The Exchange

$500,000 Required

You'll need to be carrying at least $500,000 before you can start this mission. Once you've got it, walk into the blue marker in front of the Cartel villa. Before starting the mission, I strongly recommend stealing a Rhino tank from the army and storing it in the garage of your Shoreside Vale safehouse...

Cutscene

Claude walks up to a couple of Cartel guards at the front gate of the mansion, with a briefcase in his hand.

He hands over the briefcase and they pat him down, confiscating all of his weapons.

The gate is opened and he's led into the grounds of the villa. While walking, the camera pans up to the building showing armed guards on the balconies above.

Catalina shows up, with Maria being held by a guard.

"The real question is, did you turn up to rescue Maria or to get me back?" asks Catalina. "Well I got news for you, shooting you will be a pleasure but dating you was only business. You are muy pequeñito amigo!" (very small... ouch!). "Throw over the cash" she demands as one of her guards brings over the opened briefcase, showing off the notes.

Catalina is impressed that Claude managed to gather all of the money. "You have been a busy boy! But you haven't learned, I'm not to be trusted. Kill the idiot."

Catalina's guard pulls a pistol on Claude, but using his ninja skills, he knocks the gun out of the way and takes down the Cartel soldier with a single forearm smash.

You now need to escape the Cartel compound. The guy Claude just knocked down will drop a pistol, which you should grab as all of your other weapons have been taken by the Cartel. You'll shortly receive a 6:30 countdown timer on the screen.

There's a small garage to the West of the mansion grounds with some body armor and a parked Cartel Cruiser. Take cover in that garage and take down the three or four enemies who will attack you in the garden area of the mansion.

Once they're dead, you might want to shoot the two guards on balconies high above the front of the mansion too.

Grab a Cartel vehicle or just run towards the front gate and it'll open, letting you out.

Cutscene

A helicopter flies overhead, heading towards the Cochrane dam.

You're now told to follow the helicopter to find Catalina. She's at the lower section of the Cochrane Dam, so if you want to go straight there, follow the road to the East, then North and around Cedar Grove. You're low on weapons and ammo though, so you should probably rectify that before heading after her...

If you're anything like me, you'll have been collecting the hidden packages while playing through the story. Every 10 packages unlocks a free weapon outside your safehouse. If you got them all, you'll be able to collect everything from Pistols to Body Armor and Rocket Launchers. My advice is to make your way to the nearby Wichita Gardens safehouse and grab some of your hidden package reward weapons.

If you followed my advice at the start of the guide, you'll have an even more powerful weapon waiting for you... A tank in the garage!

Grab it and make your way up the hill towards the lower Cochrane Dam. As you arrive you'll see the Cartel have blocked the entrance with a few of their vehicles.

A rocket launcher or the Rhino can smash through it with no problems.

Continue around the lower dam until you come to another road block which you can blast away with the Rhino's cannon. You'll find a sniper rifle in the bushes to the right of the main lower dam which can be useful to take out the plethora of enemies scattered around here.

Of course if you're in a tank, there's nothing to worry about, just continue around the dam and blast away at anything that moves.

As you reach about half-way across the lower dam, a cutscene will kick in.

Cutscene

The camera shows Maria, flanked by two armed guards as Catalina makes a run to a helicopter before telling the pilot to "get this thing airborne".

Continue the rest of the way along the dam, blowing up anything that gets in your way and you'll eventually come to some stairs.

There are enemies up here, and you'll need to be careful not to harm Maria too, so I recommend heading up the stairs slowly and using a sniper rifle to take out the two enemies next to her before they actually spot you. Be extra careful, because one of them has a flamethrower!

Once you're on the roof, there'll probably be one more enemy to the left of the stairs, so don't forget to take him down too.

When everything is clear, Maria will follow you. Head to the opposite end of the rootop where you'll find a rocket launcher.

As you gather it, Catalina will appear in her helicopter. She'll fly in circles around the dam so you need to shoot a rocket at the heli when you get the chance. It should only take one direct hit, so if you've got plenty of rocket ammo, just fire away until you hit the target. Once you do, the tail rotor will be blown off and the helicopter will spin out of control as it goes down into the dam.

Cutscene

The camera pans over the lower dam as a news report explains the situation.

"Residents in Cedar Grove have been coming to terms with the emotional aftermath of a full-blown war that hit the area yesterday. Local resident, Clive Denver described to police a single gunman he saw fleeing the scene, with a dark haired woman."

Maria then begins chewing off Claude's ear as she explains her thoughts and feelings. "Oh, you know, we're gonna have such fun, 'cause you know, you, know, I love you, I-I-I-I really do, 'cause you're such a big strong man and that's just what I need. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, you know, I forget, but you know what it's like, don't you?".

The news report continues. "The sounds of explosions shook nearby homes as people ran for cover. Several citizens were injured in the panic as gunfire was exchanged between ground forces and a helicopter circling the dam".

An eyewitness called Clive Denver gives his report on what he saw. "Yeah, we got a good view from down here in the gardens. When the 'copter finally got taken out, better than the fireworks on the 4th of July!".

The news report concludes. "With the death toll already over 20, police are still finding bodies. There have been no official denials concerning rumors that the dead were members of the Colombian Cartel, and still no leads as to the cause of the massacre".

Maria is still nattering away to Claude... "I broke a nail and my hair is ruined, I mean, can you believe it?! This one cost me $50...".

All of a sudden, a single gunshot rings out and Maria goes dead silent... Then the end credits start to roll.

Congratulations, you beat the story in Grand Theft Auto III!

Mission Passed!

GTA III

Story Missions

The Exchange Map

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By Psy