*hugs*

Mafia II to rule them all.

Based on the quality of the 1st, I agree.

My anxiety is that the console versions of MII are technically taxed to the point of compromising overall quality. That could be a deal-breaker as PC is not an option for me. I'm all for scaling when appropriate, but I have serious issue with negligent performance issues like low fps.

For the original question, I'll take GTA IV over Saints Row 2 any day.

Both games are great, but the one that left the most lasting impression was easily GTA IV.

You know the Seven Words You Can Never Say In Reviews?

Yeah, well that Rockstar classic is innovative, atmospheric, compelling, visceral, immersive, polished, and epic.

(The punchline being that it's all true.)

Saints Row 2 was more fun for me. I enjoyed the Lost and the Damned episode of GTA4.

I'd recommend The Saboteur also. You can grab it on the cheap for open world explosive fun.

I played the entire way through SR2 co-op and it was a blast. One of my top gaming experiences. Although my friend had a habit, every time we stopped at the ammo shop, of restocking and then shooting up the place before I could finish my shopping. I didn't make it more than about 10 hours into GTA4. While I definitely preferred the over-the-top style of SR2, I'm willing to bet it was the co-op playthrough that made the real difference.

I'd have to say that the Ballad of Gay Tony comes a whole lot closer than vanilla GTA IV. Still...

Holy sh*t TannHauser that is F***ing epic

If you're looking for an interesting story with high production values, go for GTA 4. Or, y'know, a movie.

If you want to have a ridiculous amount of stupid fun, Saint's Row 2. The first time my character started singing along to Take On Me up there, she was in an attack helicopter.

Though honestly, I sometimes wonder if there's better character development in Saint's Row 2, at least for the protagonist. In the GTA games, your character is usually a relatively reasonable guy that seems like they'd rather not kill anyone, except that by the second mission they're killing everyone in sight so they can drop off their buddy's overdue library book.

In Saint's Row 2, your character is vicious. I'd be tempted to call them a psychopath but they do display some human emotion so it's pretty clear that they just enjoy maiming and killing people in horrible ways. The entire story is pretty ridiculous but at least they got it right on that one point.

So I am thinking about picking up SR2, is it worth it at all to play the first game in terms of story? I know that the series is very light on story but, is the first one worth it to play in terms of fun factor?

Don't get me wrong - I love nonsense - but Saint's Row 2 "ghetto fabulous" aesthetic and hyper-arcade controls make me physically angry. I do not see a poop-spraying mission as a selling point. I played that game for a good four hours, and the only thing I liked was the way pedestrians stop to take a picture of you with their phones when you gut someone with a katana in front of them. That I can get behind.

I think I may need to try pick up the PC version of SR2 cheap when I get my new system. I know it's not optimal on PC, but if I get the parts I want it should have the grunt to handle it.

I haven't played Saints Row 2. It looks like San Andreas in HD. That's cool and all, but I already played San Andreas for over 100 hours. Still, as much as I love the hell out of GTA4 and The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, I'd probably like Saints Row 2 pretty equally for totally different reasons.

I liked 'em both quite a bit, but I had more fun with SR2. My only issue, and it was an issue, was the number of bugs in the game. If I remember right, I finished the last mission or two unable to use a rocket launcher. I finished without a great deal of trouble, but it was annoying. On the other hand, the 'dating sim' parts of GTA vanilla drove me up a wall. No, I don't want to play darts with you, go away.