Meh, the design isn't too different, They fixed it up so it at least resembles Cole from the first game, just with some tattoos (No idea why) and summer clothes. I have faith in Sucker Punch though, I loved their Sly Cooper games so I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on these changes having some kind of reasoning.
I love the new power set-up, where if your good you get the ice abilities and if your bad you get the fire abilities (in addition to your electric powers). I was a bit off-put about the additional powers idea at first, but I like how they are twisting it to make Karma more important in the game.
Not the biggest fan of the some of the "side-kicks" I've seen so far, ignoring Zeke, I've seen two chicks barely wearing any clothes with no personality. I'm going to be open-minded about it, but character personalities haven't been a great thing in Infamous (Ignoring Cole's, I like how they made him simple like a regular person).