Last night I got to that mission, can’t remember the exact name. It’s the one you pick up from Playboy X — head into the construction site and kill a few gang leaders.
I died a ton of times. Every restart meant driving for ages just to get back to the site, and I don’t even want to talk about how much time that wasted. Sigh… The combat in this mission is great though — lots of enemies, plenty of cover, outdoors, and it doesn’t show you where all the enemies are, so it feels pretty realistic.
More than half of my deaths were from my own grenades. I just can’t get a feel for the damn things — I’d always throw one, it’d bounce off a pillar and come right back and blow me up, or else I’d get that ringing in my ears… Alas. Back when I played CS at the office I was a crack grenade thrower, everyone ran for their lives when they saw me coming. That night, karma came back for all of it.
Later I figured out the mission is actually a piece of cake if you take the right route. Grab a car, drive up from the left, and whenever you spot an enemy, get out, press Q and pop shots from behind a window. On the platform, take out the No. 2 guy first, then kill the No. 1 leader, then snipe the No. 2. Don’t follow the map to point three — instead loop around from the left platform and hit them from behind, toss a few grenades, then snipe the No. 3 guy from way off. The last one, No. 4, is right behind you, not far — just run over and finish him.
I also came across a video online, so I snatched it (this guy goes in wearing a black suit to do his killing — I was his color inverse that day):
Update — found a walkthrough description: Mission: Deconstruction for Beginners
Niko arrives at Playboy X’s place. Playboy’s house is basically a mansion, and you can even play pool. Playboy gets to talking about life with Niko, asking what his motivation is. Niko says just to make some money, and adds that he doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. X wants Niko to go with him to a construction site. Right in the middle of the conversation, an ugly-looking Black guy shows up — Playboy’s good friend Dwayne, just out of prison. You can tell Playboy treats this friend coldly, even muttering under his breath: “Shit, what’s he doing here?” Dwayne doesn’t think much of Playboy either, feeling he’s forgotten where he came from, and after Playboy takes Niko out he curses: “Shit, ungrateful bastard.”
Mission briefing: Drive Playboy to the construction site. On the way, Playboy says there’s a construction tycoon from Dubai, and the site has been taken over by the Mafia. He says that in Liberty City, the so-called union is just another word for the Mafia — if the Mafia wants the union to strike, they strike. He wants Niko to wipe out the Mafia holed up at the site. Niko asks why he’s helping this Dubai tycoon, and Playboy says, well, we’re all from Africa, right, so of course we look out for each other. Niko corrects him that Dubai isn’t in Africa (Dubai is in the Middle East), so Playboy changes his tune to something about how the whole world is one family. Niko says Playboy’s a successful guy, so why doesn’t he build a school or something for the ghetto he grew up in? Playboy says he isn’t successful enough yet — once he’s truly made it, he’ll give back to the neighborhood.
Once you reach the site, take the construction elevator up to the top floor with Playboy X, and snipe the 3 Mafia guys holding the high ground. They’re not easy to spot, but if you look carefully you can find them.
Then Playboy says he’ll direct you from up here, and you go take out those union leaders at the site.
Niko takes the elevator down and heads into the site. Same as before: find good cover, advance step by step, and throw grenades when necessary — they can take down a whole crowd. Kill the 4 union leaders one by one. Each time you take one out, the next one’s position gets marked on the map.
Afterwards, Playboy says Dwayne complained that he’d been snubbing him, so he sends Niko to find Dwayne and do a little something for him.