I think the reason I like GTA more than Crackdown and Saints Row is the difficulty. Granted I never played the actual release of SR (good couple of hours in the demo though) but still, I like the difficulty presented is GTA. Free aim is glorious and reminds me how boring/easy Crackdown became, even on the hardest difficulty.
Heck, I can still get on top of most buildings in GTA and the pay off is way better than that of climbing the agency building.
GTA may have some technical issues, most that I don't notice, but I acknowledge that they exist for everyone and it is a shame, but the experience provided is still better than Crackdown and Saints Row despite those issues.'
Pushing someone off a ledge they where sitting on into the water is way cooler than anything I did in Crackdown and funnier than getting hit by a speeding car in SR.
I don't know what everyone was expecting out of the game but I love it and it is only going to get better for me when a good pal of mine gets it and we're doing god knows what.