Although strikingly similar to GTA, Saint's Row manages to surpass the Rockstar series thanks to great improvements.
In Saint's Row, you play a nameless, (nearly) mute thug, living in the fictional city of Stilwater. Before you even start the game, you are brought to a character creation menu. The character creation in Saint's Row is very robust, allowing you to change anything from your race and weight, to the shape of your nose and the intensity of your double-chin. When you begin thw game, you watch a cutscene in which you are almost killed during a vicious gunfight between several rival gangs. Looking down the barrel of a gun, moments from death, your character is saved by yet another gang. After bringing you to safety, your saviors tell you that they are part of the 3rd Street Saints, a gang trying desperately to take back the city from the brutal gang wars which have engulfed it.
When you are canonized (quite painfully), you receive your first real mission - clean up The Row. After violently purging the row of the thugs who oppose you, you begin to spread out. As the game progresses, you will be trying to bring down three rival gangs, the Westside Rollerz, Los Carnales, and my favorite, the Vice Kings. Each gang has its own storyline, with the Carnales storyline being the worst (not to say that it's bad) and the Vice Kings storyline being the best by far. Although this game doesn't take itself quite as seriously as the GTA series does, each storyline is compelling enough to keep you engaged.
The dialogue in Saint's Row, although not brilliant, is decent and sometimes very funny. You shouldn't expect monologues worthy of Shakespeare since the cast of characters is comprised mostly of pimps and hos and gangstas and **** It may disappoint some that your character has four lines, but each line is perfectly timed and very funny, the best being the line at the very end of the Vice Kings storyline.
Moving on to audio, we see more of the same. The audio, like the dialogue, is usually fine, and occasionally great. Although many guns don't sound very powerful, the cries from terrified civilians are absolutely hilarious. The explosions also sound spectacular. Most importantly, the radio stations are good. Although much of the rock is new-age whiny bullcrap, the rap is excellent. Ranging from old-school like Wu-Tang to new G-Unit tracks, the rap reservoir is great.
The graphics only add to the technical marvel that is Saint's Row. Character models are somewhat cartoony, but mostly look great. Your character especially is highly detailed and animated, even wincing when in pain. The cars look great, with some effects such as reflecting light adding the marvel. The environments are beautiful, although some occasional errors will cause cars and environments to disappear for a second. This is confusing, but it doesn't really take away from the experience at all. However, the best part of the graphical experience is without question the explosions. Even if this game consisted only of running around with no purpose firing an RPG, it would be insanely addicting. The explosions look great and the Havok engine allows for some seriously impressive debris.
One of the improvements from GTA is Saint's Row's violence. GTA always made me queasy because of the insane amount of blood and gore. Saint's Row is still violent, but it is toned down a bit - more along the lines of realistic, as opposed to completely over the top.
Another (crucial) thing which Saint's Row does better than Grand Theft Auto is the way it handles combat. One of my biggest problems with GTA was the fact that shooting people was neither easy or very satisfying. I usually needed to use the auto-aim to kill people and even then I didn't really see why I was doing it. Saint's Row doesn't use an auto-aim system because it doesn't need to. The aiming reticule is not nearly as sensitive as in GTA, so it is easier to shoot accurately. In addition, the Havok engine causes for some great deaths which have reminded me why I take pleasure in shooting innocents - it's fun.
The main improvement from GTA, however, is simply the game's style. GTA bored me because of the seriousness and lack of pizazz (for lack of a better word). Saint's Row doesn't take itself seriously - it's a very funny game which sacrifices bores for humor. No complaints here. Saint's Row's style pretty much makes the game. The minigames involve saving hos from evil pimps and hurling yourself in front of cars to gain money using insurance fraud. They're all very entertaining and often quite funny.
In addition, the amount of customization is astounding. The amount of clothes you can wear is mind-boggling and after purchasing some downloadable content, the numbers only increase. Clothes range from basic thug dress, to business clothing, to a complete pimpsuit (complete with two-in-one pimp cane and shotgun). In addition, you can customize your character with piercings, chains, necklaces, medallions, pendants, rings, watches, bracelets, different hairstyles, and even a new face (for a great price at your local plastic surgeon).
You can buy cars ranging from Lamborghinis to Bentleys (of course they have different names) and add them to your garage(s). You can unlock new cribs at the end of each mission. You can buy all sorts of burgers with names referencing sex at Freckle Bitch's. You can do pretty much anything, and most of it is funny or supremely entertaining...or both.
The bottom line is this: Saint's Row surpasses Grand Theft Auto not only because of next-gen graphics and great audio, but because of the attitude. Saint's Row is endlessly entertaining because it is light-hearted and funny, in a violent, sickening sort of way. It's a game you play to kill bitches and have a few laughs along the way. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the Grand Theft Auto games.