Don't want to jump the gun. We're still only a fraction through the game, mostly because I was unable to play it for most of today (curses!). But from what I've seen so far, it's amazing. Also, significantly more difficult. Even early on, the challenge level seems on par with a mid-game point in the original. And let all fears about whether or not the title would look as good as the first go to the grave: Prime 2 is prettier. Gorgeous, in fact. I found myself gaping at some of the locations as I played around last night.
Play so far seems to be more of the same. Lots of exploration. Looking for upgrades. Trying to gain access to areas. Good stuff, in other words. I haven't seen anything that totally changes that dynamic yet, but I expect some of the still un-seen visors will add a sense of freshness to the experience. Meanwhile, some of the morph ball puzzles are pretty great, and we're still early.
Dark Samus is awesome.
Meanwhile, the multiplayer mode is fun. Not great, mind you, but not bad, either. I played Peer in a couple games of standard deathmatch. Beat the pants off the poor guy. I thought he was going to start crying. First game: 10-0, me. Second game: 10-4, me. It was entertaining, but, you know, it's four-player split-screen deathmatch. It's exactly as you'd expect. You can see exactly what your opponent is doing, which takes some of the excitement out of hacking. It all runs smoothly and the environments are varied, but frankly it doesn't hold a candle to the single-player game. At least, not based on what I've seen so far.
Matt