Reddit reviews Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide

OP, you're angry, and you have reason to be. San andreas has some clunky controls, especially when compared to today's games.

I beat GTA:SA without using a single cheat, about a year ago. I played it when I was much younger, and like you, cheated all day long and had a blast. The game can be infuriating, but it is very possible to beat without cheats. I'll give you the best advice I can offer. Sorry about the wall of text, just trying to help.

1. If you have any way of making or keeping a physical map, do it. Personally, I got the san andreas guide, for 20$. If you don't want to buy that, its fine, but I would encourage you to print out a map of los santos, san fierro, and las ventureas (sp?). I used my guide a shit to for armor and some weapons while doing the missions in los santos, but be warned, I hardly used it when going through the second half of the game, I preferred to figure things out for myself. But you may find it helpful. The guide has maps of all the weapons, health, cop brides, armor, all that and I found it very helpful. Sometimes you don't want to spend 30 minutes running around the map collecting weapons and armor before a mission, and thats when you use ammu-nation. But the random stuff on the map can greatly help you save some of that hard earned money.
   
   
2. Save your game. Every time before I did a mission, I saved. It also helps to save money and stress if you go around the map getting supplies (as I said in #1) and then save. then if you fail a mission, load up that save and try again.
   
   
3. Be tactical, aware, and memorize everything that happens in a mission. When playing with cheats, this will never enter your mind. But every time you do a mission in SA its the same. The enemies spawn at the same time, and location. Know your tactics and pick which one your doing, sniping, guns blazing, sneaking, stuff like that. GTA SA with cheats is a fun, crazy, and memorable game that I love. GTA SA without cheats is tactical, closer to a tom clancy game than a saints row one.
   
   
4. Beat the 12 paramedic missions (which must be done consecutively). You say you've prepared? well get ready to prepare more. You get a huge health boost and 48,000$.
   
   
5. Always have a full arsenal of weapons, and armor. Always be ready to take on an army. This goes along with some of the earlier ones, but I just thought I'd expand on it. Say you have 5 weapons, but don't have a rifle. You need to get a rifle before starting a mission, and plenty of ammo for it. I'd recommend the M4, but that's just me. Each type of weapon has a different purpose, and not having all of them out of laziness can be easy, but it's just not as smart as having a full arsenal. Know each different weapon types purpose, and use that weapon for that purpose.
   
   
6. When doing a driving mission, be defensive first, and offensive second. Watch the road more than attack the enemy vehicle.
   
   
7. Always have plenty of cash on you.
   
   
8. Find exploits. The rule is, you cant enter in a cheat code, and you don't have to. Remember what I said about memorizing the mission, now when you try the mission over again, place satchel charges, or make "blockades" or sit there with a 12 gauge cuz you know an enemy is going to walk around that corner, now take his head off. You know whats going to happen in these missions, and where you have failed before, now prepare for it and find a way around the game.
   
   You are absolutely right about san andreas, that it expects you to use cheats. There's no fair way to play this game. The game isn't fair and thats why you have to outsmart it, not just cheat your way out. You always need cash on you? Well what you do is, you save your game. Then you go to the horse track and bet on the horse with the worst chances (1/11 or 1/12) with all of your money. If he wins, depending on how much money you had, you get 50,000$-100,000$. Now you go back and save. Then you come back and turn that into 1 million. If he loses, you load your save and continue this exploit until you get your millions. Save whenever you win.
   
   I cant remember if I did this exploit with the file I beat the game with, but I know it works. Part of getting around the cheap mechanics of the game are finding these exploits. Planning and such.
   
   And finally: have fun. Video games are all about having fun. If you really are very angry about it, then maybe you pass up beating this game without cheats. It's not worth getting so angry over.
   
   Again, sorry about the wall of text. I just really wanted to help. Please ask questions if you have any, this is one of my favorite video games to talk about. Best of luck to you.