Some reviews are already in for inFamous: Second Son and as I predicted, it's not exactly scoring off the charts.

These games have never dragged down high scores from critics (for one reason or another) but this time, the reason is just infuriating. Basically, as far as I can tell, the critics that are giving the game a 3/5 or a 7/10 are saying Second Son doesn't really do anything new, and it really just feels…like inFamous .

Of course, they mean that in a negative way, in that the new title feels too much like past entries and yeah, we're in a new generation of gaming. However, what always gets me is this: All we ever hear from gamers these days, especially older veteran gamers, is how their favorite franchise "isn't what it once was." They complain about how it changed, about how it just "doesn't feel the same." So now, we've got critics docking games for doing precisely what the fans want…?

Look, I'm all for innovation and creativity. I really am. Without fresh ideas, everything stagnates; that much is obvious. But there's a fine line to walk: You can't go and change everything about a new franchise entry, because it ceases to appeal to the fans you've already earned. You'll see my review in a few days but I can say that Second Son is exactly what the fans desire; it's inFamous 2 with more powers and much more in the way of environmental destruction. Now, I could've sworn that that's what series fans wanted. I could've sworn I wanted to play a new inFamous , not a game that barely retains any semblance of previous iterations.

This is the kind of reaction from my fellow critics that just drives me nuts .

Related Game(s): inFamous: Second Son