So, I've never played Saints Row, but am I missing something? I thought SR4 went full superhero/sci-fi, but this is the one that people are flaming for not being true to Saints Row?
So the first game was a blatant GTA clone. The 2nd game was dark but added some wacky mini-games to it(There one where you ride around in a septic truck and use a pressured mounted cannon to spray liquid feces on everything is a fan favorite), so came across as a dark comedy a lot. SR3 got a lot wackier, like embraced the wacky side while still kinda being "Gangstas taking over a city" and SRIV just went "Fuck, we're going full fucking whacky sci-fi crazy here and nobody gonna stop us".
So really, even with SR fans there's no agreement what SR truly is. Some people like the later whacky games better and some people like the earlier "Grounded" games. And then there's people like me who generally like all of them but for different reasons(well, not the first one because SR1 was a PS exclusive and has never been ported to anything else), because they all have good and bad points to them.
But the reason SR3 and SR4 went whacky is because GTA was already going dark with GTA4 and people seemed to like the whacky mini-games and comedy a lot more then the "Serious" shit. Not to mention SR2 has some really dark moments, including a bit where you literally watch your character mercy kill one of their trusted lieutenants because he had just been dragged miles behind a truck by a rival gang and there was no realistic way of getting him to the hospital on time.
I mean, the Saints in 2 are basically as bad, if not worse, then all the rival gangs they fight and the game more or less says it out loud at one point just in case you didn't quite realize it. It's almost as true in SR3 but the game plays it off as "Oh, it's funny when the saints do it" despite the fact the Saints could easily be considered domestic terrorists.
One of the first things you do in SR3 is steal a bunch of weapons from a military armory and kill a bunch of soldiers in the process and then later have the option to blow up a skyscraper in the middle of the city for the lols. The last 3rd of the game is basically you fighting the military head on and winning and the only reason the Saints come off looking good is that the military basically starts treating the city as a foreign power they're at war with. One of the two endings involves the military essentially carpet bombing the downtown area without restraint and then the Saints take control of the city and proclaim it an independent nation in response. But it's cool in SR3 because you're the good guys and it's cool when you cause mayhem.
Sorry, got a little carried away there. I like the games but I also get to criticize them because I like them. I actually have quite a fondness for 3 but it's obvious how weirdly tone deaf it is to its own plot, even for a game that's honestly pretty dumb.