an improvement over the original in most areas, besides gameplay related areas which were the biggest blemish on rivals 1. level designs are still insultingly simplistic and mind-numbingly boring while the boss fights continue to drag on for way longer than any sonic boss should. the main story is decently fun on your first playthrough but i cannot imagine anyone being willing to replay it as every character (theres 8 of them) since its almost the exact same experience, just with different signature abilities, which dont really impact the game as much as you would think. overall, rivals 2 is a better game than its predecessor but that isnt saying much.