Wow!

I’m still deeply engrossed in the dramatic gameplay in Saints Row. There are so many things to do in the game (those “Activities”) in addition to the main plot “Missions”, and being an Xbox 360 game, there’s also the hilarity from the Achievements.

Here are a few more things you may want to try in the game.

Hatred and Money at the Downtown Chop Shop (5-Star Action)

A lot of folks who’ve played Saints Row already have commented about how annoying (or even dangerous!) it is for them whenever they get the 4-star or 5-star rating for Police/FBI attention. Some people have even declared that it is important to stay one or two steps just outside of a Forgive and Forget Confessional storefront!

I’ve gotten used to restocking my ammo from the police and FBI, but I was wondering if there was something useful associated with those FBI SUVs. They’re big… they’re somewhat durable… and there ends up a chaotic mess of them at the end of one of my ammo restocking forays.

I’d just finished the Hitman activities (got a bunch of respawning guns and ammo for my troubles, which is going to be VERY helpful), and I looked to starting the Chop Shop activities.

The Downtown Chop Shop activity, in particular, does require that you collect a FBI SUV and return it to the storefront. However, for many of the activities (and the Chop Shop ones are no exception), although you can only get Respect points for the first item you fulfill, you can still keep coming back with more for a continuing stream of cash. And the FBI SUV’s cash value is: $5,000.

A-ha! Enter my famous 5-star running battle with the FBI, SWAT, and Police.

Start your battle anywhere. I like to start along a heavily populated stretch, where I can do a lot of melee or pistol shooting of the pedestrians and quickie carjacks (but no Hostage activities, because that would most likely remove all of the attention stars, rather than quickly ramp them up) before the ‘fuzz shows up.

Once they do start appearing, lead them to the Downtown Chop Shop. No need to be terribly fancy, but make sure you achieve all five stars, so you can steal a steady stream of FBI SUVs on the street leading to the Downtown Chop Shop. When managing the stream of SUVs, merely grab one, and either sit in it while waiting for another 2-3 to show up, or drive a few meters and then wait. Once you get to the chop shop, just keep driving all of your acquired SUVs into the touchpoint, one after another. As more FBI and police show up, keep grabbing the SUVs while avoiding gunfire or, whenever the urge strikes you, return fire.

When you get tired of accumulating lots of money (I stopped after a little over $1,350,000 and 3 hours of the 5-star rating), just saunter over to the nearby Forgive and Forget Confessional store. 

Master Jack II

If you’re already at the 5-star rating, you may opt to do a Hostage activity, making sure that the car only has one passenger (not a boatload of people!). If you successfully complete the Hostage activity, you should be able to shed all, or almost all, of the Police/FBI attention. That saves you at least $500 of Forgive and Forget Confessional tithing.

Quick-Entry for Vehicles II: La Fuerza

I’ve been experimenting with hopping onto the hoods of various vehicles, including from various heights. I quickly discovered that as long as you either land on top of a vehicle, or take advantage of erratic clipping, you can perform the quick-entry technique.

However, for a more consistent approach, using a vehicle that has both a low hood and a low bed appears to work best. As a result, I’ve been using the La Fuerza (El Camino type) cars quite a bit. Give it a shot.

N.B.

Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):

• Saints Row 2: Boon or Bust?
• It’s All Fun ‘n Games in Saints Row
• Felicia Day Sighting: The Harder Side of Sears!

Today, combined with the continued upswing of the U.S. stock market, comes the release of THQ’s [THQI] second installment of the Saints Row series, Saints Row 2 (SR2).

It will be interesting to see whether any of the tips I mentioned about the first Saints Row game will still be usable (and transferable wholesale) in SR2. Nevertheless, for Saints Row fans, this is going to be an exciting day for those fetching their copies of the game today (and in the following days, ‘natch).

And even GTA IV fans should take a peek at SR2 to see if it appeals to them (and, most likely, it should)…

Live Stream of Launch

If you’re interested in the Saints Row 2 launch, THQ has mentioned on their blog that there will be a live stream of it, and the link for it (or just more details about it) should be presented on the blog around 9:30 AM CT (that’d be about 10:30 AM ET).

N.B.

Wow, quite a financial session this morning (and it’s only been open in the U.S. for a mere half-hour)… Now it’s a big question as to whether playing Saints Row 2 is preferable over playing the stock market for the next several days. I know a LOT of you (and you know who you are, because you’ve been quite active with your E-mails lately!) have been struggling with this since last week, when the SEC short sale ban expired back on October 8.

Okay, folks… THQ’s [THQI] Saints Row 2 (SR2) is slated for release on October 14, 2008… that’s just a couple of days away. And just a couple of days earlier, the launch party for the game was held, to the satisfaction of a few lucky gamers. A lot of fans have been eagerly awaiting this game, although a lot of people have been satiating their run ‘n gun fever with GTA IV or Crackdown.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been spending some time in Stilwater already, in the form of the original Saints Row (SR). While some of you have SR, it may have been some time since you applied your m4d ski11z to the gangstas in the game. But hey, you’ve still got some time before the SR2 release to practice…

Here are some tricks I’ve developed for fun and profit during the course of the game that may be helpful to you.

Fun with Pedestrians While Walking/Running

A quick source of cash is pedestrians wandering around, as well as vending machines and parking meters.

But instead of using ammo on people (which is often faster), just run up and melee them. Quite a few of them will drop cash– actually, it’s random, but hey, it’s fun. This conserves the ammo, particularly if you’re in between activities or missions, or already in a running battle with the police and FBI. It also helps to preserve your kill-shoot ratio.

Fun with Pedestrians While Driving

While driving, flicking the L-stick quickly while approaching pedestrians crossing the street, or just near the closest curb to you, will cause many of them to abruptly launch themselves directly into your path.

Crunch! 

It’s a convenient way to get some random cash. Just be ready to brake hard, hop out, and then hop back into your vehicle.

Quick-Entry for Vehicles

I was getting frustrated whenever dealing with homies tethered to me, where I’d get into my vehicle, but the homies would take too long to enter the vehicle, and by that time, the police have reached the vehicle and yanked me out. Busted! Argh!

With a bit of trial and error, I realized there’s an interesting clipping error: jump onto the hood for standard-type vehicles (including Police Cars) and hitting the Y button will allow you to rapidly teleport into the driver’s seat and start the engine. This saves you several seconds of precious time, especially if you’re dealing with your trailing homies.

Good Help is Hard to Find

On the subject of the homies: Unlike what a lot of other gamers have recommended, my advice is to NOT use them unless you’re required to do so in a mission or activity. Instead, if you need to instigate some sort of action, try to cause it in the vicinity of the 3rd Street Saint types wandering about or, alternatively, bring the action in a running battle into a saturated area of 3rd Street Saint types. In this way, you can get a decent amount of support fire without having to worry about straggling homies.

It’s just really annoying having to deal with homies…

Master Jack

Carjacking appears a lot easier to me if it’s done near a Forgive and Forget Confessional storefront. But more importantly, if you have a square or circular “track” in the area, take advantage of that to force any pursuit cars to smash into the obstructions around the track and to get slowed down by other oncoming traffic. Combine the two concepts, and you have an easy moneymaking venture.

I’ve also used carjacking get a nice bonus while cooling down severe law enforcement attention: when I’m looking at five stars of attention, a quick carjack followed by a merry chase to a F&FC store solves two problems at once.

Where the Good Stuff Is

I found out early on that the police and FBI have decent firearms that they use to suppress… well, me.

So, rather than a deterrent, having a prolonged running battle with the police (including the helis and SWAT) and FBI is an excellent way to stock up on guns, ammo, and vehicles. I’m quite fond of the GDHC .50 pistols, the AR-40 Xtnd assault rifles, and the FBI SUVs. Hence, my favorite tactic is to cause enough havoc on the streets to get the “coveted” five stars and lead a running battle in the direction of my choice. Just be very careful when downing helicopters: don’t stand too close beneath the helis, so that when they come down as a flaming mass, you’re not killed in the collision.

Coming Soon

So, while we’re waiting for SR2 to make its grand entrance at a variety of sales outlets, we still have the original SR to hang out with. Happy hunting!

Well, not exactly…

“Er, what?”

I was minding my own business, alternating between playing Saints Row (since Xbox LIVE has been brought back online earlier today) and following CNBC [GE] coverage of the ongoing financial disaster, when I inadvertently flipped to a random TV channel and saw Felicia dressed in a funny blue shirt and white pants.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Our Cheetos Girl has appeared in another TV spot, this time for the “Blue Appliance Crew” advertising campaign that Sears [SHLD] is touting for their appliances sales in its bid to regain favor with major household consumer appliance buying audiences.

The Sears Angle

For several years, Sears has tried to break into the “softer side” of the household goods segment, with mixed success but ever-increasing pressure from retailers above and discounters below. At the same time, it abdicated its traditional home improvement segment to the H/I superstores like Home Depot [HD] and Lowe’s [LOW].

Now, there seems to be an opportunity to go head-to-head against the giant of appliances sales, Best Buy [BBY], as the latter is apparently easing itself back toward consumer electronics, media, gaming, and other entertainment.

But the current financial turmoil across multiple sectors has thrown a wrench into this new strategy because of widespread consumer clampdown on purchasing. We’ll have to keep monitoring how this scenario plays through.

The Felicia Angle

Felicia has been showing up in a surprising range of traditional broadcast and online places.

Over-exposed? Dunno.

Career-expanding? Maybe.

Fun? Apparently so.

N.B.

Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):

• Felicia Day on Felicia Day
• Felicia Day to be on House M.D. Episode
• Felicia Day on House M.D. Season Premiere?
• Penny Arcade Expo 2008
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog