That's what cheats are for!I would vote for both options. You need to do the missions to get better weapons and unlock new areas.
Same here, I get bored watching the video clips and bringing people around the city. I prefer hijacking a police car and going for a joy rideIn GTA IV I tried doing the missions, but like in the others, they didn't hold my interest. I only ever destroyed the city til I got bored of that too.