Saints Row 2 (XBOX 360)

WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS (nothing story related)
- Picked it up from Fry's for $53 plus a free t-shirt.
- I spent 30 min on just character creation. There are a ton of options to mess with.
- First night I played around 7 hrs straight until close to 5am. I haven't done that with a game in a LONG time. No lockups so far so it's already more stable than the first Saints Row (pre patch). I've only done about 4 missions and 3 activities. Activities only go to level 6 now. Helicopter Assault is a blast! I forgot how much more I like the vehicle controls in SR2 than in GTA. It got easier once I figured out you can guide your missiles while it is in flight. In fact you can fire, and then get the lock on and you'll usually hit the target. Crowd control was kind of meh I finished the suburbs one, and all I got was a clothing discount. I finished the helicopter assault (Bario) and have 15% reduced bullet damage.
- Got the unlimited SMG ammo (snatch downtown). That level 6 snatch in downtown sure did take me a while. One memorable moment was when I had my last 3 hos, my car was smoking and getting smashed around a lot. I come around the final turn, and I can see the drop off point. I catch on fire and decided to push it. Just as I enter the blue circle, the hos are getting out, screen starts to fade to black, boom, we all die, and I fail AGAIN. Still, lots of fun. Two more tries, and I finally finished that one. You know, a stretch limo really should hold more than 4 people. This should be your top priority activity since unlimited SMG ammo makes the rest of the game a lot easier. I started messing around with the unlimited SMG ammo. I sat on top of the airport and was just blowing up the police. Did you know you can take down police helicopters with about 2 clips of dual wield SMGs (I forget which one but the one that holds 50 rounds so X2 = 100).
- I did quite a bit of clothes shopping. There is a lot of variety. It also increases your respect bonus for completing missions/activities.
- I've been staying up until past 2am everynight playing this game. It has gotten me really hooked. I worked on some more activities. Finished both insurance fraud ones. Go for the one in factories first since it gives you infinite sprint which is very handy. It's pretty easy if you just keep quiting the activity (push down on the d-pad twice) and just restart until you get the saints row territory. Ignore the increased adrenaline spots and just head up onto the freeway. Just keep throwing yourself in front of the big trucks. There is no shortage of vehicles on the freeway, and they usually don't stop or slow down. Expect about 15-18K each throw until you get adrenaline. Then, you can get up to 200K in one throw if you can juggle your body long enough. The other one in museum (reduced vehicle damage) I just restart until I get downtown district. Head south to the big bridge that connects the top land mass with the bottom land mass. Just do the same thing there. There are lots of speedy traffic and trucks.
- Finished Snatch (chinatown). There are a lot of shortcuts through the back and over wooden bridges. Using those it was pretty easy to complete all 6 levels and get 3X health regeneration.
- Finished Sceptic Avenger (suburbs) for 15% improved weapon accuracy. It was pretty easy. Just remember to use left trigger (e-brake) to stop and hose down all the targets. By level 6, don't stop too often or the cops will eventually blow you up.
- Finished Trail Blazing (downtown) for reduced explosion damage. It's just memorization of where to go. Don't forget to set waypoints if the checkpoints are a bit far apart. Just try and hit as many cars and pedestrians as possible to get the time bonus. Level 6 took maybe 5 tries.
- I'm working on Escort (red light) to get free vehicle delivery.
- Finished all the brotherhood missions. Played 13:50. 33% completed, 20 missions completed, 16/45 neighborhoods owned. No lockups so far. I'm enjoying the story so far. I think I've unlocked most of the stuff I'm interested in so I'll probably focus on story line missions for a while though I still want that free vehicle delivery. If you can't tell already I'm loving this game and can't recommend it enough!

UPDATE: 10/22/08
- Finished Escort (red light) and got my free vehicle delivery. The trick was to keep moving and always be turning. Blow through the roadblocks, take short cuts, drive against traffic, just don't go straight for too long. I've pretty much unlocked what I wanted, and I have a ton of respect so I'll probably be hitting the story line missions hard. I'm working on the Sons of Samedi missions now. Also, I'm buying up all the business for my controlled territories. I had my first lockup last night right after buying a business.

UPDATE: 10/26/08
- Finished the storyline.
69% completed
55 missions completed
45/45 neighborhoods owned
25:08 time played
853608 respect
total money earned $1,077,049
41 deaths
style level 7
style rating 7541

2 lockups

- The story was better in this one with pretty good writing and great voice acting.
- Mission design was overall excellent with some nice variety. I never got frustrated because of the well placed checkpoints.
- I think I've bought all the business. Still lots of activities and distractions to do. Also, I haven't even tried the multiplayer/co-op yet.

Highly recommended! Hands down this is my favorite open sandbox series.

UPDATE: 10/27/08
- I went back and finished the secret mission. It adds a nice bit of story and some closure especially if you've played the first Saints Row. You can read here on how to activate it.