Better than GTA? In some ways, sure.
And because of that, I'll be comparing it mostly to GTAIV, as IMO that's the pinnacle of the GTA series and plus it's the only next-gen GTA game. So without further ado:
The story of this game, IMO, is miles ahead of GTAIV. It's not emotionally gripping or captivating, but that's because unlike GTA, it didn't try and fail miserably. The story is simple, immature, and written by someone with an overactive Id psyche.
Pretty much, you're in a gang, and **** anyone who gets in your way. That's the story in a nutshell. Keep in mind at the end, Gat sits in the middle of a bridge in a fort of emptied cars, "killing cops." How this gang has not been destroyed by the US Army or something is beyond me.
But that's the pleasure of the game, IMHO. It doesn't try so hard that it falls on its face. And that's with the story and game both. The game mechanics aren't quite as tightened as GTA, and that makes for a better experience, honestly. Shooting isn't what I'd call clumsy, it's less streamlined. And that's probably because there's no way to lock onto your enemy's chest and tilt the analog stick up to get headshot after headshot, a la GTA. The driving is beyond defying phsyics. I'm pretty sure if you take a hard right turn at a 90 degree angle while going 70 miles an hour, you're going to flip your car and die. But powerslide says to hell with you, physics.
The weapons in the game are varied and exciting, although I'd take some credit away as the higher-tier weapons are WAY over-powered. Assault rifles fit for a SWAT team makes gang wars REALLY easy. As do automatic pistols, SMGs, and semi-automatic shotguns. Which, going with the easiness factor is a drawback too for boss fights. Out of all the boss fights there was only one that gave me trouble, and I spent all of 20 minutes getting through it.
Graphically, it's not as impressive GTA. I mean, I can excuse it because the game, like GTA, gives you a huge, fully expansive city to explore and everything looks pretty damn good overall, it's just not the graphical juggernaut that GTA is.
Of course, the graphics don't really bother you once you realized there's about a billion times as much content in Saint's Row. Between the long list of missions (that are actually more varied than "chase someone down, break into a crackhouse, or chase someone down THEN break into a crackhouse), the long list of diversions/activities and the in-depth character customization, the game has a pretty good amount of content to explore.
Voice acting and sound effects are pretty up to par. Nothing really spectacular, but it's not bad or even mediocre. It's good, not great.
Another knock on it would be the multiplayer. It's got pretty good multiplayer, but nothing we haven't seen and hasn't been done better by its competition. The gameplay engine just doesn't click as well when you mix other human beings into the mix.
So yeah, gamespot pretty much it it on the head calling the game "crass, immature and fun" I believe was the description. It's not a game that'll make you think for so much as one second, and you might even get tired of all the cliche pot references, but the game is still damn fun to play through. It's got its flaws just like any other game, but I'd call this easily one of the best sandbox titles to come around in years.