Gen 4 (Sinnoh for the most part, HGSS is a remake I am not going to touch upon that) for me is somewhere in between, I mean it has its flaws and strength, for me:
Flaws: 1) Stale as it is as everyone said before, yeah gen 4 game lag is a bit of a turn off for me, not by much though
2) Seriously have you surfed in the game like taking forever to reach your destination, its a good thing Sinnoh doesn't have abundant water like in Hoenn
3) Graphics could have been a little better
4) Was not fan of Sinnoh Mount Coronet map
Strengths: 1) I think we can all agree on Cynthia being the great champion, a full package, I always like a portrayal of strong female character in game
2) Sinnoh has best set of starters as a whole, I love all three of them and not every gens do that for me
3) Cyrus is badass boss with actual evil motivations when executed it is far more dangerous than any villainous team motives
4) Introduction of new evolutions to otherwise forgotten pokemons