Why all the dislike for a game as open and creative as Infamous?

User Rating: 9.5 | inFamous PS3
Firstly, I'm not a fan of the whole, "Let's make a huge city and you can run around for hours with no point" style in a game. The open world thing, when referencing action games, has always been something I've disliked – the reason I've never been able to play the Grand Theft Auto games. Infamous was different. The idea of a parkour flowing on the streets and skyscrapers of a slum city run by corrupt government and drug lords, now that appealed to me. I must say, it took a little while for the game to capture me, but when it did, I was hooked for 12 straight hours.
So what made Infamous an addicting and satisfying experience?
Firstly and most importantly: Story. Without giving too much away I will tell you that the story in Infamous is impressive. On the second run through the game you find out that there are no holes in the storytelling. The fallback in the story is that the god/bad decision making does not affect the story in any way shape or form. For example: (semi-spoilers) on my first run through the game I was given the choice to save one person I cared for very much or a group of doctors – one or the other not both. I first chose the group of doctors and received good karma (the games balancing good/bad system) for the deed, while the one I loved died horrendously. My second run through the game I ended up at the same spot and chose to save the one person instead of the doctors (bad karma), and it ended up that that one person was just a lookalike and the person I care for was tied up with the doctors, dying horrendously. I was appalled that there were no real consequences for my decisions. The story went on like normal, my friend was dead but now I had more or less good karma.

Second: Action. This is a huge achievement in action as far as I'm concerned. Your playable character, Cole, starts with the ability to shoot lightning from his hands and jump from amazingly high buildings. As you progress with either good or bad karma, you unlock karma exclusive actions/combat options. For good actions, you unlock a slew of combat options exclusive to good karma, and bad karma is likewise. Great selection of attacks.
Third: Graphics and Voice work. Never, never, never did I think that the graphics and voice work were simplified or even the least bit lacking. For the immensity of the world, the graphics don't skip a beat. I was impressed from the first second of game-play at the beautiful world surrounding you. Only something the PS3 can handle :P Sounds and voice work are incredible as well. Every syllable is told with fantastic believability and emotion.
Finally: Buy this game. Once it picks up it is one of the most compelling games exclusive to the PS3 that you can get your hands on.