Drive-By

Ryder complains on CJ

Ryder complains to Sweet, then to C.J., that C.J. can't drive good enough for a drive-by they want to do on the Ballas.

Instead of having C.J. get into Sweet's car, you can have him collect Oysters, etc., in the off-limits areas. During this mission, you can have C.J. explore San Andreas with no police rating no matter what you have him do or where you have him go.

Nines and AKs

CJ talking with Big Smoke.

Ryder doesn't like losing to Big Smoke and ends the game of dominoes they were having. C.J. takes Big Smoke in Big Smoke's Glendale to see Emmet, of the Seville Blvd. gang that's become estranged from theirs, to get some weapons, even if they are old weapons. Emmet is a little confused at 1st and thinks C.J. is C.J.'s late brother Brian. We also learn from Emmet that C.J,'s Mom was called Beverly. C.J. and Big Smoke take a couple of 9mm Pistols.

Los Santos gym

Sweet calls and doesn't want C.J. to let his remorse about their Mom cause him to fall out of shape. Have C.J. use the equipment at the Ganton Gym. The treadmill and stationary bike are quick ways to lose Fat, and the weights are a good way to build Muscle (alternate between Left Shift and the LMB to have him use the weights). If he's past the Buff stage, have C.J. fight and defeat the boxing trainer.

When C.J. beats the trainer, he's taught some boxing moves:

- Running attack: while running, lock onto the target with the RMB and press Enter or F.

- Ground attack: lock onto a downed opponent with the RMB and press Enter or F.

- Combo attack: lock onto the target with the RMB and press Enter or F repeatedly.

(To have a longer look at onscreen instructions or dialogue, press Esc and go to Brief. You can go back through earlier instructions and dialogue by pressing Up and go forward through them with Down.)

All three indoor gyms are open (but the other two are in areas that are offlimits).

(A 4th indoor gym, the private one in Madd Dogg's mansion, is available after "A Home in the Hills,")

C.J. uses the last fight moves he was shown after beating a trainer, so you can send him to an earlier one if you want to change his fighting style.

Drive-Thru

Ryder talking to CJ.

Big Smoke talks C.J. into taking him, Sweet, and Ryder to get some chicken. On the way, Ryder says the ones that killed C.J. and Sweet's Mom were trying to shoot Sweet, and that some people say they saw a green Sabre drive away from the drive-by; Big Smoke sounds like he's trying to talk Ryder out of saying so. While at the Cluckin' Bell, Ryder sees a Voodoo of Ballas, C.J notices they're driving toward Grove Street, and Sweet calls for a drive-by.

Cleaning the Hood

CJ talking to Ryder

Big Smoke sounds like he's trying to talk Ryder into crack dealing. C.J. wants his gang the way they were before and to get old gang members B-Dup and Big Bear back in the fold. After C.J. uses the nearby Greenwood to drive Ryder to B-Dup's place, they see Big Bear has become a subservient crack addict to B-Dup, who tells C.J. to get lost. C.J. gets a Baseball Bat and learns a fight move: while pressing the RMB, press F or Enter to have him attack or Spacebar to have him block. Blocking diminishes the number of attacks on C.J. that can lower his Armor or Health. C.J. and Ryder find the crack dealer. Have C.J. clobber him with a baseball bat. C.J. sees he was a member of the Ballas and lived nearby, so he takes Ryder to the house to kill another drug dealer and other Ballas who put up a fight about it there (at the start of this segment, a prostitute seems to be giving a Balla a BJ in a room at the far right). Then have C.J. drive Ryder home.

C.J. earns some more Respect.

Tagging Up Turf

Carl Johnson comes to meet sweet.

Sweet leaves a basketball game with Big Smoke to encourage C.J. to help him spray over some Balla's tags. (Spray with the LMB. Sprayed ones become unsprayed again for the mission.) C.J. sprays a couple of Ballas, too, while he's at it.

We also learn that C.J. can jump up and grab onto a ledge, then climb up onto the roof, or climb over a fence, by pressing the climb/Jump key. Sweet gives C.J. $200 and Respect. 

Officer Hernandez calls and tells C.J. not to leave town. C.J. curses him for just doing what Tenpenny and Pulaski tell him to do. 

There's a Spray Can in C.J.'s bedroom, and the basketball game is available

Health tips for CJ

Usually keep C.J.'s Fat between 1/5th and 1/3rd. It puts a good margin of safety on the work it takes to get his Muscle maximized at the outdoor gym at Verona Beach. Whether you do those things or wait till the restaurants open to start on the preliminaries, feed C.J. every day or two. Take-Two Games has said that feeding him every day can prevent the glitch of C.J. being unable to use the gyms, a glitch that may appear near the end of the game. Having C.J. use the weights at Verona Beach is the fastest way to have him build Muscle. C.J. can use the Verona Beach gym from the start of the game. If you manage to make C.J. too Fat, having him use a gym treadmill or stationary bike is the fastest way to have him lose only the extra Fat. Feeding him 11 times at once at a fast food restaurant to make him vomit makes him lose about all of his Fat, but it's better if he has some. The outdoor gym at Verona Beach has a stationary bike.

Ryder

Carl Johnson with Ryder

Ryder has C.J. agree to help him get even with the owner of a pizza place that keeps covering up their "hit up" (a tag--graffiti that symbolizes a gang). 

He has C.J. drive to get a haircut at a barber shop, then chides him he looks "jacked up" (not quite right). Then Ryder has C.J. get food at the pizza place. Ryder holds a handgun on the owner/clerk of the pizza place, who recognizes Ryder, telling him no one else is so small and he feels sorry for his Dad. When they get outside, the owner comes out to fire a Shotgun at them. Ryder runs for the car; have C.J. drive him home. If you're not prepared to have C.J. shoot down the owner.

Ryder tells C.J. to see Sweet about Tags.

The restaurants, barber shops, and tattoo parlors are open and shown on the radar and in-game map.

Big Smoke

Carl Johnson with Big Smoke

While C.J. looks around the Johnson house in mourning, he remembers his Mom and sister talking with him years ago, and takes a picture of his Mom to hold and look at as he sits at the living room table. Big Smoke, the chubby fellow with glasses, a goatee, and a derby-like fedora, comes from the kitchen with a baseball bat, thinking C.J. is a burglar. He recognizes him and they hug. Big Smoke has C.J. drive them in Big Smoke's Perennial station wagon to the cemetery.

At the cemetery, C.J. meets his sister Kendl, their brother Sweet (he has a cap and a beard), and his friend Ryder (he has a cap, mustache, and a blunt--a cigar filled with marijuana). Sweet, Ryder, and Big Smoke all wear green, the Grove Street Families gang color. Sweet is PO'ed: he doesn't like that C.J. ran off for five years so he gives him a hard time. Kendl walks off to see Cesar, and Sweet gives her a hard time about that and berates Cesar as unprincipled. He points to several nearby graves of people they knew, like their brother Brian, and tells C.J. the local fighting put them there. As the four guys go to Big Smoke's station wagon, some Ballas do a drive-by on it and blow it up.

In the beginning

CJ being captured by the officers at the start of the game.

C.J., at Francis International Airport, Liberty City, remembers his brother Sweet telling him that their Mom died. When C.J.'s Taxi gets about a block S of the Johnson house, C.J. is ordered out of it by Officer Tenpenny, who's accompanied by Pulaski and Hernandez. They hit and harass C.J., then take him for a ride in their police car to make sure C.J. knows they think the worst of him and need him to do things their way. Tenpenny frames C..J. for the murder of a dead policeman. Why he bothers holding this over C.J.'s head when he could just follow C.J. around for ten minutes with a camcorder is never explained. They throw C.J. in an alley. C.J. knows it's hostile Balla gang territory; Ballas are the guys in purple who'll attack C.J. if you don't keep him away from them. Reminiscent of the booklet that came with "III" calling Liberty City "the worst place in America," C.J. says he's in the "worst place in the world. Rollin Heights Balla country." (Later, while having C.J. spray Tags, you'll see Tags that represent the Ballas' neighborhoods: Rollin Heights Ballas, Kilo Tray Ballas, Front Yard Ballas, and Temple Drive Ballas.)