As I've observed before, I fail to understand your constant whining over SR's reception given that it gets solid reviews and sells well (even derivative, boring sewage can sell if the game its aping is popular enough).
Anyone who claims Heavy Rain is an interactive movie must be speaking from a position of profound ignorance (that is the most charitable thing I can say about such people). Heavy Rain offers a context sensitive control scheme which always gives players a range of options and allows them full control over whatever actions they choose to initiate, with the difficulty of actions for the character mirroring the difficulty of actions for the player. My only issue with HR was the RE1 ****controls for character movement.
Most games give players a standard set of moves (shoot, throw grenade, melee) and perhaps there are special places where hitting a button triggers something nonstandard (walk up to a computer, press A and your character might sit down and hack into it). As David Cage observes, the thing about standard control schemes is that developers than feel obligated to give players problems which can be solved within standard control schemes (if you have buttons dedicated to shooting and throwing grenades, progress tends to be contingent upon shooting and throwing grenades).
What Cage did was offer players a nonstandard control scheme which changed depending on what situation a player was in. For example, early on in HR you are a father, your son is sitting in front of the tv and on the fridge is a 'to do list'. You can do everything on that list, nothing on the list, you can do things out of order and you can do stuff that isn't on the list (the clock is ticking the whole time and if you do nothing on the list your kid watches tv, then gets some pizza out of the fridge and goes to bet). A bit later there is a scene where you talk to a prostitute (you have multiple tacts to use when quesitoning her, and your choices impact how much information she gives you). After you leave, an angry guys walks past you and into her room. You can choose to just keep on going, or your can go back and try to defend the women from the angry guy. Its all in your hands. Not every choice matters past the scene in which the choice is made, but the mere existence of a choice beyond how to kill enemies is welcome. As I (and many critics and game designers) have stated Heavy Rain represents a step forward for non-action game design. The format would work perfectly for say, a game where you are trying to unearth a spy or win the heart of the girl of your dreams.
Saint's Row on the other hands is just another in the game industry's long and sorry history of 'me-too' games. Its not utterly terrible, but prior to SR3 clearly the designer's only thought was 'I want me some of that sweet San Andreas pie!'. Sadly and bizarrely, the SR games lack the depth of San Andreas. One of SR's biggest failures is character customization. I've heard the developers (and some fans) boast about its character customizations, but the sad fact is that customization is utterly meaningless. In San Andreas players didn't just select a type, their life****dictated the abilities (and limitations) of their character. A guy who lifted weights all the time would be massive and hit like a ton of bricks, but also a bit slow and lacking in stamina. A guy who ran or swam all the time would be slender and not hit very hard, but be fast and have a ton of endurance. A character who didn't exercise and gorged on cheeseburgers would be fat, slow and lacking in stamina. Just as interestingly, people's reactions to your character were informed by his appearance.
By way of contrast, SR has a vast range of customization options, but its all meaningless. It didn't matter if one was a five and a half foot man with green skin and glowing red eyes or a women that looked like Meghan Fox, people all treat you the same and make no comment upon your appearance. *Shrugs* At least SR3 reportedly found its own feet rather than merely trying to ape GTA. I was interested in trying it, but sadly, the designers only offered me the meaningless character generator.
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