Good game, should have been more.
Things lost:
No purchasing of houses, cars, any form of property.
No car tuning etc
No robbing stores (u can occasionally grab $40 from shooting a cash register, but its hardly a robbery)
Things gained:
Mobile Phone system (Great, though not perfect could have been better)
Decision making
Brilliant graphics
Brilliant Polish
Good story line, but then GTA always has been.
Good Online Play
I was really looking foward to being able to buy some tastey cars, some houses etc maybe some property like in vice city, but there doesnt seem to be any of this, its all done via a cousin who just calls u after a certain mission saying "Hey cousin! ive just bought us a new apartment!" or after doing jobs people say "Hey, u can keep the car." (By whichpoint its knackered anyway)
But the good thing about the game is the decision making & everyone seems to know eachother, "Bosses" will tell u to go kill another boss (who uve also been working for) and visa versa so u have to make a decision as to which one your going to kill etc which reflects on the game later on, also gang bosses are often "with" eachother so u feel as if everyone knows everyone else, plenty of backstabbing too, so the story is brilliant.
Anyway to sum up my review, its a brilliant game but its lacking alot of the things that made GTA the King, and im now highly looking foward to see'ing Saints Row 2 as they've added rather than taken away .