Tips and tricks

Gags

Making money easily

A lot of people already know the mall trick for store robberies – I want to point out something else. Take some nice hand tool and swing it around among the shoppers (leave the security guards alone), and pick up the dropped cash like that. When you've got two stars, head to the GASH, change clothes, then go back to swinging, then change clothes at the tool shop, and so on…

In the city center, Downtown, on the northern edge of the district there are parking meters. They usually hold enough for a medium weapon (mostly between $500 and $1000). You can run a car along the row, true, the cops aren't too thrilled about that, but the hideout is close for changing clothes, and there's a star in front of it too. Good work takes time, and if you set aside a few hours, your money problems will be solved quickly…

Gang fighting is also a great idea. Near the end of the game show yourself to a few Haitians, who get all worked up about it, then run toward one of your businesses (I usually pick the taxi company), and the Vercetti gang welcomes the Haitians with open arms. This nice little gang war is atmospheric, a great preparation for San Andreas, but it has another advantage too: you can lift quite a lot of money and weapons from the dead gang members. You can also ask the Vercetti gang for your bread money back: our guys tamely drop to the ground after a few punches, and the cops don't care too much about it…

Easter Eggs

Building from Scarface

This film was the inspiration for the game (it's interesting how much similarity there is between the game and the film – Scarface seems like the twin brother of Vice City (and, since the basic story resembles VC a bit, of GTA3 too).

One of the roughest scenes of the film (and probably of film history) takes place in a bathroom, when after a failed drug deal Toad cuts off Angel's arms and legs with a chainsaw.

We can find this room ourselves in the game, and standing right there we can even imagine the whole scene. From the Pay'n'Spray on Ocean Beach head south, then turn left on the first street. On the left you'll find a pinkish, greenish house. Go up the stairs!

I couldn't hold back a grin. The bag stuffed with coke is there in the room, but the real atmosphere comes from going into the bathroom! Next to the bloody wall you'll find the chainsaw that Toad once hacked with…

Trophies

It's a small gesture from the developers that after finishing certain missions, trophies appear in the game, and if we look at them, we can remember our "heroic deeds". Here's the list:

Ocean View:

after collecting the 100 hidden packages: a taken-apart statue, it turns out what was inside it.
after Phil's "Boomshine Saigon" mission: three barrels of Boomshine in the hotel
after the Malibu's "The Job" mission a bag of money on the bed and a mask on the table
after the film studio's "G-Spotlight" mission Candy Suxxx pictures appear
after the Malibu's "The Shootist" mission you find a trophy on the TV titled "shooter of the month"

Vercetti mansion:

After the "Demolition Man" mission, in the downstairs room on the left there's the box of a remote-controlled helicopter, and its remote control is on the table (unfortunately you can't drive it, what a gag that would have been…)
After successful races at the stadium the trophies appear on top of the TV
After the "Shakedown" mission GASH bags appear in the downstairs room
After the film studio's "G-Spotlight" mission Candy Suxxx pictures in the study
The pictures taken in the film studio's "Martha's Mug Shot" mission on the table
After the "Rub Out" missions the paintings will be a bit battered…
As time passes, more and more pizza boxes and beer bottles pile up on the mansion grounds…

The real Easter Egg

Go up to the roof of the VCN building! Walk up to the helipad, then go to its NW corner, to the lamp, facing west, and a window is quite close to you (check the windows with the PSG – at our window the laser dot has to merge). When you've found it, go back, and jump…

The developers left you an egg here with the text "happy Easter!"…. I'm blown away…

The king of balls

If someone wants to live out their desire for football or ball games, they can do that in GTA: Vice City too! Let's see how: jump into a car, go from the eastern island to Starfish Island, and as soon as you've reached the little island, turn right. At the first house there's a Cheetah, this will be our spot. Get out, walk into the pool, and look! The program counts how many times you manage to head the ball, which bursts after a while.

Evening mischief, 18+ only!

Next to the Malibu Club there's a big building whose windows are lit up in the evening. Well, between 11 and 12 o'clock these windows are lit in a quite peculiar shape…

The moon phase change from GTA3 still works too. If you shoot it with a sniper weapon, the size of the moon grows through 7 stages, then shrinks.

Secrets of the ocean

The most beautiful moments of GTA:VC are undoubtedly when we hop on a boat, head out to the open sea, then watch the setting Sun (or the rising Sun), while admiring the living creatures beside it. But the ocean hides not only living but also lifeless things:

A sunken cargo ship southwest of the wooden shack south of Cortez's dock
Heading even further north from the northern part of the eastern island, another cargo ship wreck emerges
A stranded submarine near the North Point Mall
A boat wreck, on the Downtown side of the northernmost bridge, next to the northern "leg"
A mafia victim in concrete boots, between Little Haiti-Downtown and the golf island

The game still holds several surprises, a good part of which are "GTA 3 memories", but we can also come across things that can be found in real life too. I'll continue the description of these in an article called "curiosities".

Tips/Tricks

-Easy ways to make money

Steal a bus and leave it parked at the bus stop so every single person pays $5.
The most can be earned by doing police, firefighter, ambulance etc. missions.
Follow a cop, when the cop starts chasing a criminal run after the criminal and hit him. You get $50 for this.
Kill lots of people, some of them have quite a lot of money :)
Run over the parking meters, some of them have even $100 in them (sent by: MaxDamage)

-Free vehicle repair

If your vehicle is badly wrecked, then pull into your garage, then drive out. As you can see it got fixed. :) (for free)

-Fast weapon reloading

If we have a scroll mouse, then before it runs out let's scroll to the next weapon and back and look, the magazine is full again. (sent by: Mezzanine)

Tips and tricks

Gags

Making money easily

Easter Eggs

Building from Scarface

One of the roughest scenes of the film (and probably of film history) takes place in a bathroom, when after a failed drug deal Toad cuts off Angel's arms and legs with a chainsaw.

Trophies

It's a small gesture from the developers that after finishing certain missions, trophies appear in the game, and if we look at them, we can remember our "heroic deeds". Here's the list:

Ocean View:

after collecting the 100 hidden packages: a taken-apart statue, it turns out what was inside it.
after Phil's "Boomshine Saigon" mission: three barrels of Boomshine in the hotel
after the Malibu's "The Job" mission a bag of money on the bed and a mask on the table
after the film studio's "G-Spotlight" mission Candy Suxxx pictures appear
after the Malibu's "The Shootist" mission you find a trophy on the TV titled "shooter of the month"

Vercetti mansion:

After the "Demolition Man" mission, in the downstairs room on the left there's the box of a remote-controlled helicopter, and its remote control is on the table (unfortunately you can't drive it, what a gag that would have been…)
After successful races at the stadium the trophies appear on top of the TV
After the "Shakedown" mission GASH bags appear in the downstairs room
After the film studio's "G-Spotlight" mission Candy Suxxx pictures in the study
The pictures taken in the film studio's "Martha's Mug Shot" mission on the table
After the "Rub Out" missions the paintings will be a bit battered…
As time passes, more and more pizza boxes and beer bottles pile up on the mansion grounds…

The real Easter Egg

The developers left you an egg here with the text "happy Easter!"…. I'm blown away…

The king of balls

Evening mischief, 18+ only!

Next to the Malibu Club there's a big building whose windows are lit up in the evening. Well, between 11 and 12 o'clock these windows are lit in a quite peculiar shape…

The moon phase change from GTA3 still works too. If you shoot it with a sniper weapon, the size of the moon grows through 7 stages, then shrinks.

Secrets of the ocean

A sunken cargo ship southwest of the wooden shack south of Cortez's dock
Heading even further north from the northern part of the eastern island, another cargo ship wreck emerges
A stranded submarine near the North Point Mall
A boat wreck, on the Downtown side of the northernmost bridge, next to the northern "leg"
A mafia victim in concrete boots, between Little Haiti-Downtown and the golf island

Tips/Tricks

-Easy ways to make money

Steal a bus and leave it parked at the bus stop so every single person pays $5.
The most can be earned by doing police, firefighter, ambulance etc. missions.
Follow a cop, when the cop starts chasing a criminal run after the criminal and hit him. You get $50 for this.
Kill lots of people, some of them have quite a lot of money :)
Run over the parking meters, some of them have even $100 in them (sent by: MaxDamage)

-Free vehicle repair

If your vehicle is badly wrecked, then pull into your garage, then drive out. As you can see it got fixed. :) (for free)

-Fast weapon reloading

If we have a scroll mouse, then before it runs out let's scroll to the next weapon and back and look, the magazine is full again. (sent by: Mezzanine)