I like it better than GTA4, but not by much.
Setting (8): Though expanded and given a facelift from the original Stilwater of SR1, SR2's Stilwater is still pretty generic and just has a "Everytown USA" feel to it. Though this is not a really bad thing, it is hard to really feel I'm in a real city and not some composite city made for a video game. At least GTA cities are modeled after real cities and were clearly identified as one geographic location. Parts of Stilwater look like they are on the West coast, others in the deep south, and yet others in the urban Northeast. Kind of like the Simpsons' Springfield but not as unique. The only clue to it's actual location was "Interstate 285", which is the same number as the beltway in Atlanta. So it's probably somewhere on the east coast, and Atlanta doesn't exist in the same universe. Why an interstate is on an island city, or why cities in these types of games almost always have to be on an island is another question for another time...
Graphics (9): I was just impressed with the cars, the features and details on each person - everything. The buildings are all well done and architecturally realistic, while pretty at the same time. My personal favorites are the new college campus area and the new Saints Row renaissance development (which ironically the gangbanger characters in the game want to destroy). That area was gorgeous. I loved having a penthouse loft near the airport and looking through the window at downtown. Stuff like this really adds to the experience of the game.
Gameplay (9): The game now comes with 3 difficulty levels. I played the casual (easiest) level since SR1 gave me too many headaches. I don't know the details about each one, but they are there nonetheless and the player can test them out for themselves. To me I just wanted to see my customized character tear up the streets with little resistance, and I wanted to finish under 40 hours, so I didn't mind the easy mode. I played most levels in one try, and it was just more fun for me that way. I got to see the story progress without 20 retrys. Plus the checkpoint system was a life saver. Now I didn't have to play through the long, tedious, yet easy preliminary stages of a mission just to get to the challenging part. No more driving to the airport from Saints Row chapel 100 times just to learn all the locations of RPG shooters who blow up your car before you can take the plane down (Los Carnales final mission in SR1). The side games are better and more fun than the original. Insurance fraud is probably the most fun, and most rewarding (one gives you infinite sprint!).
Customization (8): Really if you don't think this game offers enough customization, you probably won't ever be satisfied. In some ways this game offers more customization than the Sims, though you can't build your own house. The only thing that I wanted to change but couldn't were both the build of my gang members and the colors of the gang. My character liked the colors blue and pink, and this didn't really go with the purple the Saints were flying. Eventually I dressed my gang up in ninja and bodyguard clothes which weren't as blatantly purple. Also I guess it was little annoying for my player character to be so tall. She was like a 7 foot amazon. I would have liked an adjustable height, though this may have messed up some animations in the game, due to bone alignment. One more thing is that you can actually customize stolen police cars and taxis to any color and style available. Going around in a pink and teal police car was fun. Thank goodness Saints Row actually lets you keep cars, helicopters and airplanes. One of the main flaws of GTA is that the car is deleted once crashed, even if you customized it in a shop and had it parked in your garage.
Freedom (7): I know the gang thing is integral to the game's story and structure, but I just felt tied down to gang obligations and it doesn't really have the same free-enterprise feel that GTA does. (Even in San Andreas you are doing your own thing for half the game while the gang wars continue in Los Santos.) At least you are the leader of your gang, but if I'm going to have a gang, I would like to choose more things about their style and behavior. And if I get a house, I should have the option to kick useless gangbanger punks and the strippers (ok maybe I'll keep them) out of my place. But whatever, at least they are easy to recruit for missions.
Overall (8.5): A very good game that improves on Saints Row 1, and I found to be slightly better than GTA4. If you like being tied down to a gang and peer influence, then Saints Row 2 is for you, if you want to be an independent contractor with freedom to choose your course, GTA 4 is probably more for you (though Lost and the Damned is gang-oriented). This game is worth it for hand-to-hand fighting, customization, and the odd jobs you can do for money and rewards.