I was very skeptical of the SR series with it being so similar to the GTA series. Wow was that a mistake or what!
I have every single GTA game ever released on hard copy. But I finally decided to give Saints Row a shot and man does it DELIVER. I had more fun playing SR3 than playing all of the GTA games put together!
I just had to write my piece on here for anyone else who was thinking the same way as I did. I thought the game was going to be too 'over the top' for me and feel really stupid and fake, but I was so wrong. The way that the game delivers the content to you is so refreshing and fun. From upgrades, to rewards, to really just being able to do anything without restriction, however weird or wacky the idea is.
Please do yourself a favor and try the game out. Especially if you only know the GTA series like I did.
PS. I hear that SR4 is really inadequate compared to SR3 but I'll still give it a shot after I'm done with this game. Also GTA5 looks like it's going to be one of the best sandbox action games EVER, so I'll definitely pick that up as well but I got way higher standards of FUN now that I'm also playing the SR series.