Pretty much just more X1 with a few downgrades imo. The x hunters kinda force you to do stages in a certain order if you want to collect the parts and they also kinda ruin the feel of the original stages. Each stage now needs an entrance and exit that could or could not be used so you end up just finding dead ends for no reason in most stages. It feels like you just get more disappointed when you explore which didn't happen in X1.

Also did they run out of time or budget with the final Sigma stage? It's just a copy of the original stage into a very easy final boss if you got the parts. Idk it's weird to complain because it's mostly the same game and it's still great.