Description
The evil Grinch is trying to ruin Christmas. Intercept the fighters and protect the Cargo of holiday goods.

Storyline:
The storyline in Heist is based off the Seussian classic The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and it show it. The plot is based around an attempted hijacking of the Elf cargo freighters by the Grinch, and in-game messages compliment this well. The briefing, as well, is quite good.

Balance:
Sadly, there are some balance issues. Only the Apollo, Hercules, and Valkyrie fighters are available, and only the Valk has few enough weapons slots that it can be fully outfitted with aspect-lock missles. Also, saving both of the cargo containers is quite hard. At least you only need to save one. In general, Heist is a well-balanced mission, not too hard or too easy.

Design:
I would highly reccommend anyone to look at Heist for an example of how to merge a plot very well with a mission while still maintaining a good game. The design in Heist is just short of flawless, with good attack timing, messages that echoed my thoughts perfectly, and other Really Neat Stuff (tm). However, there was one glaring problem: one of the Primary Objectives is to protect the cargo containers, and this is failed if either is destroyed. However, when I let one die and saved the other, the debriefing stated that it was too bad and I should be chatised, but at least we got one. In short, I still won, despite the failure of a Primary. While this is not unheard of, in this case it shouldn't have been used. I would have thought the designer could have had the Primary be "save one", with saving both completing a Bonus objective. Still... this is a good mission.

Gameplay:
Do I need to go any further? Aside from being a damn fine Escort mission, this has the advanage of a great story. Actually, I might not have had as much fun had the events all been explained so perfectly and been crafted around the Grinch's movements, and I had to grin as Reindeer wing began an assault on the Max - a freighter sent to steal the Elfs' cargo.

Other Thoughts:
Damn. A good mission with a story from outside the FS universe. Hell, it seems, hath frozen over.