One of the big issues this game has that people gloss over is that 100%ing it, at least in my opinion, is way less satisfying. All of the pages are hidden in the hub worlds instead of in the levels themselves. Also, they backed themselves into a hole narrative-wise. In the first game you had a really good reason to want to get all the pages back cause the Thevius Racoonus is a family heirloom. It's not as compelling here, I dunno. Small detail.

Other than that this is a great game. I'd say that Sly 2 goes in a different direction instead of being a derivative sequel, so the two games are supplementary. There's some really memorable levels and story beats.