The game gives us a motorbike to drive there with, which isn't easy to control because we're high as hell. Also, I don't know if it was on purpose, but I suffered serious slowdown, which would come to screw me over later on. Get to Starfish Island and kill all the gangsters. Steal the van back and drive back to the lock-up. However, you do get a two-star wanted level and I got chased by police. Due to the difficulty in driving and it being very slow I ended up crashing everywhere and once even tipped over to the side, luckily the police crashed into me turning me back over. I eventually got shot to hell and my truck blew up just inches away from the mission marker. I haven't quite replayed it yet, but I was as good as finished so whatever.

I did watch a video online to see the little cutscene at the end, basically Gonzalez thanks you for retrieving the coke, but claims that our 'friendship' is over. My heart, it is broken. Just you wait Gonzales, I will get my revenge...in two years time...

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Cast

Gonzales

(Voiced by: Jorge Pupo)

Previous Appearance: Vice City

The Man With No Second Name is Colonel Cortez's right-hand man, though he secretly deals behind his back. Gonzales isn't a particularly interesting character, though through him we do start taking missions from one Ricardo Diaz.

Gonzales would be the one who told Diaz about the drug deal at the beginning of Vice City, meaning he is, in part, responsible for Vic's death. Luckily, Tommy Vercetti introduces Gonzales to a chainsaw for his betrayal.

Phil Collins

(Voiced By:...Phil Collins)

Phil Collins. Drummer and lead singer of Genesis after Peter Gabriel left them, he also had a successful solo career. Last year, after a career than spanned over 40 years, he retired from music (though that usually means nothing in the music industry). He's also no stranger to acting prior to Vice City Stories, having had roles in a few films including the title role in the film "Buster" (about the Great Train Robbery).

Phil Collins' appearance in Vice City Stories would be the first time a celebrity has played themselves as an on-screen character, setting a precedent that would continue in GTA IV. The first mission you meet him in is not the only time we'll have to protect him for death...and the second time is a million times better. Surely you can feel it...coming in the air tonight...