A bit improved from the first game. Now has 9 chapters to go through (well, still 8 because the first chapter is cutscene only). There's far less cryptic puzzles and no more sailing from island to island. Now its traveling through time. Which sounds exciting, but the number of time periods you go to isn't too far off to what you would normally think of. You're also no longer locked to a grid and can move in 8 directions. Weither this is an upgrade or a downgrade from the first game depends on your point of view. You're also given 2 weapons this time around. One that's perminately in one attack strength, and the other depending on your heart count. Much like the yo-yo/island star in the first game. One criticism I have with this is by chapter 7, it seems the team was either running low on budget, was running low on time, or got lazy. Because these levels are straightforward with 1-2 dungeons with very little puzzle solving. They also feel like wasted oppertunities because of the time periods they take place in. And although I like this game almost as much as the first one, the rushed nature of the last 3 chapters is a bit of a put off. The last chapter also ends with a boss rush. So that should say how much budget they had left when that's all you have to face in the last moments in the game.