There is a certain amount of irony here, and I will say that it took so long trying to get SR2022 running on Epic, that I only experienced the first few minutes, completing the first mission before refunding it and deciding to wait for Steam to put it out. I mention that because I can't speak with any authority on SR2022.
That said, I played the hell out of SR on the 360 waaay back in 2006. The thing I first noticed about that game was that it was no GTA clone (as the critics were erroneously calling it) but in many ways, it also felt to me like a next-gen San Andreas. Which I know is a contradiction. My point is that even that game, without any flyables, was still amazing for its time. SR2 came out on the heels of the single most disappointing GTA game to me, and I thought (and still do) that Volition created a masterpiece with it.
Where it started getting interesting, on your point, is that when SRTT came out, it really divided the fanbase. I loved it, but so many people were raging against it, essentially for not being SR2. When SRIV and then GooH came out, it all transposed, and those games were slammed by a lot of fans for NOT being SRTT...and, of course, for not being SRTT.
The arguments over in the official THQ/Volition forums were very heated! lol I suppose its much the same now?
