I got it expecting to hate it, but as I kept playing, I found myself legitimately enjoying it. Not begrudgingly enjoying it, not enjoying it outside of one or two small details, but actually being engaged in the story and gameplay. Which leads me to wondering why people had a problem with this game in the first place again?
Disclaimer: I also had a lot of fun with this game but I got it for free with a graphics card.
Part of it was getting rid of the old beloved characters. Shaundi, Pierce, etc. were well loved among fans and sorely missed when the game out. People found the new characters boring and generic, but I don’t know if that criticism survived past the release stage.
It also released with quite a few game breaking bugs which had to be ironed out. Par for the course with big budget games these days, frankly.
As a fan of SR3 and SR4, I missed the zaniness of those entries, but that wasn’t a common feeling among fans of SR2.
A lot of people hated it for how “woke” it apparently was by having… people of color in it? Commentary about racism and feminism or something? I don’t know, it’s been a while since I played so I can’t recall any instances in particular of it being “woke” enough to offend people who care about that. As a woke SJW myself, I felt it was pretty good on that front without being overbearing.
For what it is worth. It is implied that this takes place in the Agents of Mayhem timline as you find the 3rd Street Saints symbol in an abandoned church, Johnny Gat is mentioned in the description of one of the weapons as being a famous person, and you can buy an Agents of Mayhem T Shirt.
So the old characters not being present is explained.