[Bargo]

I really, really love Saints Row 2, and had so much more fun playing it than GTA4. Unlike GTA4, which aggravated me with its terrible mission checkpoints and dull activities outside of them, Volition seemed to approach every facet of SR2 with the mindset of "how can we make this as fucking fun as possible for the player". And really, if I'm going to dedicate 15-20 hours to a game, I'd rather they be enjoyable ones.

There's so many good things about SR2.. the cutscenes (probably the first game to really make me belly-laugh, especially if you pick the "geezer" accent as your character's voice).. the frequent mission checkpoints that HUGELY eliminate frustration.. all the mini-games and activites ("Insurance Fraud" is a classic).. and the missions themselves are always varied and great fun, as opposed to all the "chase X in vehicle Y, kill X" missions in GTA4.

If I was to pick one downer about it, it's that the PC port is a bit shit, technically-speaking. Framerate issues when driving at a high speed and some pretty dodgy controls.