“I got called for jury duty. Bleh.”
“It’s a small price to pay to live in a free society.”
“Big deal.”
“You also get to play God with people’s lives.”
“Well, they should print that on the letter.”

I had jury duty yesterday. I’ve actually never been called before, other than one time in college that was canceled. Good thing too, it was in East Brookfield (way the hell out of the way) and there was a child murder case going on at that time.

I had to go to Fitchburg, which sucked, because it’s a half hour away and the AC in my car is busted. I show up and of course the whole area around the courthouse is one way streets. The parking lot is full, so I stop at a meter and hope for the best.

I check in and sit in with the rest of the jurors. I brought along Moby Dick but couldn’t read because (A) there was a TV playing the Today Show really loud, and (B) I was too tense to read. I know a guy who got stuck on a three day case, and who the hell wants that?

I sat in the back row next to a man who had to have been setting up an insanity defense to get out of jury duty, because he just kept mumbling to himself while we were waiting.

We watch a wacky video on being a juror and then finally get called into court at 10:30. There was only 1 trial that day, and they needed six jurors, so with 20 potential jurors I thought the odds were in my favor. They started calling out numbers and it’s pretty intense. No whammies! They call out six jurors, and I think I’m home free. But then of course the prosecution makes two people sit down, so two more get called. Then the defense makes another person sit down, so someone else gets called up. The judge thanks us for showing up and sends us on our way and I get the hell out of dodge.

Of course I get lost trying to get back to the highway, because eventually find my way home. I get back at 11:30 and have the whole day to myself. So that’s cool. Jury duty wasn’t that bad, I did my civic duty, plus I’m free for three years.

And yes, I’m reading Moby Dick for the first time. Probably #1 on the “books I should have read but never have.” Its starts really well but now I’m at the part where Ishmael talks about whales and their genealogy for pages on end – BRUTAL. If I’m reading this right apparently dolphins are whales. Who knew?

True to my word, I beat Liberty City Stories yesterday morning. I would have done it Monday night but I was tired. Here’s my guide to the final mission, which isn’t that tough when you know what to do:

Beforehand, I HIGHLY recommend you find at least 70 hidden packages, so you have easy access to armor (a must), the colt revolver, the assault rifle, and the laser sniper. Pick up two sets of rockets too.

Step 1: Get in the Leone Sentinel and drive Salvatore to Staunton and City Hall. There’s going to be a car of Farellis shooting at you soon after you leave Sal’s, but just ignore them and keep going. I cut through Chinatown and never saw them again.

Step 2: When you arrive at City Hall, get out of the car and blast the four hitmen. Use the Colt for one shot kills – if you take a little damage don’t worry.

Step 3: Drive to the docks (the same place where you did the “Love on the Rocks” mission). There’s armor in the swimming pool area in one of the apartment buildings as you approach the docks. Get in the circle and snipe the wiseguy on the docks.

Step 4: Now you’re in the boat as Sal drives and you have to take out the numerous boats (and a helicopter) following you. My only advice is keep you finger on the trigger, since there’s no ammo limitation, and aim for the boats and they’ll blow up quickly. Your damage meter should get half full but you’ll be fine.

Step 5: Here’s where it gets tricky. Your at the lighthouse and there are hitman staged all over the hill in hard to hit places. My advice is to creep slowly along the path and use the rocket launcher to clear out any bogeys (just make sure you don’t blast yourself to smithereens, as I did on one attempt). I also lobbed a grenade at the guy hiding in the grass. Once you have a clear path, run up the stairs to the checkpoint.

Step 6: Now you have to take out the helicopter. DON”T use the missiles – the copter moves too fast. Use the assault rifle, and you can lock on. Just keep blasting and grab the armor if necessary. The chopper should be done in no time. Then kick back and watch the credits.

I still have stuff to do like the side missions and whatnot, but I don’t know if I’ll bother. Getting 100% completion in a game never really mattered to me, you know?

Give Me Liberty (City)!

Everyone knows the love and respect I have for the Grand Theft Auto series of video games, even naming GTAIII one of my top ten games of all time. Now it’s back with GTA: Liberty City Stories, and I implore everyone to buy it.

One of the big complaints about follow-ups Vice City and San Andreas (especially the latter) was that they were too damn big. San Andreas was so huge and cavernous you could spend seemingly hours driving aimlessly on missions. Looking back, Liberty City and its three islands were really the perfect size – big, but not huge (although finding your way around Shoreside Vale is still a huge pain in the ass). Well, when I heard they were releasing a new GTA game set in Liberty City, I was intrigued.

LCS was originally designed for the portable PSP, which about 7 people have bought, so they made a port for the regular PS2 and are charging only $20 for the game. My only caveat was that I’ve been playing the GTA series on my PC, which has its own control scheme that obviously differs from the PS2. Well, I needn’t have worried; the control scheme is fine and easy to get used to (thanks to the auto lock targeting).

Some may squawk that revisiting Liberty City smells of rehash, but really, it’s like putting on an old pair of slippers. It’s awesome to revisit all the old sights, like the bistro in St. Marks or the Cochrane Dam in Shoreside Vale. It just…feels right.

The story is largely similar to GTAIII – you’re Tony Cipriani, returning after a long hiatus to Liberty City. The year is 1998, 3 years before GTAIII, and you do dirty work for a variety of folks, including mob boss Salvatore Leone, his wife Maria, and media mogul Donald Love, all later seen in GTAIII. In fact, the continuity is incredible, as minor characters from Vice City and San Andreas pop up all over.

The controls have “regressed” to GTAIII, in that you can’t climb, crouch, or swim (the latter is a travesty – falling into water neck deep results in instant death), but they did add motorcycles this time, and thank God (in a funny note, the instruction book, which is designed like a newspaper, has an article calling for the banning of motorcycles, explaining why they’re not in GTAIII).

The radio stations are back, more like GTAIII where there are a lot of unknown or little known artists. I will say I miss being able to load my own MP3’s onto a station, but the radio chatter (listen for Nurse Bob, Lazlo, the technology show, and the bickering DJ’s on the pop station) makes up for it.

I’m actually pretty close to finishing all the main missions (I’m at the part where I have to steal the two corpses for Donald Love – don’t ask). The game can be challenging but never unfair. I’m planning a marathon session tomorrow and hopefully can wrap it up then.

Have a happy 4th, y’all.