Even if I could look past the needy girlfriend and cousin constantly bugging you I could never get used to the controls in GTA IV. The lock on targeting feels horribly outdated and the free aim in that game is a joke. Saints Row might not be the prettiest series in the world and the first two were buggy as hell but the controls (at least on consoles) are a huge improvement over the GTA series. Of course you do have to take into account the god awful obligations GTA IV annoyed you with because it was obnoxious. If I want to go bowling I'll turn on the Wii and if I want to go to a bar and get drunk it's much more fun to do that in real life. The sandbox world in GTA IV is incredibly vibrant and outshines anything else I've seen in the genre, it just wasn't a fun world to be in. Saints Row on the other hand.. Realism is overrated.
