Moments pages are Spoilers Off. Read ahead only at your own risk! You Have Been Warned.
- The pizza cashier in "Ryder" eventually snapping from Ryder's threats and pulling out a shotgun on him. And instead of even trying to shoot back, Ryder just invokes Screw This, I'm Outta Here. Beware the Nice Ones indeed.
- Depending on the player's actions, C.J. can return fire and get a shotgun early.
- "Just Business". A gunfight and an on-rails motorcycle chase with the aftermath of the bad deal with the Russian Mafia come together to form one of the most memorable missions in the whole series.
- "Reuniting the Families". The Grove Street gang decide enough is enough and they must get the families back together to push the Ballas back. The meeting goes to shit when SWAT shows up and C.J. stays behind in order to rescue Sweet while Ryder and Big Smoke ditch him. C.J. fights his way through the motel by himself, finds his brother, and they attempt to escape, but a police chopper shows up. What does C.J. do? He shoots it down with nothing but a machine gun. Ryder and Big Smoke come back to save C.J. and Sweet and the gang drive wildly through the streets to shake the cops while you pick them off through the roof of the car. Cops try to jump onto the hood of the car to punch you in the face, Big Smoke drives through a freaking car wash to blind the cops, and the gang plays a game of chicken with a low flying helicopter that tries to slice you up with its rotor blades. Big Smoke describes it best at the end:Big Smoke: Shit! That's gonna be a hell of a story to tell when we passin' the blunt!
- "Burning Desire". Yes, C.J. did start the fire at the Vago's house in the first place, but rushing in a crumbling building to save Denise from a fiery grave was still very heroic of him.
- Yay Ka-Boom-Boom, as well as the lead-up to it. C.J. has been doing intense reconnaissance missions, infiltrated a drug cartel, and brings what amounts to a full-scale war into a crack factory, eventually blowing the place to smithereens. All that, just so he can keep it off the streets. Not exactly police procedure, but pretty damn noble for the ''GTA'' world, anyhow.
- "End of the Line". There's the one-man raid on Big Smoke's crack palace, and most notably chasing Tenpenny - who's driving a damn fire truck, mind you - as Sweet desperately hangs on to the ladder, not about to let him get away with everything he's done. And after having Tenpenny torment you and your loved ones for about the whole game, forcing the corrupt bastard off the bridge overlooking Grove Street is immensely satisfying. Even with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, it's still the most exciting end to a GTA game yet, and debatably the most satisfying until Grand Theft Auto V and its Option C.C.J.: See you around... Officer.
- Hands down, "End of the Line" is the most satisfying ending mission to any GTA game before or since. You smash into a barricaded crack compound using a SWAT riot tank, running down about a dozen enemy gang members in the process, then storm your way through four floors packed to the brim with assault rifle-toting Mooks, culminating in the long-awaited showdown between C.J. and Big Smoke. Once you've taken care of him, Tenpenny sets the place ablaze, forcing you to make your way back out of the compound, putting out fires while contending with even more mooks until you escape Just in Time as the compound gets blown to Kingdom Come. Then you chase Tenpenny's getaway fire truck going full-tilt throughout most of Los Santos while Sweet clings onto it for dear life and rioters firebomb your car from all directions. Once you've finally got Sweet safe in your car, he takes over the driving while you fend off just about every faction in the city chasing you down. It all concludes when the fire truck drives off a bridge onto Grove Street, where Tenpenny is left to die from his injuries (and, as the in-game radio reports, gets his body stripped naked and thrown in the gutter). And remember, this all takes place in one mission. Needless to say, the "Holy Shit!" Quotient is high on this one.
- The Janitor from "Dam and Blast" isn't just a one-off in a cutscene: he actually sticks around, participates in the heist, and gets a multi-million cut of the profit as well. Not bad for a guy who was only included because he lived in the little room being used to plan the heist.
- Speaking of which, "Breaking the Bank at Caligula's" is cited as a Best Level Ever because, not only do you rob a multi-million dollar casino vault, but you're ripping off Salvatore Leone and the entire Leone crime family in Las Venturas. This Ocean's Eleven-inspired mission, which involves a daring casino heist that finishes with a parachute jump off the roof and a mad dash to a waiting helicopter. The icing on the cake being getting one last phone-call from Salvatore, in the verge of a hilarious Villainous Breakdown, as he and what's left of his crime family is taking the first flight back to Liberty City. Between taking out the rival Sindacco and Forelli families before hand, C.J. basically threw down with The Mafia, single-handedly - and freaking won!
- Is no one going to mention the final mission before C.J. is forced to leave Los Santos for the first time, "The Green Sabre"? He's just found out from Cesar that Big Smoke and Ryder have betrayed him to C.R.A.S.H. and he's come to the all-out war zone between the Ballas and the Grove Street Families only to find Sweet injured and the police closing in on him. Something inside him seems to snap and he annihilates the Ballas as he pops out of cover, fueled by rage and grief.YO! BALLAS! I'M TAKING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! YOU HEAR ME?! I'M TAKING YOU ALL DOWN, BITCHES!
- "Stowaway" for being a mission that wouldn't be out of place in a James Bond film. First, Carl jumps on a motorcycle, make his way inside the plane which is taking off while being shot at by government agents and avoiding rolling barrels. Then you make your way to the front of the plane while avoiding more barrels and killing agents with whatever your melee weapon is at the moment, before picking a parachute, placing a satchel charge on the plane and jumping out of it as it explodes.
- "Vertical Bird". While there's no denying that it's a difficult mission, think about it: you infiltrate a military aircraft carrier by boat like James Bond, stealth your way through the heavily armed guards and steal a freaking Harrier style jump jet. Then the game takes an Ace Combat-style turn whereupon you can take out some water-bound targets. And if you make it through all of this alive, you can take the Hydra home to your own personal airfield and use it whenever you want. A well-earned reward for a job well done.
- "Black Project", where you break into Area 51 and steal a jet-pack.
- Especially since you don't know what you are going to steal. Imagine running down that long stairwell and then staring at that thing floating in mid-air in front of you, grabbing it, then realizing it's a JET-PACK!
- How about "A Home in the Hills", the mission where you parachute onto the roof of the mansion, and systematically fight your way through? Slightly dampened by the chase sequence at the end in the crappy car, but still awesome.
- And "Freefall", the one where you fly behind a plane, JUMP OUT, AND FREEFALL ONTO SAID PLANE, OPEN IT FROM THE OUTSIDE, AND CLIMB IN.
- Most of the rail-shooting missions of the game are pretty fun. Mostly because all you need to do is concentrate on shooting without worrying about crashing, but also because it feels like a response to your likely frequent griping along the lines of "Oh yeah, [Sweet/Smoke/Ryder/whoever], you want me to drive for a change?"
- "High Noon". After being under Tenpenny's thumb throughout the entire game, CJ foils his plan to kill him and fights back, ultimately stomping Pulaski's face in for his troubles.
- On a more subtle note, while Pulaski forces CJ to dig a grave for him and Hernandez, the latter slowly comes to. When CJ notices that Hernandez regained consciousness, he steps out of the grave and starts actively distracting Pulaski to let Hernandez sneak up on him and carry out his Heroic Sacrifice. In this moment of silent cooperation, the honest cop and the less-than-honest gang-banger work together to take down a common enemy.
