Although people have been playing Grand Theft Auto V for nearly a decade now, it still might not be considered the best entry in the franchise. A lot of folks hold up Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the greatest since it was the first to really let you do even more than simply explore an open world.
Elements like altering your appearance and buying property were huge changes but something else that stood out was that the game was possibly more challenging than ever. There are some very memorable missions that were incredibly tough to get through for even the best GTA players.
Monster
More often than not, the hardest missions in any GTA game involved some kind of vehicle. It turned out to be much tougher to handle certain cars, planes, and boats than it ever was engaging in shootouts or robbing someone.
That's what made "Monster" such a pest. While the idea of driving a monster truck through checkpoints in the allotted time sounds simple on paper, the truck handled poorly on the off-road terrain. That made it easy to flip over or flat out miss the checkpoints.
OG Loc
The idea behind "OG Loc" is a pretty good one. After reuniting with the fresh out of prison, hilarious rapper OG Loc, you're tasked with chasing down a foe of his on a motorcycle. That sounds like it should actually be a ton of fun.
Of course, the thing that makes this more annoying than fun is that you follow this guy through the narrowest of alleys and streets. Anyone who has played this franchise knows that the slightest bump while riding a bike will send you flying, often to your death. That likely happened to many players during this mission.
Farewell, My Love
Once again, it's a mission that shouldn't be as hard as it is. And once again, the reason it's so tough is that the driving mechanics of the game aren't the smoothest. "Farewell, My Love" is a race where CJ goes against his ex's new boyfriend.
Along with the disappointing mechanics, this is just a boring mission. The race goes on for far too long and the slightest wrong turn totally ruins it for you. That means you have to start all over and go through everything again. The only plus is that you at least get to see GTA III protagonist, Claude.
Robbing Uncle Sam
There are almost countless games out there that include the frustrating idea of an AI character bringing you down. GTA: San Andreas had it in the mission "Robbing Uncle Sam," where you are saddled with a partner in crime who is more of a hindrance than a help.
The idea behind the mission is to steal crates from military soldiers but your partner Ryder makes it way harder than it needs to be. As soon as you leave him alone to get crates, he becomes pinned down in a shootout and you have to head back there. He does nothing of value on his own.
Cop Wheels
It feels like the most irritating thing that happens in GTA games is when a timer is added to a mission where you're driving. "Cop Wheels" involved that but had the added annoyance of making you repeat what you're doing, having to go back and forth four times.
It's hard enough to track down a cop on a police bike but then you have to drive the bike back to the getaway vehicle and repeat this several times. It likely had players pulling out their hair, especially when they were so close to completing it, only for the timer to run out
Learning To Fly
As mentioned, driving is certainly not easy in this game but flying is even more difficult. The controls are notoriously clunky and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who completed this mission on their first try.
"Learning to Fly" is indeed just a mission where the player is tasked with figuring out how to pilot a plane. It's tedious and trying to complete stunts will lead to failure over and over. Plus, you can't move on until you finish this, so it's a huge momentum stopper
End Of The Line
The final mission of any game should be among the most challenging and GTA: San Andreas lives up to the hype in that avenue. "End of the Line" is a multi-staged mission, sending you on a barrage of tasks to finish the game in total.
Unlike most other tough missions, this isn't about how irritating it is. It's just rightfully hard as you storm buildings, drive a tank, and do battle with swarms of bad guys. Of course, the added caveat is the time limit so when you beat the game, you feel like you truly accomplished something.
Freefall
Flying missions are the bane of San Andreas players' existence and "Freefall" is one that they'll never forget for the worst reasons. As noted, flying is extremely difficult to get done but this mission manages to make it even harder for no reason.
Your task is to drive a slow plane as you attempt to catch up to one that is much faster. That is pretty much the most annoying thing you could do to the already frustrated gamers. It makes you happy flying wasn't in GTA III.
Wrong Side Of The Tracks
It feels like "Wrong Side of the Tracks" is one of the most iconic GTA missions ever. Seemingly everyone who has beaten this game can vividly recall chasing down a train while on a motorbike with Big Smoke riding on the back.
Following the train itself is hard enough given how quickly things can go wrong while on a bike. Making it all the more difficult is that Big Smoke is meant to be shooting down gang members but he has the accuracy of a stormtrooper, meaning he's not helping at all.
Supply Lines
If you thought that flying a plane was the hardest thing about this game, then you haven't tried "Supply Lines." In this mission, you must fly a toy plane remotely and it is somehow more of a pain in the neck than the real thing.
Again, the controls are certainly clunky but what really makes it tough is that the toy plane can easily be destroyed. It also runs out of fuel quite often, throwing off your entire progress and making you start from scratch.