Cathartic Video Game Levels #1

This might be a new series of posts, or it might not. Depends on my state of mind, as do most things in my life, I suppose. I'm certain it won't be quite as frequent or consistent as that series of posts about my favorite games was. Basically, there are certain levels or battles or game experiences that I find terribly relaxing, or take particular pleasure in. I figured I'd talk about some of them, and why I find them so enjoyable. 

In Grand Theft Auto 3, after you've broken ties with the Mafia, one of the groups you work for is the Yakuza. There's two of them that run different parts of the operation, Asuka and Kenji. Asuka's OK, Kenji is not. 

I'm sure most of you, at some point in your life, have had a boss you weren't too fond of. I've been fortunate to either work for bosses who trusted me and let me alone to take care of things, or if they were present, worked as hard as I did. My first supervisor, however, had the tendency to be quite lazy, and when he left my co-workers and I alone, that was fine. It was when he had us busting our humps while he sat in his air-conditioned truck and read hunting magazines, that I was less enamored of him.

Kenji isn't that kind of bad employer, but he is not someone I enjoy working for. See, Kenji expects you to go around and pick up the protection money. You go to pick up money, but the Yardies have already taken it, causing the shopkeeper to yell at you that the Yakuza are worthless. So you kill the thief, then wipe out some more of the Yardies to prove a point, per Kenji's orders. 

Still the Yardies persist in taking what Kenji believes is his, and making him look bad in front of the people paying him for protection. Does Kenji recognize this as a failure in his planning? Nope! Somehow, you, having executed his plans precisely as commanded, are to blame. Eventually though, you finish your missions for him, and you might figure that's it. 

Soon enough, an eccentric millionaire hires you to start a gang war, to drive down real estate prices. To that end, you steal a Columbian Cartel Cruiser, and crash a meeting between Kenji and a rival boss, killing both of them, while pinning it on the Cartel. 

It really isn't a terribly difficult mission. You steal the Cruiser, drive up to the top of the parking garage, run over Kenji, then hightail it out of there without leaving your vehicle (since everyone seeing you would kind of ruin the illusion that the Cartel did it)*. 

It's not challenging, but because Kenji annoyed me so very much while I was working for him, it brings a special joy to not only get to remove him from the game, to not only get paid to do it, but to not even have to take the blame for it. I always enjoy that. OK, tomorrow I'm going to try that "best blog posts" thing the Fortress Keeper tagged me for. Jeez, with my indecisiveness, that's going to be a trial. 

* And it leads to Asuka demanding you go and get revenge for her brother on the Cartel, who are actually innocent of this particular offense. Hilarious.