Oh for fucks sake, they changed Cole because everyone and there fucking mother complained about his gravely voice and his generic bald look. Guess what? hair GROWS over the course of time.
As for why he's still growing stronger? the Beast came at a different time since Kessler fucked with the time stream, he's still not ready. He tried to fight it and it destroyed him. They've already said that a million times.
Melee combat is good, especially since YOU KEEP ALL YOUR OLD POWERS he's already a master at ranged combat, now he needs new moves, there's only so many variations on "Lightning Gun" you can have.
And finally before anyone brings it up "How did lightning turn into ice" it didn't and your an idiot. That's NOT how the Conduits work, Conduits don't gain lightning powers they gain powers period, Cole was ALWAYS going to mutate into a conduit that's the only reason the Raysphere worked on him, he still has further mutations to go under, and not necissarily the same ones as Kessler because again, Kessler fucked with the time stream and the Raysphere forced his mutation early. Stop bitching about the fucking ice powers, and just incase you missed the forward this is me saying this early.
So in summary.
1. The story makes sense because The Beast arrived early than it was supposed to, Hence Cole has had to leave Empire City, hence he's in an unknown enviroment where people are intent on killing him.
2. The powers make sense because in the 1st game he essentially mastered all the use of ranged electric combat, we've only seen ONE melee power so far and TWO Ranged ones, the cyclone and the ice. Also given how conduits worked (as in you actually listened to the dead drops instead of ignoring them) Cole's powers should only get stronger.
3. Cole still has the same body type he had in inFamous, he just let his hair grow out a bit and the different graphics engine makes him look different but as for body archetype, skin and hair colour, he looks exactly the same. If your complaining about a new outfit for a much hotter location than Empire City, and the fact that he decided not to shave his head anymore, there is the door.
4. His voice was changed because everyone fucking complained about it. Frankly the less and less he looks and sounds like everyone else from this generation the better.
Of course (before someone has a cry) these are just my opinions (And some factoids) so take that for what it is.
