It's better than it's predecessor. Having a save feature was a big help. But then again i played this game through Nintendo Switch Online, which means if i played this on original hardware i would definitely dislike it. However, it's much more acceptable then the first game, this game really is a big improvement. You don't really get lost if you compare it with the first game, but i still strongly recommend using a map. Anyway, i prefer this game over the first one and every Metroid fan should at least play it once.