The Fraud missions in Saints Row have returned in the reboot, and they are harder than ever. In previous titles, Fraud was one of the easiest side activities to accomplish with its easy mechanics and fun gameplay. Now, the new tweaks added to the activity in the reboot have made it one of the game’s harder Criminal Ventures.
In Saints Row, Fraud missions require the player to get hit by speeding cars in order to build up enough money to reach a set score. Once the player has built up enough damage, they will enter Adrenaline Mode, which will make them get launched much further when hit by a car, helping the player earn larger combos while flying far down the street. Pinballing off of cars with Adrenaline Mode is one of the most fun ways to spend time in Saints Row, games, and of all the Saints Row activities that could return, it’s no surprise that Fraud made it into the reboot.
There are a few differences in the Saints Row reboot that make Fraud missions significantly tougher. First is the increased score requirements. In past games, Fraud missions would usually only require the player to amass a few hundred thousand points at most. However, all of the Fraud missions in the reboot require scores in the millions, with the lowest being 1.5 million. Because of this, it is much more difficult for the player to reach the target score, especially on higher levels that will likely require the entire time limit to accomplish. Saints Row‘s story has a weak start, and the surprising difficulty of the new Fraud missions is another early shock.
Saints Row’s Reboot Fraud Missions Are More Demanding
Another change that makes the reboot’s fraud missions more difficult are the changes made to Adrenaline Mode. While Adrenaline Mode still launches the player further, it feels less powerful than before, and the player has less control in the air as well. In addition, Adrenaline Mode now causes cars that the ragdolled player hits to explode. While visually impressive, the charred remains of the cars can impede traffic and make forming combos more difficult. Since Adrenaline Mode is the way to create big scores and combos in Fraud activities, changing the mechanics behind it makes beating the goal score significantly more difficult, making earning money quickly in Saints Row more challenging in turn.
These elements combined make the Fraud missions in the reboot much more difficult than the ones from past games. This is jarring for a couple of reasons. First, a mission that used to be quite easily suddenly becoming significantly harder would be a surprise for longtime players. Second, Shady Oaks, the Criminal Venture associated with Fraud missions, is one of the first to be unlocked, but is harder than several of the Ventures that are unlocked after it. This leads to a rather unbalanced difficulty curve. The new version of Fraud may be one of the more difficult Criminal Ventures overall, especially when compared to simpler activities such as Saints Row‘s Chalupacabra missions.
The Fraud missions in the Saints Row reboot are on a completely different level of difficulty than the same activity from past games. Fans of the older games in the series will likely be surprised by the differences in the reboot. Players of Saints Row should be prepared for the hardest iteration of the series’ Fraud Activity to date.
