Yes, but Johnny did almost die in SR2 from that stab. That was cool. In SR3, he got stabbed and hardly flinched. And sure, he looks cooler, but the only thing that made him Johnny were his sunglasses. For the rest he was turned into a really standard looking character. Nothing about him was unique anymore. His shitty haircut, his mob-like purple suit, his behaviour... He was turned into Average Joe that came straight out of greece. Johnny never was this buff, slick looking playa. He was a thin, unique looking and dangerous man with a wicked sense of humor.
The same with what they have done to Shaundi. They turned her from a interesting character into a copy of the boss. Boob job, facial reconstruction so she always looks angry and the pissed off attitude. I think SR3 would have been FAR more interesting if Shaundi was still that light-bulb doa dust smoking relaxed girl with a wicked sence of dry humor. Or it would have been cool to actually see her change in SR3 because of Johnny's death, but from the first mission, she was this agressive new girl. And there was no information about her background whatsoever. A datingshow? How did that turn her into a bittered woman?
SR3 was REALLY bad in the sense of story. The only thing that was carried over were the character names, for the rest it was completely different. Story wise. I love the gameplay mechanics. The game plays awesome on PC, looked really good, was one of the most fun open world shooters I have played in a long while.
They really need to decide what way to go in SR5. I can't state this enough. They either stick true to the Saints Row roots, go back to be a gangster game, risk the chance of being called a GTA rip off (which every saints row player know isn't true) and do what they do best. OR continue with the sci-fi and go all out. Either make it a game where all the old SR fans will go party and then new SR fans will be dissapointed at the slow paced game, or make it a game where the new players will go party and the old Saints Row players will go back to SR1 and 2.
Personally, I want the old SR game back, with a beautiful live city where you can just spend hours walking around watching events around you, how cops fight against streakers, or how people join a yoga class, or where you pass a club, go inside and see a huge live interior with dancing, music, a way to buy drugs or drinks and even do some ho'ing minigame. I want it to be slow paced so you walk around the city and look around and enjoy the time the developers put in creating this beautiful diverse city. To buy up property and spend a while customizing it. Fuck those super powers.
Steelport was just boring with the copy/paste static city that has not much diversion in the civilians. But in SR4 that didn't even matter, cos all you do is run, jump, float and fight. Its fast paced, and then a boring city like Steelport works. But if they had put more attention to detail, gave you those super speed/jump powers after 50% of the game, I Would have played it for over 100 hours instead of just 30, and that was playing it slow cos of co-op fun.