When stealing, a Tetris clone lets the player fit more items into the truck, and the carjacking minigame lets the player earn more money for scaring the captive passenger by driving at high speeds.

While robbing, the player taps happy and angry face icons to terrorize the victim into giving more money. The mobile game features minigames for robbing pedestrians, stealing, and hijacking vehicles. The player can earn money by finishing missions and robbing pedestrians, which can then be used to buy food, weaponry, spray paint, and accessories for the character's home. Enemies do not hide due to a lack of a cover system. There are also sequences where the player can snipe enemies with a sniper rifle. The player can fight with a knife received early in the game and later with firearms that feature auto-aim. Mission examples include assassinations, bomb-planting, and robbery.

The city is split into zones, and the game's mission objectives largely consist of driving to locations and shooting things. An on-screen minimap displays nearby locations, and there is a larger citywide map on the pause screen that does not show detailed locations. Locations throughout the city help the player, such as fast food restaurants that restore health, gun stores for firepower, and spray paint shops to decoy the player when pursued by the police. For example, player objectives in the tutorial mission include hijacking a car, killing a policeman, driving to a 'Forgive & Forget' location to lose the police pursuit, and mugging a pedestrian. The player can kill, threaten, rob, carjack, and otherwise force other gangs out of Saints territory. The game's story mimics that of the console game: the player-character returns to the city of Stilwater following a bid in prison and must restore the atrophied influence of their gang, the Saints. Screenshot of gameplay, with minimap in lower left corner and corpses in the street

Saints row 2 fast cars