Saints Row 2 Activities Guide

  It comes as no surprise, that there are quite a lot of different activities and diversions throughout Saints Row 2. To assist both new and existing gamers, I figured I would start a central thread for users to ask and contribute methods and tips for completing these Activities etc. Feel free to add upon below, but please, keep it mature, on-topic and helpful.

Insurance Fraud

   There are two locations for this Activity. Now, there are many methods out there, some recommending helicopters etc., but to get this completed with relative ease - and while remaining hilarious and entertaining - all you need to ensure is that the location of the activity (location to complete the Insurance Fraud) is near a highway. In the Factories Insurance Fraud - you should always aim for the Airport District and for the Downtown Insurance Fraud - the Downtown District. If you are not asked to go to these locations, press down on the D-Pad twice in quick succession to exit the level and restart it - and this can be done as many times as you need to get to these two places. Remember, do not Exit the Activity, but merely retry - otherwise the game will leave you where you exited it. Using this method, you are going to aim for all trucks or heavy vehicles - utes etc. When you see one coming, jump first then press RT or just fall in front of it pressing RT without jumping. Either way, you can get five thousand points per hit, but then bouncing off other vehicles can get this in excess of 20 thousand - either way, you will get the cash required without much hassle. When you get into the air from being hit, use the left thumb stick to guide your character to either under other cars, or on top of other cars. You can also get more points if you bounce your character off the windscreens of passing vehicles - if you can control it. When you get the Adrenalin working, hits will throw you pretty far, so use this air time to get your character in between traffic for those high points! That said using this method is quick, easy and should not present any problems. Good Luck. Note: For the Downtown District, the highway is just near the location of the Activity, just jump off the overpass and press RT to ‘fall’ onto the highway – it is not a lot of points, but it is fun nonetheless before you start jumping into the traffic.

Trail Blazing

   This Activity also has two locations. The aim of this is to get through a set course (checkpoints) in a given time. To ensure your chances of winning, you must hit other pedestrians or vehicles for extra time - and then going through a checkpoint will grant you this extra time. The key is to not dawdle on the track (route) but still hitting enough items to get you the time required. Pedestrians give you 2 + seconds, while Cars give you 1 + second, so try to hit as many people by as possible. Also, along the ground you will notice small flames - hit those to send sparks to nearby petroleum barrels for big explosions and hopefully heaps of time bonuses. When I was doing these Activities, I stuck to the sidewalk as much as I could to hit the people, but when there were no groups around, there were more than enough cars on the road to help you out. Not much can be said from that, just try to minimise errors (hitting objects that will stop you - street poles etc.) and use the handbrake to get around corners quickly without wasting time. I restarted various levels about ten times maximum across the two locations, so it is not hard at all. Also, you can drive through small ponds - but if you hit a large body of water, you car will be deemed as 'destroyed' and you will need to restart the level. This Activity is not hard at all. Good Luck.

Demolition Derby

   This is relatively easy, and there is only one location, Stillwater University. Once you enter the activity, there is a range of cars available to use - I recommend using a long/low car rather than one of the vans or heavier vehicles for Levels 1 - 5, but at Level 6, you will need to use a heavier vehicle to last the bashings. In all levels though, what you are aiming to do is destroy the other vehicles - causing as much damage as you can. To do this, use the Nitrous (press the Left Stick) to gain speed and then hit as many vehicles as you can - preferably head-on for greater damage. The more cars you hit, the more damage caused, the easier the win will be. When it comes to upgrades, place the points in the following order ... Level One: Speed - Offense - Defence and then Level Two: Offense - Speed - Defence. As long as you get involved in the ruckus and spend most of your time smashing the cars rather than driving around, you will clear this Activity with ease.

Mayhem

            In this Activity, there really are only two problems – a) avoiding the police and b) finding places which will allow you to rack up enough combination points for high scores. I am up to the location outside the first crib, so this method works for both locations, but the specifics (places to travel) work here only – unless they are shared by other Mayhem location. Firstly, you will need to find a bulldozer – without it – this will be somewhat more challenging as the police will easily destroy less durable vehicles. Once you have found one, save it in your garage, and then withdraw it and head to the location. As many members have said – railings, fences and other barriers which surround perimeters – will yield massive multiplier combination bonuses and will get the level completed relatively quickly. Three places I have found offer such scenery include Projects District, Suburbs District and Downtown District – although the final location is a little harder than the first two. Just like Insurance Fraud, you can restart the activity until you get the location you want, although, if you do, the car will not stay with you, so, if you decide to do this, you need to cancel the activity completely, then grab the Bulldozer and restart the activity from its Location again – which can be tedious. When you get to higher levels, the police will ram you and shoot at you, but the car will be able to sustain the damage.

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Fight Club

            There are two locations for the Activity, the prison and the Ultor Dome. For both, use the following method. In the initial levels, just attack the opponents, getting the combination knock-outs and taking them out one by one. Do not worry about food – you should not eat anything in these early levels – save it for later. For the later levels, run around the perimeter. With over four opponents, in the level, two will be fighting themselves and the rest, chasing you. Just keep running until an item drops for you to use. When it does, grab it and go after the two men chasing you. Continue to hit them, and then run around the enclosure grabbing items and using them. Once they are knocked about enough to take them out, do so and then proceed to the final two, which will be chasing you now, rather than attacking themselves. Again, repeat the same method and take them out carefully. Just be sure to have food at the ready as you may require it in the final levels.

Fuzz

            This is a relatively easy Activity, although, without due care, you can fail by missing out on getting enough footage in the time required. For this, do not fret about purchasing ammunition, it is provided. There are generally two types of offenders – those on foot and those in a car – whether it is a car, septic tank or armoured tank. For offenders on foot, you can either shoot them or just run them over to save time running around. Although, if you decide to run them down, it is only good for one scenario per level – that means, you cannot run down protestors and then run down skaters – the footage will only be counted for the first act. When a car is involved, drive in front, block it off and shoot the driver – or just shoot the car until it explodes or the driver jumps out – but it is best to go straight for the driver themselves, especially on the heavier vehicles. The only problem with this activity is not wasting time on foot when you need to take out a group of offenders with a melee or short range item (like the flamethrower). Apart from that, time is your only concern but you can complete it all with relative ease.

Car Surfing

            This is quite easy to do, and goes towards an Achievement. What I found best was the highways; conveniently, there is an entrance to one near the Projects Crib. Head over there, and pull over a sedan. Jump on the roof and initiate the diversion. When it starts, just tap the Left thumb stick gently to not sway the counter too much, but still allowing you to maintain your balance. About ten seconds is enough for the three gold stars, once done, just let your character tip over and the diversion is complete. Note: When the driver swerves to avoid traffic, take note of where he is turning to prepare to move the stick in the required direction.

                That concludes the first section of the Activities and Diversions Guide. As stated, please add additional sections if you have a solid method that will benefit the Community. I understand that many versions of what I have typed exist, so I will not claim that I was the first to think of the idea, but what I have done is taken methods, and then changed it around to suit my playing style and make it as easy as can be. If you have any questions, please feel free to post in this thread, or contact me via Private Message or Xbox Live Message. Note: I was doing the Activities on Normal Difficulty setting.

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Crowd Control
   This Activity requires you to meet two criteria, firstly, you need to keep the crazed fans away from the celebrity so that they are not harassed too much, while at the same time causing enough damage within the set time given. For this reason, there is a method required, and if followed, you will find this quite an easy Activity to complete. As others are as well, there are two locations located in the top main island of Stillwater. For both locations, up until Level 4, you just need to ensure you keep the fans away. The amount of damage you need to cause is not too large, so when a fan comes at the celebrity with a baseball, take them down, equip your character with it, and then start swinging. You cannot hurt the celebrity with the bat, nor can you the non-active fans, so causing unwanted damage is not an issue. With this Activity, the longer the fans are ignored (that is, not attacked from you), they will change weapons and do more damage/harassment to the celebrity. It goes like this, initially the fans are drinking alcohol, swearing and throwing punches, after a short time, it moves to the baseball bat, then a pistol then a rifle. You need to take them down before the pistol is taken out - and as long as you run around and hit them as they appear, you will not have any problems. Note: You press RB to grab someone and press RB once more to throw them in the direction you are facing.

   When you get to Level 4 and above, the fans come at you and the celebrity in hoards, sometimes attacking you, sometimes attacking the celebrity. Also, in these later levels, the damage required gets quite high, so initially, grab your fans and throw them either into scenery or the areas indicated by a blue arrow for a cash bonus - $750 and $1000 respectfully. After you earn around $5,000 - $10,000 (work your way up this range for the Level required, for Lvl 4 throw fans to get $5,000 where in Lvl 6, throw them until you get $9,000 - $10,000) and then once that is done, get the bat out and start swinging. In these levels, you need to be quick. Run to them, do not let them come to you. The faster you attack, the more money you unlock and you can complete the level within the time limit. Apart from that, once you get the hang of it, you can complete the Activities with ease. I developed this method last night after doing one Lvl 6 Crowd Control, and the proceeded to finish the other location from start to finish without a hassle.

Septic Avenger
   This Activity requires you to basically spray and cover various buildings, items and people with Stillwater's waste products. This has two locations, one in the Suburbs Expansion and one in the Red Light District. With this Activity, what I found effective was spraying all points of interest (marked with Red Arrows on the screen and Red Squares on the mini-map) as well as police vehicles, vehicles in general and pedestrians. You can stop the vehicle with the Left Trigger, and you will need to when there are multiple houses located next to each other. Remember, the car is not invincible, but it is close to, so, when you are stopped, spray and police who are shooting at your car and ramming you to minimise this damage. There is no time limit, but the route which the Avenger travels on is set, so ensure you stop enough times and spray enough to meet the damage required within the given length of road. This is quite easy, nothing else can really be said - just spray the police cars following, civilian cars and whatever the game tells you to and you will pass this with ease.

Escort
   This Activity requires you to drive around while a two adults go about their business in the back seat. Now, this, while it is a fairly straight forward activity, caused me a lot of grief when I failed a few of the later levels. What I found worked best, and which worked in Saints Row, was driving around the Ultor Dome (road that circles the land the Stadium stands on) and weaving in and out of traffic. Occasionally, you will be asked to perform certain tasks, like causing damage to other vehicles (hit them from the side on to minimise speed lost) and get air time (just drive off many of the small hills on the grass), etc, so make sure you have a plan to complete such events. You will also be asked to drive to particular places, and this is where it gets hard, because the reporters can catch up and this is where you will likely fail the activity. Ensure, that when you are asked to drive to a particular place, open the map, look at the route and plan the fastest way to get there, cut corners and avoid braking as speed is lost there. Most locations are located in the Red Light District, Chinatown and Projects district, so getting there from the Stadium is not too hard a task, but escaping the reporters going there is. Overall, just keep the gas pedal to the floor, drive carefully and avoid crashing.

Chop Shop & Hitman
   These are quite easy to complete. For Chop Shop, ensure you put the car you are after on the HUD, and then go to the district specified. Drive/Walk and wait around, and when the icon appears on the mini-map, get to it. Drive in front of it, shoot the driver and get in. Alternatively, if you get in front of the car, if you are quick enough to jump on the hood, do so and press 'Y' and you will get into the car instantly. Take notice though, if you hit the car or shoot at it and the driver does not get killed instantly, they will speed off erratically. Follow them and continue to shoot the car until they pull over and run out. From there, just get out, hop in and deliver it to the nearest location (waypoint will be given). Be careful though, some cars, will raise police attention when you get into them, from 1 to 3 stars, so if it gets above 2 stars, drive to the nearest Forgive and Forget first to remove the heat. Finding all the cars on one list should take about one hour maximum. There are six locations for this Activity.

   For Hitman, you need to take out select people using whatever weapon you like. When you head to a Hitman location, you will be given a list of contacts. Simply select one to place on the HUD, and follow the instructions given to source them out and then it is up to you how you finish them. Be careful, some contacts will have a host of bodyguards and civilians with them, so in that case, shoot the guards first because their gunfire will take you down if you are not careful. Targets will take more bullets/shots to take out than ordinary civilians, so aim for the head to take them out within a few seconds. Also, a shotgun at close range works quite well. When you get the targets which ask you to drink alcohol to bring them out, have 4 40oz. on you as sometimes one drink is not enough. Also, if you cannot find the old theatre (which one target resides at), it is located to the left of the Ultor Stadium, above the University area (it is the most northern point of that part of the bottom island). There are also six locations for Hitman. Each list should not take more than an hour.

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Crowd Control
   When completing the Level 6 for both locations, this is the 'area' I prefered and which zones you should throw your human shields into.
   Downtown Location: Train Station - Throw them into the water jets. Also, passing trains will take care of some people automatically too.
   Hotel & Marina: Boardwalk - Throw them into the trampoline, treadmill and civilians doing yoga.

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Snatch
   This Activity requires your character to steal women from pimps and gangs around different locations around Stillwater, and bring them back to a particular location. There are only two locations for this Activity, both of which have Forgive and Forget shops located close by the reduce that heat when making trips. Before you begin this Activity, there is a few things I recommend doing, to make progress that little bit easier. First, locate and store a Bulldog. Once done, take it to Rim Jobs and install all of the Performance Modifications minus Hydraulics and Nitrous. Now, Nitrous might be handy, but be careful, when making those mad dashes to the finish line, when cornering, be careful not to press the Left Thumbstick as it activates the speed boost and if not careful, can put you car in the wall, making for time lost and chances for the gangs to get closer to you. Also, feel free to upgrade your car with any other options - just for visual purposes. I also recommend that you FUZZ/Fight Club (Stadium Location) first (not 100% sure which Activity) to unlock the 'Car Delivery' feature, which will be extremely useful in Level 6 for these Activities.

   Once that is all done, it is time to finally start this mission. Ensure firstly that you have sufficient ammunition before entering this Activity because there will be a fair amount of shooting taking place. I recommend purchasing a SMG, and getting around 800 bullets (will cost a pretty penny) which will be enough for all 6 levels at one location. Now, the Little Shanghai location rewards you with faster regenerating health, whereas the Downtown location rewards you with a infinite bullets - once you complete their final levels of each, respectfully. So, pick which location you think will be best and drive your Bulldog over. For the first four levels (even the fifth if you are lucky) your car should not get damaged too much that it becomes a problem, but this is where the Car Delivery feature comes in handy. If you car begins to smoke black, stop, jump out and fire enough bullets into it until it explodes, at that point, use your phone and call for one of your gang members to deliver the Bulldog again. They will do this within a couple of seconds, the car will be brand new and it will not cost you for repairs. Take out any gang members in close proximity and jump in the car and continue driving.

   The method for this activity is relatively simplistic, and if followed, you can complete both Activities within the hour. Your top priority is protecting the women, so be careful not to shoot at them or run them over when dropping them off. To start off, drive to one of the locations where a pimp and the women are located. Once there, park the car close to the gang members and the pimp, aim for the head and quickly take them out, while at the same time, pressing Up on the D-Pad to recruit them into your party. You will have three slots available to recruit the women at any one time, so do it is best to collect as many as possible with a minimum amount of trips required. Sometimes, there will be three women to one pimp, all located within a couple meters of each other, so you will need to drive, shoot and recruit while being careful not to run over any women running to your car to ensure that a) they are not killed by enemy shooters and b) to beat each level in as little time as possible. Now, the most number of women you will need to collect for a level is 6, but it gets progressively higher each level, starting at 2 women for Lvl 1 - so in all levels, it should take two trips back and forth to complete them. Once you have collected the women, you should drive to Forgive and Forget if a) you need to make another trip to pick up more women or b) if you are returning from the final trip and your car is not looking to great - because, a car full of burning bodies will not bode well for your success in this mission. If you do drive to F&F, your notoriety will be removed until you either recruit a worker near their pimp or attack a gang member at all. There was an instance where I made two stops before returning to the location to drop the workers off, and because there was not enough space, I had to leave one of the women behind. When coming back to pick her up, because no enemies were present, I just picked her up and drove off without a problem.

   All in all, this is the main method to complete this Activity. Ensure you have sufficient food items to replenish health (which will only be necessary if you need to jump out of the car to heal a knocked-out worker) - which can happen in the later levels if you are not careful - but having ammunition to protect yourself will help to minimise health lost. Also, always kill the pimp before driving off with the workers, as they can come back to steal a worker once you drop them off - which can only happen once each trip. In this scenario, you need to return to the location specified, shoot out the driver (the pimp) and the gang member riding shotgun, and then recruit the worker again and drop her off. Note that if this happens, shooting at the driver will bring gang attention on you again, so you can drive to F&F if the heat reaches higher than two stars.

   If you do this activity in Co-Operation Mode, one player is the driver, and one is the shooter, so ensure you sort out who is who before starting (compliments to AttackSloth32 for letting me know about the Co-Operation specifics) - and this method works the same no-matter which way you tackle the Activity. If you have any problems, please let me know. I know it seems difficult, but it isn't. Just shoot the pimp and gang members, recruit the workers, drive to F&F, drop them off, rinse and repeat. Note: When returning from recruiting workers, do not worry on killing gang members chasing and shooting you if you are doing this solo, just focus on driving back to the location or F&F. Take care.

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Ambulance EMT Diversion
   For this diversion, you will need to drive around Stillwater, healing injured civilians with either the shock pads or CPR. This diversion is straight-forward, all you need to do is drive to the given place, exit your ambulance and heal the number of injured persons required. To do this, stand next to them and press 'Y'. The game will then prompt you which direction to push the control sticks. The only thing you need to pay attention to is, you cannot be out of the ambulance for more than 30 seconds after a group of patients have been healed and also, you cannot switch vehicles, so if you damage your ambulance and get it blown up, you will need to re-steal an ambulance and start from Level 1. There are 10 Levels you need to complete before you get a reward, all up; this will take you 10 minutes if you do it carefully and properly.

Taxi
   For this diversion, you must drive around Stillwater, picking up civilians and dropping them off at a given location. Some passengers will ask you to drive recklessly, while others want you to drive slow and carefully - whichever it is, just get to the place you need to be at before the time runs out - but avoid collisions if asked. If you miss the time frame, you will not fail the Level, but rather, the fare begins to fall - and since the bank earned is not large, it does not matter. There will be times where rival taxi companies try to take your fare, or a robber enters the car, or you get a wanted level of 3 Stars because the passenger is doing something illegal, just drive quickly to the passenger, do the stunt required and drive to the location quickly to solve these three scenarios respectively. If you get a wanted level, Forgive and Forget will not work - so try to outrun the police and all should be sweet. This can all be done within 10 minutes or so.

Drive-By Diversion
   This requires you to drive to certain locations and take out a number of gang members in a group. For this diversion, I recommend having 1 Bulldog and 1 Titan with all strengthening performance parts installed and equipped in your garage. Also have a lot of ammunition for an SMG and grenades/satchel charges. The more territory the Saints occupy on the map, the better it will be for you when driving around and protecting yourself. Also, ensure you have Free Vehicle Delivery. So, for this diversion to start, drive up to two gang members walking, and shoot them down in your car. This will then prompt you to start the diversion. Once started, you need to drive to various locations, killing gang members from your car. The more you kill, the higher the rank and therefore pay. Remember, only kills from the car (and not running them down) will count. I found, that often running them over first to weaken them, and then shooting them down worked best. When your car begins to develop black smoke, call up the Homie and get the other car delivered (alternate between the Bulldog and Titan). In the levels higher than 5, gang members might have RPGs, so look out for them and be careful. Having a Homie or just a fellow Saint with you will help to protect your car and kill the passengers. Also, do not pick up a Saint with a RPG; they will most likely do more damage to your car than good. This Diversion is a little difficult at the last level, but nothing which is not achievable. It took me about 30 minutes to complete it from start to end. Be aware, dying will result in you starting from Level 1 again - and being out of a car for more than 30 seconds will have the same result. Good luck with these three!

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Base Jumping
   In this game, you can either jump from a tall building, or jump out of an aeroplane or helicopter/UFO, deploy a parachute and then navigate yourself down towards a target. In order to get a bonus for this diversion, you will need to land in the centre of a given landing zone. To aid in making this as easy as possible, I recommend getting a helicopter from the airport and then flying directly up without changing your direction until you are quite high in the sky. At this point, you should be relatively directly under the runway strips. Jump out of the helicopter and then allow yourself to fall, and when you are ready, open the parachute and shortly after, you should be prompted to begin the diversion. Start it, then work on getting your character to the centre of the drop-zone. To ease the fall, slow it down and get some control of the decent, press down with the Left Thumbstick. Alternatively, press up on the Left Thumbstick to speed up the decent. With care, and hopefully just a few tries, you should master the handling correctly and land in the area required. Good luck.

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Mayhem – Nuclear Plant

            I have already written a method for the Mayhem Activity, but after completing the two locations, there is a great difference in how you should tackle them. For the Nuclear Plant location, ignore the first method – it will not work here. Firstly, and this is for all Activities – unlock the Vehicle Delivery – preferably being free of charge. For the first level of this Activity, it will be stationed on the Plant Island, so just grab a vehicle and head for the fences surrounding the perimeter of the island – it should not be too hard to cause enough damage and pass the level. From there, all successive levels start from the Hotels District and the areas you will complete the activity range from the Factories District, to Stillwater University, to the Marina District and then finally Chinatown. As a heads up now, I could not get to the Marina area ever (not offered), so if that is the case, stick to Chinatown – it is a much easier location compared to the first two listed. If in any of the levels you are not asked to go to Chinatown or the Marina District, exit the level and restart the Activity until you do.

            In the first four levels of Mayhem, you will get away with just driving into fences, dining areas and stalls/tables. For Levels 5 and above, you will need to be more proactive. I recommend getting a Bulldog first – it can sustain decent damage and allows you to thrown the satchel charges. Upgrade the car to strengthen it as much as possible (Performance Modifications) with Nitrous added – to help boost you forward when hitting items slows you down. So, for the final two levels (at Chinatown), drive up to areas where there is a lot of items to destroy – this includes fences, barrels, dining areas, enclosure fences, lamp posts, fireworks boxes, small stalls – anything that is grouped together in a small place – look near the sides of buildings (or behind/in front) and in alleyways. Drive you car carefully around these areas, throwing as many Satchel Charges as possible to cover all the area (know that these explodes so you need not put them right next to each other – put them a car’s length away). Once done, drive away from the place and press the Left Trigger repeatedly to explode each charge. This will cause a lot of explosions, taking out any car, person and item nearby – with a few areas targeted you can finish the level with relative ease.

            I recommend, before starting, know the area (Chinatown) well do you can plan your route – to avoid wasting time and being hit by police while driving, looking for a place to go. At some point, you car will start to smoke – so you can either run the rest of the activity, running as you throw them, or get the car delivered once it explodes – I say just run it though, you would waste time trying to get out of tight spots etc. Now, at these levels, your notoriety will rise quite quickly, so when the police come, you can also thrown the charges at them, but make sure you get enough distance apart before exploding them. Other than that, it is best to have the territory owned so the Saints can help provide support against the authorities – and have some food in case you take damage from being hit/shot or exploded. Also, the higher levels provide the Satchel Charges with infinite ammunition, so do not hesitate to throw them to your content.

            Be aware also, that you should not try to take too many areas at once before detonating the previous set of Charges – as they might not register/explode. So, if you find to areas with things to explode relatively close (within eye sight), then you can throw Charges on both before detonating them to increase the combo multiplier – but not if the areas are far apart.

            For the Marina location, throw Satchel Charges on the machines and tables in the Casino on both levels before detonating to get a massive multiplier bonus. In addition, seating areas, benches and other items on the boardwalk will also be of assistance – and do not forget the Developer’s Studio inside the Mall. I would like to thank Yuppafubara for recommending using Satchel Charges, confirming Chinatown as a suitable location and for informing me of the Marina strategy, without that help I could not have developed the method for Chinatown. Note: Satchel Charges are thrown with the Right Trigger and detonated one by one with the Left Trigger.

HeliAssult

            This Activity requires you to fly above your Homies, protecting them while they traffic drugs and make other stops along the way. There are two locations for this Activity, one in the Trailer Park District and one in the Barrio District. Now, before attempting either, you have to have a solid understanding for how helicopters handle – so you can fly them skilfully, dodging weapons and weaving in and between buildings and other obstacles. To complete the later levels, you need to be able to fly quickly while controlling both the helicopter itself and the weapons it holds – it is not an easy task for beginners. Once you are competent enough, head over to one of the locations. All the levels basically follow the same structure; cover the van making deliveries, taking out the enemy gang cars and helicopters which follow the fan – either shooting at you or your Homies.

            There are only two ways which you can fail this, either destroy your aircraft or the Homies are killed – both can easily happen if you do not focus on the task at hand. For the first few levels, the main thing you need to do is monitor the road, looking for enemy gang cars and taking them out – sometimes accompanied with a helicopter every once in a while. Now, the helicopter has two weapons, a turret and a homing missile. The turret is quite useless, so focus on just the homing missile. To operate it, keep the ridicule focused on the target you wish to take down – it needs not be spot on the car/helicopter, but close to. Once the target locks on, fire the gun and watch it follows the enemy. In some cases, the missile will fly into a building or railroad track, so before firing again, get a more open shot – nothing too taxing really.

            It is important that you keep an eye on the mini-map, when a red triangle appears, it means a new car or helicopter is on your tail and when this happens; look around to identify what exactly the gang members are in, if you cannot see the car on the ground, it means a helicopter is on its way. Regardless, you should not delay in taking them down – the longer they are on the field, the more damage they can do to your helicopter or the van, and when RPGs come into play in the later levels, you are not going to want to wait. I also recommend staying as low as possible to the ground, not too low so that you cannot lock onto enemy helicopters, but not too high that cars cannot be locked onto.  All in all, to complete this Activity relatively easily, you just need to make sure that you can fly the helicopter around buildings and other obstacles without much hassles, and that you can lock onto and take out enemy gangs quickly – it is not too hard to complete without co-operation help – but for those not feeling as confident, find someone willing to help – and split flying and shooting between the two. In addition, rarely, but it will happen, you will be asked to pick up your Homies from the ground because their car runs out of petrol. In this case, fly down slowly and allow them to grab onto the railing of the helicopter. You will then need to be steady in flying to the location given, not going too fast, too high or flying radically – because they can fall off – but they do not sustain damage so do not fret if they do fall.

Drug Trafficking

            This Activity is straight-forward – protect the dealer as he ‘slings product’ to various people throughout Stillwater. Traditionally, people have found this to be the hardest Activity in this game, and the previous game – but there is a way around it. To complete this activity with ease, you will need to have the Vehicle Delivery feature unlocked and at least one Bear stored in your garage – to unlock the Bear, get a police notoriety higher than three stars in the Saints Row district – it is a massive black armoured vehicle with a mini-gun attached. Once you have these, head to either one of the locations for this Activity, either the Marina or Airport district. Enter the Activity and protect the driver until you get to the first stop. Once there, get out of the vehicle and call up for the Bear to be delivered. Wait for the deal to finish between the dealer and the buyer, by then the car should be there, jump in and get ready to blast through this Activity – quite literally! Now, with this car and activity, you ride shotgun – there is no driving involved. All you have to do now is hold down the trigger, and fire at any enemy gang vehicle or member who is shooting or ramming you. This car is quite tough, so you do not have to worry about changing it for a new one (I think, that in a set of six levels, you can progress through the first five without swapping for a new one – and quite possibly complete all levels without changing if you are careful). What I recommend doing is, while riding, shoot at the driver of an oncoming enemy vehicle, this means that the car will swerve to the side and no longer provide chase. You can however just shoot at the engine until it explodes – whatever suits you. When coming up to a stop, the driver will jump out, but you do not have to, just keep lookout, and shoot oncoming vehicles or members who are close-by.

            There will be times however when the buyer will not pay for the product, in this case, as the game prompts, kill them to complete the deal. In most cases, you can take them out from the car – but if not, just jump out quickly and run back to the Bear. All in all, this will not be a problem for you now. Without this method, you will need to struggle with keeping a weak car from blowing up and using a set amount of ammunition. Using the Bear, the car is tough, can take a beating and the mini-gun never runs out of ammunition. Good luck with this – you should breeze through it this way. Note: In the event which the car does develop black smoke, get out, steal a new car, and then on the next stop, call for your Homie to bring a new one.

Racing

            In Saints Row 2, Racing has changed somewhat. For starters, they are no longer considered an ‘Activity’ and they do not go towards the 100% completion of the game. In addition, the races are split into two types – timed run or street race and unlike the first game; the vehicles for each are supplied to you. For this reason, most races are quite easy to complete, but some will prove a challenge. Before continuing, all 27 races are divided unequally into five different types of vehicles: motorcar, motorbike, watercraft, helicopter and aeroplane. Really, for all land and watercraft races, it should not take you that long to win the race. When you find the shortcuts to be taken across vacant land lots or even just cutting corners, you can save a considerable amount of time and grab the gold medal. In addition, the A.I. does not take shortcuts, so if you can take advantage of that, you will find the races even easier. For all races, only a first place in a street race and a gold time in a time trial will count – anything else will not register as a pass.

            For aircraft races though, the time trials can get difficult. Some will take multiple tries, learning the course outline, getting the controls right and avoiding any collisions, because with these vehicles, a slight bump can send you into the ground or wall. If you are finding any of these races difficult, first ensure you know the course outline. From there, practice taking corners, and then raising and lowering the aircraft without slowing down much – because this is where most of the time is to be lost. Using a left control stick, pressing down or up can speed/slow the aircraft and help stabilise it in those tight spots. Also, remember to use the right and left bumpers on your controller to help make sharper turns.

            Since there is no nitrous or upgrades available for the vehicles, you will have to rely on your ability to get to the finish as fast as you can in these races. With land races, using the handbrake to speed around corners without losing much speed, for water races, press the brake only enough to make the sharp turns then speed forwards as quickly as possible. For air races, you need to use the left control stick to manoeuvrer the aircraft, along with the accelerator and decelerator and the bumpers to make each corner a quick one to minimise any speed lost in moving throughout the course. Also, unlike the land and water races, the vehicles in the air cannot sustain much damage and can be thrown around with the smallest mistake, so avoid surroundings at all cost. Just remember, some of these will be tough, but redoing the race, learning the course and improving slightly each time will help to grab the reward in the end. Race icons do not go grey when completed, so keep a record of which ones you have done, because you cannot check which ones you have done from the mini-map nor the game map – only from driving up to the event yourself.

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Zombie Uprising

            This is a small game within Saints Row 2 and is accessible from the television sets in your cribs. The general idea behind this game is to kill a set amount of zombies without losing all your health. There are six waves within this game, each wave bringing in more zombies to kill – but after Wave Three, nothing really gets harder. The only difficult aspect of this game is conserving ammunition, so there is some strategy involved here. Immediately after starting the game, run behind the water fountain and pick up all the available weaponry – this will form the main arsenal of items that will get you through this. From there, take out a melee item (not a chainsaw) and start to kill the zombies with it. For the first two waves, just use such items, grabbing a new one whenever the current one breaks. When you get to Wave Three, zombies can run at you engulfed in fire, so at some point (midway) you will need to start using a firearm to take these ones out. When this time comes, withdraw your pistol and head to the stairs in the corner of the map and turn right into the corridor – move right to the end where the mini-gun lays, but do not pick it up. At the moment, you should have a pistol, a SMG, a shotgun, a rifle and some grenades and until you run out of ammunition, let the mini-gun as it is. Now, from there, look at killing the approaching zombies. Headshots for all the non-decapitated zombies is what you are aiming for, and then the stomach for the giant zombies – as wasting ammunition will not do you any favours. Going through each weapon will take you to Wave Six, and by this time, you should have the mini-gun. When using the mini-gun, fire in short bursts to avoid shooting at walls and losing much needed bullets. At some point however, you will need to leave the corridor and go back to the baseball bat method once the remaining ammunition depletes. Luckily, zombies drop ammunition some time, so you can switch back and forth as you please. With enough patience and care, you can complete all the waves without losing much health – and the food is there to help you recover that damage.

            Some additional tips include letting fire zombies bump into other zombies, which will cause those touched to die helping reduce the numbers and also, shooting the children zombies explodes them, which can assist in taking out nearby hoards of zombies. All in all, aim carefully, and ensure you are never too close to a nearby zombie. Also, do not run outside the map as you can accidently leave the game and will need to start again. Good luck.

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Collection

            The following group of diversions require the player to find, interact and use a number of different items, places and locations. Some involve actually obtaining an item, while others just involve passing through or by a place within Stillwater. Regardless, it is these which allow the gamer to grasp just how much this game has to offer and the intricacies of Stillwater.

Barnstorming: This diversion requires you to drive an aircraft through a given space/area without making contact with the walls or surroundings. I recommend using the D●Stroy UFO as the speed is easily controllable and stability is decent. Note: Regardless of the aircraft, they are fragile so be careful not to hit anything while in enclosed areas or near buildings as the smallest collision can knock the aircraft around and possibly cause terminal damage. There are 35 barnstorms in total.

 

CD Collection: This diversion requires you to find CDs which are located throughout Stillwater. For each ten CDs found, you will receive a secret song which can be added to your Custom Radio Station. Once all CDs are found, you have a 100% discount at Scratch That. There are 50 CDs in total.

Secret Areas: This diversion requires you find particular monuments, buildings and places throughout Stillwater, both on ground level, in the ocean and on building-tops. To activate the notification that you have visited a particular secret area, you may have to walk through, on or about the specific place. To find all ground level places, I recommend using a Kenshin motorbike, for aerial places a UFO and for water-based places – a Shark jet-ski. There are 32 secret areas in total.

Stunt Jumps: This diversion requires you to find and complete numerous jumps which are scattered throughout Stillwater. Some jumps are inconspicuously disguised or hidden, such as cliff ends, while others are obvious, like a ramp. All are accessible from ground level or thereabouts, so I recommend using a Kenshin with nitrous equipped. You must keep in mind, some jumps will require you to have a high speed, so always try to get a decent speed before tackling a ramp. Note: You will end up falling sometimes, so having the no-fall damage unlockable and vehicle delivery available are recommended. There is a total of 80 stunt jumps.

Tagging: This diversion requires you to spray-paint over existing tags of rival gangs with the Saints logo. As you attempt a tag, notoriety will rise for one of the gangs or the police – depending on the location and previous ‘owner’ of the tag. For all, if you are careful to not waste any paint and cover the majority of the area horizontally – line after line, you will be able to avoid getting more than one star of notoriety in any one tag. At some stage throughout the process, you will run out of paint in the can, so to simply refill, just press up and down repeatedly on the right control stick – which happens once per tag, give or take. Note: Failure to keep most of the paint within the area provided will make you fail the process. If this happens, you must start the tag again with all notoriety gained during the previous attempt. There is a total of 50 tag locations.

Jobs

            Jobs are additional activities available to the gamer. To complete each, you must reach and complete Level 10 for the following. Levels can continue past 10, but that is just as an added challenge for the player.

Ho-ing: This diversion requires … well it is quite self explanatory. To complete each level, you will need to use both control sticks. Using the right stick, you must rotate it to find the correct position (which is indicated by the rumble feature) and then once holding it in that position, using the left stick to hit the directions indicated on the screen. All in all, it is relatively easy. What you should know is, if you are not ‘ho-ing’, then the Pleasure Metre will begin to fall, and if you hit the wrong direction with the left control stick, then it will also deplete. To complete a level, fill the bar within the given time limit. There are ten levels which must be completed before a reward is given – anything more than level ten is just a challenge for the player. Locations where one can participate in this diversion include gentlemen clubs, buildings in the Red Light District and the back of petrol stations.

Tow Truck: This remains one of the hardest, if not the hardest diversion in the game. To complete a level, you must take a tow-truck, jack a particular vehicle and then drive it to a given Rim Jobs. What makes this difficult, is that the police can ram and shoot at the towed vehicle, or the tow-truck itself – and either one blowing up will result in a failure for the diversion. It has been recommended, if attempting in single player, that you get out and shoot any following police and then get in and continue driving or, and this is highly suggested, attempting this in co-operation mode, with one player staying with the truck at Rim Jobs while the other retrieves the car. You cannot get a new truck during this diversion, so be aware to minimise any damage as the final levels can be quite intense.

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Stunts

            Stunts are actions which can be performed by the character during the game. Some will only register during a mission/activity, while most can be achieved just in Free-Roam. All in all, you can do all of these at anytime during the game. Excellence in these are measured through stars, one bronze being the basic required, while three gold stars being the best the gamer can do. For all the stunts, to get gold stars, you will need to repeat the same stunt in quick succession of one another – unless stated. I have yet to achieve three gold stars for each of these, that is not to say you cannot, but some just seem like it cannot be done.

Combat Tricks:

            These stunts are done while on the field, involving fighting or shooting rival gang members/police and their vehicles.

Gang Kills: Kill a rival gang member.

Beat Down Kills: Kill a rival gang member or member of the police using only your fists.

Headshots: Kill a rival gang member or a member of the police by firing a bullet to their head.

Gang Vehicle Kills: Explode a vehicle while rival gang members occupy it.

Multi-Kills: Kill multiple rival gang members or police in quick succession or together instantly.

Nutshots: Kill a rival gang member or a member of the police by firing at their crotch – not a one hit shot though.

One Hit Kills: Achievable through headshots or explosives. Self explanatory.

Slice ‘N Dice Kills: Kill a rival gang member or member of the police with a samurai sword or (butterfly) knife.

Taunting: Press Left on the D-Pad to taunt someone. To make it easier, point a weapon at a gang member/police before taunting to ensure you are standing in the right direction. The notoriety for the gang/police will rise if done successfully.

Throwing: To grab someone, press Left Bumper. If pressed quickly, you will throw them, if you hold LB; you will grab them and use them as a human shield – in which you press LB to release. To get three gold stars, throw from a really high balcony/rooftop – such as the hotel in the Marina District or from the top of the crib located near the airport (not the hangar).

Driving Stunts:

            These stunts are all done in a vehicle of some sort. Motorbikes and motorcars are the best type of vehicles to attempt these.

Bailouts: Jump out of a vehicle whilst driving at a high speed. Use a high-end sports car on Cruise Control at the highest speed.

Big Air Jumps: Get a decent amount of time in the air after a jump. Whilst progressing through the stunt jumps, you will most definitely come across one. Use a Kenshin with nitrous equipped.

Burnouts: Hold both the accelerator (A) and the handbrake (LT) to perform a burnout. Swivel the vehicle with the left control stick to see if it makes much a difference.

Power Sliding: Basically, this diversion involves drifting. Using either a motorbike or vehicle, drive at a high speed and then when approaching a corner, press LB and manoeuvre the vehicle around the turn.

Hydraulics: Install hydraulics at a Rim Jobs and then use them in front of pedestrians.

Near Misses: Drive near oncoming and/or same-side traffic. You cannot bump or touch and of the vehicles for the stars to accumulate – just come close to them.

Oncoming Lane: Weave in and about oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road.

Road Kill: Run over and hit pedestrians in a land vehicle – making sure you kill them in the process. Hit speed hits are instant kills (indicated by a rise in police notoriety).

Stoppies: Also referred to as an ‘endo’, a stoppie is basically the opposite of a wheelie. To do this, use a Kenshin motorbike with nitrous, drive at a high speed, initiate the nitrous and then press the handbrake (LT) whilst pressing forward on the left control stick. I have yet to unlock three gold stars without tipping over though. Attempting this on the airport runways is recommended.

Two Wheels: For this diversion, you need to spend some time in a car, with only two wheels on the ground. This time is not great, but it is a few seconds for three gold stars. Driving a sports car off a small grassy knoll with two wheels on the ramp and two off will get such results at high speeds. If not, the monster truck can be found near and about the Docks and Warehouse District and can be used to drive over vehicles and obstacles to get a similar result.

Wheelies: Whilst driving at a decent speed on a motorbike, press down on the Left Control Stick to initiate a wheelie. You will need to press down and hold it (feathering the control stick) to avoid from tipping back. Do this on the airport runway to avoid hitting traffic.

Windshield Cannon: This diversion requires you to drive at a high speed in a car and then driving into something, flinging your character forward through the windshield and travelling through the air for a short amount of time. A sports car is recommended for this diversion – just drive fast into another low car (not a truck) or a power pole or something of that equivalence. Stars are awarded for distance, so hitting a wall will not be too beneficial.

Mini-Games:

            Mini-games are small games which the player can participate in, to get away from the storyline and activities aspect of Saints Row 2. Some require a level of skill while others are just pure fun.

Blackjack: To participate in this mini-game, head over to the casino in the Marina District and select one of the appropriate machines. The higher the bet, the more rewarding the win.

Flashing: In order to participate in this mini-game, you must first purchase the Flasher Coat from Let’s Pretend, located in the underground mall. From there, remove all clothing except the coat and then go to town! For this to count, you need to flash at walking pedestrians in their direction.

Store Hold-Ups: To do this, head over to any store where there is a front desk clerk. Enter aiming mode and point the ridicule onto the shop assistant. Shortly after, they will proceed to walk to the safe located in the back of the store. Continue to point the ridicule at the worker until they unlock the safe. Note: Once done, the store will alert the police and you will gain a three-star notoriety.

Hostage: Similar to Hold-Ups however, rather than point a weapon at them, grab them and hold them as a human shield and take them to the register. Note: Once done, the store will alert the police and you will gain a three-star notoriety.

Mugging: Just like a Store Hold-Up, except, walk up to a civilian or pedestrian on the street and keep the ridicule on them (in aiming mode) until they drop the cash.

Poker: To participate in this game, head over to the casino in the Marina District and select one of the appropriate machines. The higher the bet, the more rewarding the win.

Streaking: To participate in this event, head over to your crib and take off all clothing. From there, just run around Stillwater. Note: You will gain police notoriety as a result.

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   Well, that finally concludes the Saints Row 2 Activities & Diversion Guide. I have covered each Activity and Diversion within this game at some point within the past posts. I would like to stress, that these methods are those I have used personally, those which I have found work best. I did not get these tips/methods or advice from another site - but I do not claim that I was the first to find these strategies out. I would like to give credit to Xbox 360 user Yuppafubara for the assistance in the Nuclear Plant Mayhem strategy.

   If you have any further questions please feel free to post. In addition, further or alternative methods from the Community are welcome as the more tips we have, the more freedom we can give to the gamer to complete the game they way they find suits their playing style best. Links have not been provided to external sites, but I recommend visiting the pinned thread at the top of this Forum titled, "Saints Row 2 - Game Guide" for a link to an interactive map of Stillwater, and also IGN for two static maps with images and descriptions for CDs and Tag Locations. Good luck ... now go take back Stillwater!

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