Essentially it's the same game as the first one but with new levels. Pretty much everything that's good about X1 applies here, but it definitely feels like a step back in terms of level and boss design. It's not a huge deal but Overdrive Ostrich and Flame Stag are the only stages/bosses that I feel live up to the original, and some of the stages like Magna Centipede and Wire Sponge are just kinda mediocre. The X Hunters are a cool addition, but they can be a tad annoying to hunt down since the stages they appear in are random and they stop appearing after you've defeated a certain amount of mavericks. It's still one of the best games in the X series, just a step back from the first.