I haven't read any of the previous reviews, opting instead to try the game 'cold' and form my own thoughts about it. Let's start with the pluses:
The game is visually appealing, with slightly slicker visuals and animations than previous iterations. If you are a Saints Row fan, you will find a lot to like about this game. One new thing is the aim-assist; I don't recall that from previous entries. If you're on a PC, turn it off- you won't get more precise than point-and-click shooting but for a controller, its almost a must considering the number of enemies that can come for you in a given instance. If you're a fan of the series, you're going to love the over-the-top action set pieces and dialog; there's more emphasis on the aspect of relationships with your friends. Its pretty well written with the characters a bit more fleshed out than previous entries. There is only one Johnny Gat and he isn't here. Just thought that needed to be said. The character creation system is robust and offers much in the way of player choice- you can literally be whatever you want, so long as its human. The weapons are varied and have decent punch; I never felt like any of them were ineffectual (tho some are more powerful than others, which is to be expected). In usual SR form, some of the weapons are outlandish, but that's part of the brand and they were fun to use- and they've all got individual challenges built in to encourage using them all. But those challenges, once completed, unlock more powerful forms for these weapons, usually resulting in harder hits that make mass encounters easier to survive. There's also mini-boosts you can turn on- they're on a timer and require a cooldown before you can re-use them which adds a tactical element to gunfights. TLDR; the guns are fun. IMHO, the best part of land traversal is the wingsuit. You've seen the mechanics before but there's a new twist- you can airdrop from specific landmarks that make traversal a bit easier to deal with- you can choose an airdrop location from anywhere on the map and after the short loading screen you'll be in-air over the chosen landmark. There are mechanics that can help you stay airborne and can be kind of fun to do- like bouncing off of pedestrians to gain a little extra time in the air.
Character creation is robust. My characters in games almost always look like me to some degree; this game offers so much in the way of customization that this particular one looks more like me than any other game previously. Some people may find that strange, I think its fun to play as a fictional sociopathic version of myself. Lets get into the meat of the game, then I'll visit the minuses, of which there are more than a few.
The story takes place in the fictional Santo Ileso, meant to be an analog to the American Southwest; so everyone speaks English though you may hear Latinx accents from time to time, especially when dealing with one of the local gangs, Los Panteros. There's more in the way of bystander dialog, and a lot of it is humorous; some of the things you hear will be downright funny. Since this is an origin story, the Saints as we know it do not yet exist. Your character works with/for one of the main antagonists, a corporation named for its founder, who comes off as a quintessential Texas-type, replete with a heavy Southern drawl, ten gallon hat, large belt buckle and a six-gun in a holster. The corporation itself is a loosely molded paramilitary contractor organization, and they have all the bells and whistles as far as gun and tech goes. The other two are analogs for the ubiquitous drug cartel (Panteros) and an anarchist group with homicidal tendencies. The story is pretty straightforward, the usual Rise to Power we're all familiar with in these games, there aren't many surprises but overall its pretty fun. I liked the camaraderie shared amongst you and your friends, who, in the beginning, all work for rival gangs making your shared apartment a UN type of arrangement. What happens at work stays at work (though you'll hear grumbles about the disparate groups in the dialog). The dialog itself is about what you'd expect, lots of juvenile references and jokes, but funny nonetheless. I found myself chuckling aloud at some of the repartee, be it bystanders, your friends or even your enemies in some cases. Its about what you'd expect from Saints Row so it doesn't disappoint.
Which brings me to the minuses, which do disappoint. My game crashed multiple times- it wasn't just for one set of instances, it just seemed to happen at random until I figured out it had something to do with the cell phone app. You use your phone for navigation, mission list, asset management, threat assessment, upgrades and music. From time to time the game crashed when I tried to setup a nav point to a specific area- didn't matter where, it would just freeze up. If you got out of the map quickly enough, the game would return to form but if you stayed on it, it'd shut down the Xbox (series X if it matters). Installing the full game seems to make no difference. Also, later in the game I noticed icons that should be present were no longer there, such as Discoveries- a subset of the game where you find collectibles in the form of glowing dumpsters, drug air drops and historical locations that told you about the city of Santo Ileso and some of its more famous denizens. If you tab over to Discoveries, a lot of them will pop back in but unfortunately, you have to search for the rest as they won't pop up on the map until you're close by. It makes completing a section difficult- flyovers don't always make them appear, you have to be physically near for them to appear. Its a pain and one of the reasons why I stopped the game when I did- it gets boring flying around the map, which is quite large, and driving it can be onerous as the traffic AI will sometimes get unpredictable, like cars suddenly making a left turn from the right lane, right into you causing you to get knocked into oncoming traffic. Its annoying, but not a game breaker. Which leads me to the vehicles; cars handle a bit like what you'd expect in an arcade driving game, which is to say, cartoonish. This isn't terrible, just lackluster. But you can do some pretty wild stunts which are entertaining, and there are add-ons that can boost the fun factor once you've met the challenge set for a particular vehicle, like a ball-and-chain attachment which makes the afternoon commute a LOT more fun (and destructive). There are flying machines too, but they all pretty much handle the same and can get pretty boring as they're all locked in at the same sedate speed. That's one thing all of the vehicles lack, a sense of speed. Even the nitrous boost option that you can add to most cars lacks punch. You get the noise, you get some semblance of shaded light trails but the sense of speed doesn't really increase, its more a visual effect than anything else. And for some reason, no matter how 'fast' your vehicle is, the police ALWAYS catch up to you- even if you're driving one of their cars. I get why they did it that way but its kind of annoying and takes some of the enjoyment out of police chases. Still, being able to slam into them and send them careering off a bridge or into an immoveable object goes some way toward alleviating the unfairness in that they never slam into you like that. That is, they try, but they don't have the ability I guess, which is good- otherwise those police chases would end up with you blown up or dead like you're going to want to do to them every chance you get!
Overall the game was mostly fun, though you encounter loading screens anytime you're entering/exiting buildings or air-dropping to other areas, they are short and so not such a big deal. This game isn't terribly immersive; there's a lot of side content to get into and in some ways, they were more fun than the main storyline (which was pretty good, there's the odd twist here and there you may not necessarily see coming) but I never got really INTO it, if you know what I mean. As I played it was like I was just waiting for something else to happen. One thing though; there's a whole LARP side story, with corny dialog and costumes that, being a role player myself, I found to be quite engaging and had more than a few laughs because of it. Will I replay it again? Probably. I am an SR fan and while this game doesn't innovate, it does what SR in general does pretty well, which is offer an over-the-top gang experience with loads of side content that aren't just run and fetch-it missions ad nauseum. There are those, but they tend to be varied and so not as boring as previous entries. Some series favorites also make the cut, like Insurance Fraud, and gang area takeovers. If this is your first time ever playing a Saints Row game, you're in for a real treat. If you're a returning fan, you're gonna have fun, even if it leaves you feeling a bit disappointed in that its been nine years and all you get is more of the same. Slicker, better looking, better mo-cap, but dated visuals overall and lackluster vehicle controls. Still, its a story about how Saints Row came into being and that at least merits a play through.