It has variety, but that's about all it has.
Saint's Row 2 had plenty of ideas going for it, but poor execution. Let's start from the top.
Graphics: Games from last gen look better than this. There's really no excuse here, the game looks like crap. Textures are bland, hair is plastic and shiny, models are boxy, pop-in is terrible yet still the framerate bogs down at points. There is nothing redeeming here.
Sound: Alright. Radio stations are forgettable and, I find, more often annoying than worth listening to. Voices are decent. Guns sound good for the most part. Overall, pretty average.
Gameplay: The meat an' taters of just about any game. And here's where things really bog down. There is so much to do in this game, but it's all so poorly done. It's like they came up with so many good ideas, but failed to polish any of it. But let's start at the beginning.
On-foot controls are reminiscent of last gen GTA. You run, you shoot, you might hit a few people with some melee weapon for some strange reason (guns are available almost from the very start). There is no cover system to speak of. You can zoom in to shoot, but this proves nearly useless with your character's look speed. Simply put, this game has learned nothing from the plethora of good shooters to come out in the last five years. The AI is dumb, sometimes taking a hostage, mostly charging right for you guns blazing.
Driving controls aren't much better. While cruise control is a nice feature, it's implementation is basically due to poor button layout. Other than that, cars feel weightless. They all turn on a dime, they jump easily and they don't come back down so easily. Added, hit detection is crap. Often you'll find yourself thinking you should be scraping against an obstacle only to find yourself stopped dead.
Then there's the various modes of play. Namely the story mode and the various activities you can participate in for bonuses and respect - a little something you need to unlock more story missions. Story mode consists of a bunch of go there, kill that missions. Normally I wouldn't mind, but I find that even GTA IV had more variety in it's story and that game practically defined 'go there, kill that' in sandbox. Activities are what provides the variety. If only the gameplay was good enough. While a lot of these are good in theory, in practice they are more annoying than anything. For instance, Crowd Control has you protecting a VIP from a hostile crowd with your fists. If only melee was fun. It doesn't help that once crowds start using machine guns (a somewhat random late occurrence in higher levels of the activity) you're pretty much screwed - you don't bring guns into the activity, you have to pick them up and these things wear down the VIP too fast to do anything. Or how about Drug Trafficking where you ride passenger protecting a drug dealer while they make their stops. Looks great and starts up well enough, but you may quickly ask your character why they must keep sitting idly, having to take a precious second to turn around so they might aim their shot every time you give them a moment's rest instead of constantly aiming where you yourself are. Even the famed flaming ATV is hampered by poor vehicle control and hit detection.
It's petty things like this which make this a quantity over quality game. Still, there is plenty to do and lots to explore. You'll often find yourself rewarded for being curious.
Customization: Figured I'd make a section for this seeing as how most people probably bought the game for this. Customization is good. Better than that of most games. You can create virtually anyone you want and have them ride whatever vehicle you want. But there are still obvious downfalls.
First thing males might notice is the lack of good voices. British, ghetto and hispanic. There is no every-man voice. You're either a poor sop from the bad part of town or a foreigner. I don't know what they were thinking, but the devs somehow forgot to include a voice to fit around 70% of the people who bought this game.
Then there's the glove glitch. Namely if you wanted the hitman type in a suit and gloves oyu're gonna have to forgo either the shirt and tie or the gloves because gloves don't appear while the shirt's on. Other little things stick out as well, such as no shirt with rolled-up sleeves or with a vest automatically over it. So you can't put a trench coat over your suit.
Then you get into crib and gang customization. These sound good on paper, but are meh in practice. In cribs you have a few choices in what to buy which basically means do you want a dirt hole, a clean place or a sex house. Gang customization is limited to a few looks. The default ones are basically a bunch of different versions of gangsta with ninja suits and bodyguard outfits being added in later. Picking cars is nice, but you can't choose the color. Normally I wouldn't care all that much, but bright purple really is not my style at all.
Car customization, on the other hand, is pretty good. Basic vehicle upgrades plus plenty of different cosmetic looks. There's little to complain of here.
Story: You're a former big-time gangster reclaiming their territory. Simple, easy and little in the way of interest. I never once found the need to continue the story to see what happens next. It serves the need to explain the mayhem you cause, but little else.
Other: I wouldn't be able to go through this review without mentioning glitches. These little ****ers are everywhere. Bodies sticking to cars, cars and people disappearing before your eyes, sounds turning off temporarily, getting stuck on objects, hell even frequent game freezes. This game needed a lot more polish.
Overall a decent game, but too little polish, a number of glaring omissions, the relative shortness of the story and the existence of GTA IV make this a rental at best. Quality is greater than quantity.