- This is the mission. For the location, see The Tenements (location).
The Tenements is a storyline mission in Chapter 3.
The Mission
Intro
Lola is waiting for Jimmy by The Underpass. The Greasers have all turned on her after her kiss with Jimmy in the preceding mission. Now, many of her personal belongings are stuck in the abandoned tenements that they hang out in, and she needs him to go get it all back for her.
Walkthrough
The Tenements are in the northeast corner of New Coventry. This is the most run-down part of town. Screams and cries can be heard in the unabandoned buildings. The tenements are condemned, and Jimmy has to enter through a window since the door is barred. They are very run down, some of the floors have fallen out and the walls reduced to their support beams. Old decaying furniture is everywhere.
The clock disappears once Jimmy enters the tenements.
Jimmy is met inside by Vance, who's wielding a board, and Lefty. Lola's address book is in what used to be the kitchen. Some of Lola's items are inexplicably in locations that Jimmy can't reach without breaking down the walls. Ricky and Lucky are waiting in what used to be a bedroom on the first floor.
Climbing to the second floor, Jimmy finds the hallway has fallen in. He runs into Hal, who runs for help. He, Vance and Lucky attack. Jimmy has to take the fire escape to get around the hole in the floor. Another one of Lola's items is inaccessible behind a wall, but Jimmy finds her lipstick on a counter, then heads to the third floor.
Ricky, Vance and Lucky are all armed with slingshots and waiting at the top of the stairs. Near there, Jimmy finds Lola's bag of laundry. As soon as he picks it up, a cutscene is triggered. Norton has a sledgehammer and he takes a swing at Jimmy, breaking through one of the crumbling walls and sending Jimmy flying. A boss fight triggers.
After winning the fight, Jimmy can pick up the hammer Norton drops. He can then smash the wall on the second floor to get Lola's keys, and a wall on the ground floor to get her perfume. With all five items collected, he can leave the tenements. He has to return the items to Lola, who is waiting by The Underpass.
Boss Fight vs Norton
Norton walks towards Jimmy at a slow pace. He has two main moves with his hammer; an overhead swing, and a swing where he spins around. Getting hit with the hammer does significant damage to Jimmy and knocks him back and to the ground. Norton's swings have a slow start though, and so they can be avoided with a bit of effort. After missing a few swings, Norton runs out of breath and doubles over panting. If Jimmy attacks him while he's panting, Norton doesn't counterattack. If he tries to attack Norton normally, Norton will knock him away with the hammer after Jimmy lands a couple hits.
The best strategy is to shoot away at him with the bottle rocket, or fire crackers. Norton moves slowly and his life can easily be whittled down.
Norton drops the Sledgehammer, which can be used to break the walls.
Trivia
- Although Jimmy's overhead punch can lay down anyone including adults and police officers, it cannot knock Norton down during his boss fight.
- During the boss fight, it is possible to position Jimmy near the wall he must break with the hammer, and let Norton break it. It is then possible to be chased all over the building by Norton.
- The soundtrack for this mission is most likely inspired by "Human Fly", a song made by 1970's garage punk band The Cramps.
- If Jimmy has kissed Vance - thereby setting his faction with Vance to 100% - before doing this mission (only possible between Bait and Wrong Part of Town or Tagging), it interferes with Vance's behavior during the mission. When encountered on the first floor, he isn't specifically scripted to attack Jimmy, so after calling out to him, he'll just stand there and respond pleasantly if spoken to. On the second and third floors however, he's scripted to attack immediately.
- It is possible to accomplish this mission before Christmas Is Here. However, until it is completed, The Rumble will not be available. This is only possible on the PlayStation 2 version of the game, as the extra missions featured in the Scholarship Edition and Anniversary Edition versions render it virtually impossible to reach this mission without going to sleep at least once.
- If the entire game is played up until this mission in one sitting without reloading a save, the bottle of perfume will already be collected as soon as Jimmy enters the tenements. It is assumed that without reloading a save, the memory is not cleared at all during the entire game, which can lead to some mishaps like mission-related objects not properly spawning.