Jason Cross has a nice little piece on reviewers getting their opinions wrong.
It can happen. An ill-informed opinion is worse than no opinion at all. (Like the infamous review of single player only Max Payne that took off points because the multiplayer was unsatisfying.)
Not being a console gamer (for reasons of frugality, not snobbery) I can’t vouch for Saints Row (it doesn’t look like my kind of game) or Enchanted Arms (which also looks like someone else’s kind of game.) But Cross seems to like the former okay, and the latter was vigorously defended by the guys over at Penny Arcade.
I somewhat disagree with his Saints Row comments. It definitely hasn’t removed all the flaws GTA had, and graphically isn’t fantastic. I’d say around 80% or so is spot on. I certainly don’t agree with “This is exactly like GTA, only better in every way”. Whether or not it would have been rated higher if it had the GTA license I couldn’t say, but that’s a bit of a non-issue. Would Pro Evolution Soccer score better if it had EA’s FIFA license, despite being (in my opinion) the better game?