I think this game made a lot of solid incremental improvements over the first game and I prefer it mostly. The more linear structure is a plus in my book, there's less downtime and still plenty to find off the beaten path. I liked the visual design and environments a bit better, it does a good job differentiating itself from the first game and Crash. The puzzles were more fun and the combat is mostly fixed.

It's still not perfect by any means (I really don't like the writing most of the time) but I've grown to love the formula of the series and am looking forward to seeing where they take it next.