There are things I liked more about this game compared to the first. There is much more common enemy variety and being able to switch weapons on the fly is great. However, due to the engine change or direction or whatever, combat feels like it has less weight and has been dumbed down a bit. You can slice through most enemies and even bosses with ease. The strategy of how to approach each boss from the first game isn't quite here, or at least, there's not as much depth. That's how I'd describe it.

The story feels a bit simpler here. I won’t delve too deep into it, but this feels much more like an episode that happened for the sake of there being a sequel. There was some funny moments, but for the most part, it's telling a story that's still trying to make a point, but it doesn't have the same feeling as the first. It's hard to replicate. I enjoyed some of the fanservicey moments.

I also feel it's clear some corners were cut here. The open world is completely gone and the jobs have been turned into 8-bit minigames, which I actually don't mind. They're all perfectly good. I appreciate them going for something different to change up the structure. The game does feel a bit emptier without that aspect though, I will admit. I wasn't the biggest fan of the first game's open world, but it had a charm. As someone who cares about time I appreciate cutting some of the fat, but that waste of time was also a part of the original game's feel. This game isn't exactly going for that, but still. I beat this game in half the time it took me to beat the original.

Overall, I like this game. It had some changes I was a fan of, but along with that, I think it lost some of the charm. Still a fun time, but it doesn't feel as special as the first. I knoe Suda didn't direct this one himself, so I wonder how that impacted things.