Along with being a glorious, expansive game with reams of terrain to leisurely explore, Grand Theft Auto games also provide us with some of the most difficult missions in the video game world today. Missions that are so testing, so frustrating, that you are left turning the air blue or contemplating hurling your controller at the cat.
The upcoming Grand Theft Auto V title by Rockstar Games, just the most recent in the long running series, promises to be no different, and considering a greater emphasis is being placed on heist based missions in the latest iteration – a particular strand of mission that is usually the most difficult to complete – we’re almost certain to be put through our paces once more in September.
GTA missions tend to be quite eclectic, from racing based missions to navigating remote controlled helicopters, or stealing from a government agency through to defeating the final boss, there’s always something for everyone.
Completing a mission can often be the difference between unlocking a new area of the map to explore or remaining in your current locale, which is just one of the reasons why they can be, at times, such high stakes.
Here, we take a look at the 10 most difficult missions from games gone by that have left us frustrated in the Grand Theft Auto series.
Click “Next” to begin.
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31 Comments
Remember that one with the minature RC helicopter (again another Zero mission, the final Zero mission in fact), and using the helicopter you had to clear the way for Zero’s racing car to Berkley’s “Fort” on this ‘Obstacle Course’ used to finaly settle the war between Zero and Berkley. This mission was fun but took way too long to complete and as you said in the article those minature RCs are very difficult to control.
I think everyone should stop talking about gta. It’s old news and over-rated. No one wants to play this stupid game! They need to come out with better games, like Tetris.
thank you!! i don’t know how many damn times i have to see these articles when there is absolutely no new information, and it’s all speculation. you guys are about worse than WOW fans.
No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to click – you do have freewill y’know.
the reason gta fans are worse is because gta is a better game and has many more fans
Actually, a lot of people want to play this game. To say “no one” wants to play it is a ballsy statement, considering that Rockstar has developed one of the most successful gaming franchises in the history of the gaming industry.
You tried.
Actually , when I said “no one” I should have followed those words with.. Wants you nerd fanboy. Our game Watch Dogs is were it’s at. And yes watch dogs is “ballsy”.
25 comments, 44,000 views. People want to play this game, and they certainly want to read about it, too. :)
What about the Flight school mission in Gta San? That was a pain in ass aswell as the area 69 mission. Beetween both of them it took me +100 tries lol.
I beat it on the 3rd try. It’s easy. Tetris is a hard game and RoCkstaR needs to remake it
Great article. Reminding me of all the tough times and retries of missions through the years. Kind of suprised you didn’t have the keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer mission or the death row mission both from vice city on here. The friggin deathrow mission was hard because once you went rhough and killed the goons to save lance he’s still bleeding and dying and you have to rush him to the hospital. Every time id be getting hit and shot from all angles by the reinforcements and then id have to hop out of my car with it being on fire and steal another car but the goons would then run over or shoot lance killing him in the midst of switching cars thus failing the mission. Many retries for that mission. But I do agree the demolition man, the driver, wrong side of the tracks, end of the line, and supply lines. All very hard missions. Took many tries. Great article man!
Thank you! And thanks for reading. :)
The plane jump mission in GTA SA is the hardest of the entire series. Getting the first plane through the circle in order to be able to make the jump is near impossible.
write somthing that’s interesting. Write real news Hun
Pretty much any mission in the GTA4 canon that involves you having to rely on a “friendly” character is extremely tough – just because the AI is so rubbish. Any time there’s a firefight, one of your “friends” is guaranteed to walk straight in front of you **while you are firing at your enemies**. Mission failed, have to try again.
For this reason, the prospect of switching between three different characters in GTA5 is distinctly underwhelming – while you are controlling one of them, the other two are (presumably) going to be controlled by AI. Ho hum…
But probably the toughest mission that doesn’t include a “friendly” character is the final mission in GTA3 (if you don’t have the Rhino) – starting off armed only with a (weak) semi-automatic pistol, you have a limited amount of time to fight your way out of the grounds of a mansion infested with Uzi-wielding gangsters, trail Catalina’s helicopter to the Dam, fight your way through a horde of gangsters armed with assault rifles, rescue your girlfriend *and* take out the chopper!
Wrong side of the tracks is easy right when you hit the dirt patch you can drive your bike right on top of the train and kill them instantly
number 3 was easy…i mean ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS FOLLOW THE DAMN TRAIN CJ!
Although i dont agree with few of the entries, a nice list overall.
i think most difficult was one which was zeros final mission where u hav to control rc helicopter lol it was damn difficult
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO brings back frustrating and annoying memories >.<
Being a Vice City paramedic should get a mention. Not actually that difficult, just so long and tedious.
The Air Raid mission took years off my life. So frustrating, and absolutely no variation in gameplay to give you the hope of success through changing your methods.
One of the most difficult for me, and not mentioned here, was City Slicking – also from San Andreas. The last of the Driving School missions – all you had to do was drive up the road, negotiate a couple of junctions, hit a checkpoint and return to the school’s parking lot within 120 seconds. Easy? Yes, if it weren’t for the ‘no vehicle damage’ condition imposed on you. Try to keep in the middle of the road between both lanes of traffic, but still have idiot drivers turning across you or pulling out of junctions – impossible to avoid at full throttle. An awkward couple of junctions and then a downhill bend towards the checkpoint that invites disaster at high speed. Handbreak through the checkpoint and return. Clip a car, lamppost, pedestrian, or even the curb at high speed, and you will fail the mission.
I completely forgot about that one. That was one dreadful mission, as you say, one little scratch and the mission was over. Think there were a few missions in San Andreas based on vehicular damage actually, all of them frustrating.
I didn’t think Demoltion Man and Burning Desire were hard at all. Zerro has such annoying missions except for the last one which is not good. Thank goodnes his missions are not compulsory.
Wrong side of the tracks was the worst mission of my childhood but I didn’t find End of the Line that bad. One of the most longest missions in GTA but not the harder really.
I agree on the Zero missions not being compulsory – they would have ruined the entire game if they were. I think a lot of the missions from either GTAIII or VC could be justified in this list just because the auto-trageting was difficult to manage! The Deathrow mission with Lance Vance was hardest for me.
Yessssss! Deathrow took the most retries out of the whole gta series of mission. The lance would always die because my car would catch on fire making me switch thus him getting killed switching…
I don’t know about you guys, but Snow Storm was easy. It’s probably just my luck. The Zero RC missions made me stressed out real hard. It really takes long to tackle. Good article, man.
hardest missions for me were in san andreas air raid as number 1 hardest mission ever. then just business. vice city phnom penh 86 and bombs away
Does no one remember GTA III Expresso 2 Go? That mission was near impossible. That should have replaced Burning Desire and moved up to number 1. I mean you had to go around all 3 Giant Islands and destroy coffee stand-like structures. And during the whole thing, you were timed and no matter which type a vehicle you had it was impossible? You grabbed a cheetah or infernus, the car would get destroyed within the first couple of stands. Because when you hit it, the thing caught on fire. Or if you used a BobCat or Karuma, the timer would go off before you could destroy everything. That mission overall was terrible and I was extremely disappointed when it was not placed on this list.
The key to beating Espresso-2-Go was to use a fast car, but *not* to ram the stands – instead, buy plenty of RPGs from Phil Cassidy, stop a little distance away from each stall and blast them with rockets.
Alternatively, use a Rhino (tank) and shoot the turret gun pointing backwards to get some decent speed.
Just Business in GTA San Andreas? When you had to go with big smoke into some building with all these Russian mobsters if I recall? After you blast them in the building you get on the bike and you need to shoot all those driving vehicles, bikes and cars, without ofcourse blowing your own bike to pieces. It was a pain in the ass for me.
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