Decided to put the remaining bonus stuff in UC1 on hold and go straight to 2 anyway. Made it to Nepal, and man playing this on normal after finishing the last game on Crushing is so liberating. Especially now that I don't have to move as carefully from cover to cover and can run & gun or steel fist the occasional goon without immediate consequences.
Playing those two back to back made me realize much more immediately all the improvements that were made. Smoother traversal and climbing, actual light stealth mechanics, more ammo, better melee, grenade throwing without the visible arc. Forgot a lot about those details over the years, though I still knew it improved on just about every facet of the first title. Super anxious to keep playing more, but it is getting late and I'll save more of it for tomorrow morning.
Also another reason I was reminded of why I love 2 so much was all crazy amount of rewards you could unlock for single player. This game stuck with me so much compared to the others around release because I played the campaign over and over trying new stuff with different weapons and skins, unlocking the remaining medals and what not. And that was without touching multiplayer back in the day.