I've played a lot of open world games like Driver 2 and most of the GTA games on the PS console. I truly live by the old PS slogan "live in your world, play in ours", or for better words, I live in their world and forget about mines lol. Of all of those games I've played, SR2 has a different impact on me that will never go away.
I never played SR1 but have watched the playthrough on YouTube and still would prefer SR2 over it. SR3 did not leave an impact on me like SR2 did. I felt like SR3 was the phase of life when you leave college and have to do corporate and government stuff (yuck!). SR2 is like the college life of party party party with a lot of fun.
I feel immersed in SR2 and love the environment of it. Honestly, I'll never get tired of playing this game whenever I get off work, because it helps with stress relief from the government job I have now.