I'd heard the second game in the Rock Man X series was just about as good as the first, but decidedly the lesser of the two, and I found that to be more or less correct. Though the second entry does try to bring a fair bit more to the table, a lot of it is for questionable gain in the end. It took me about 3 hours to beat the Japanese version of the game with the good ending.

The story of this game is quite light, much like the first game was. X has continued fighting the remnants of Sigma's forces after his battle in the last game, and that's led him to his current battle against the "Counter Hunters" (or X-Hunters, as they're known in English), a trio of reploids specifically built to hunt down Maverick Hunters (or rather very specifically X, as their English name implies). They've also taken it upon themselves to try and gather up the parts of the destroyed Zero to try and resurrect him for their own evil purposes, and preventing them from doing that is what will net you the best ending. The Counter Hunters are a neat idea, but the story isn't ultimately any more substantial than the first X game. It sets the stage for the action at hand, and that's all it needs to do.

X2 is very much like X1 in terms of how its set up. You go through eight Maverick stages before going onto the Sigma (who, surprise! ain't really dead) stages, and in those stages are hidden four armor parts to upgrade your abilities as well as heart containers to increase your maximum life amount. There are also hidden rooms that the Counter Hunters will be waiting for you in, if you manage to go there while they're in that particular stage. That's right, they swap the stages they're in every time you return to the map screen. It's an interesting gimmick, but I wouldn't really stay it makes the game any more fun.

The stage design itself is quite solid, but "not quite polished enough" is what a lot of the game sorta feels like. The bosses are all around not quite as good as the first game's (although the last few fights are a little better balanced, I thought), and the X armor isn't really as fun or powerful either. Your upgraded charge is almost outright worse, as the two-step double shot freezes you in place long enough that you'll likely be taking a fair deal of unwanted damage from being unable to move after a charge shot as quickly as you could before. A good deal of the hidden stuff in this game is SUPER hidden, and leaning harder into that almost Metroid-y sort of hidden upgrades is something this game fumbles on a fair bit, with the hidden Counter Hunter rooms only being part of that problem. There are some parts where it's a bit better than the first, like how this game's equivalent of the hadouken is nowhere near as unfindable as the first game's, but that sort of improvement is the exception rather than the rule. It isn't bad by any means, not by a long shot, but it's also decidedly not as good as the first game's design, by and large.

The presentation is quite solid but largely more of the same. The Mavericks and Counter Hunter designs are as cool as could be expected, and the stages are bright and colorful, but the music is overall not so memorable compared to the first game's stellar soundtrack.

Verdict: Recommended. This is a super solid entry in the series, but it is a very safe albeit not nearly as polished followup to the first Rock Man X game. If you enjoyed the first game, you'll almost certainly enjoy this one, but if you didn't like it, this isn't gonna change your mind.