Mission 1 : When Good Heists Go Bad

Cash earned: 250

The Saints have a pretty good thing going with all of the merchandising and other legit avenues to make money. They aren’t seen as thugs; in fact, they are Ultor’s biggest brand and have become pop culture icons. Therefore, its not surprising that when they attempt a routine bank heist, they do so wearing masks of their most notorious member, Johnny Gat. Joining the Saints crew is the infamous lead actor of the “Nyte Blayde” series, Joshua Birk. He tags along on the heist for “research.” This routine exercise turns out to be a lot more than any of them bargained for when the bank tellers appear to be as heavily armed as the Saints.

Kill the Guards and Go Upstairs

Duck behind a desk, then come out guns blazing and look for any red arrows indicating your targets. There are a only a few people behind the large tellers’ counter that need to be dealt with. This is your first gun battle, so take your time and get used to the controls. Be as bold as you want during this encounter because there is very little threat from these enemies.

When everyone in the room has been put down, follow your friends by sprinting to the tellers’ counter and hop over it. Enter the next room and, once the door is kicked in, immediately open fire. Enemies are right in front of you, but also target the shooters on the stairs and balcony. Follow the on-screen indicator and go upstairs.

On this top level there are a lot more guards that are more aggressive than before. Use the large pillars for cover and battle down the walkway. Look out for the guards that run across the walkway to your left; they can be hard to notice and will catch you in a crossfire if you don’t take them out. Finish off the last few guards by the large round desk and follow the blue indicator by turning right to go up a set of stairs.

Blow the Safe

Climb the staircase, go around a corner, and make your way past some iron bars to the vault room. The whole crew meets near the vault, but they soon realize that there is no way to crack that thing. This leaves only one explosive option. However, the Saints don’t do things in a typical fashion. They are going to blow that safe but they aren’t planning on doing it here. Follow the blue indicator to go upstairs. The HUD prompt will guide you to “set the explosives” with a yellow prompt. Run upstairs and show that the Saints care about their fans by taking a moment to sign an autograph. After your good deed of the day, go to the spot marked and press the button to place the explosives on top of the safe.

Defend Yourself

Josh Birk is not used to real-life drama and makes a newbie mistake by triggering the alarm, which brings several waves of SWAT to test your mettle. This is a timed test in which you must defend yourself until the next sequence. Also, this is the hardest battle thus far and it is a pretty good example of the kind of action you can expect during the game. The previous gunfights were designed to get your feet wet but this firefight can actually get you killed. The good news is that you have unlimited ammo. Start off by choosing your weapon from the Weapon Select Menu. A safe bet is something that shoots a lot of bullets, such as a submachine gun or automatic rifle. The shotgun can be very effective here since the enemies are up close, but it holds fewer rounds, which means you will have to pause to reload a lot more often.

The swat teams rappel into the building from the same side, which leaves you with two choices. The most obvious option is to pull back and look for some cover while facing the onslaught. This provides a full view of the action and a good vantage point to take on the SWAT as they appear on the opposite wall. Keep in mind that they can also assemble on the upper walkway and shoot from above.

When you get hit, take note of the red damage indicator to see where the incoming fire originated. Also, be careful of the SWAT with riot shields. The shields not only provide them excellent protection but it also can be a powerful melee weapon that sends you flying. Make these targets a priority and empty your gun into them to cause them to flinch and lower their shields. When the riot guards drop, run over to their lifeless body and use their shield for your own protection.

A less traditional approach to this situation is to charge forward into the area where the SWAT are swarming. Normally that would not be a great idea, but if you get close to the windows and stick to a corner, the SWAT team on the upper level can’t hit you. This eliminates your having to monitor multiple levels of enemies. The action can get pretty furious up close, but living on the edge is what being a Saint is all about. When you hear the helicopter off in the distance, the time is up on this little game of defense. An attack chopper peeks in through the hole left by the explosion. Empty your gun into the helicopter and get ready for a wild ride.

Shoot the Helicopter

Who says you can’t take it with you? The Saints have style and some serious gall to literally airlift the safe from the bank. You take it upon yourself to protect the prize and ride along on top of the safe. As the vault is raised out of the building all hell breaks loose. The rooftop fills with SWAT and the annoying red attack chopper is back. While it is a lot of fun to mow down the lawmen standing on the roof, the real target is the red helicopter. Whenever you see a red indicator on the screen, look for that red chopper and unload on it.

It’s a bumpy ride on top of this bank safe as the chopper that carries it has difficulty keeping control. You get tossed around a lot. Keep your focus on eliminating the red chopper whenever you see it. Several black helicopters join the fight to knock you off the safe. Some stay airborne while others try to land on the roof and deploy more SWAT troops. Put a few rounds into them and watch them explode!

Keep blasting away at the red helicopter. Before long it will spin out of control. Unfortunately, it swings right into the cable that is holding up the vault you are riding on. You will automatically make a daring jump and leap to safety. However, you land in an unsafe place.