SAVE SYSTEM = Technically more like classic sonic, but I'm not a fan. I think it would be better if you had the classic save system on normal, but the harder difficulties enforced the only save at the beggining of act rule.
NEW EMBLEM LOCATIONS = Two thumbs up. I thought I was the man, but I can't find some of these anywhere
NEW BOSSES = Not bad. Better than Mystic realm.
NEW ENEMY SPRITES = much better. The foes no longer look like they were drawn by an 8 year old.
NO OPENGL = Oh joy, my eyes can strain while I play new levels. I know I could never demand anything of the dev team, but please, for the love of chao, fix this soon. I know it probably has to do with polyobject support being neccessary, but seriously, the artifacts from rotated textures are horrendous. I'd say a software anti-aliasing mode would be an acceptable fix, but I've noticed software mode lagging on me when there are a lot of enemies around, never had that problem with OPENGL in 1.09.4.
NEW LEVELS = okay. I like more levels, and in the end it feels worth my time, but in general I haven't found these as enthralling as what I played in Mystic realm. Not to say there isn't some good moments, but I feel a little more confused as to what I'm supposed to be doing, and they are a little too stop and go. CEZ and DSZ, especially had a feel like I was trying to figure out where to go instead of doing my sonic thing and hauling ass.
NEW SPECIAL STAGES = I like them better than the old set. I sort of like the Mystic Realm system better. (except for Silver Cavern, my soul burned with an undying hatred for Mystic that day.)
CAMERA = still gets into places where you need to move to fix it, but moving can be hazardous. This was my first peeve with SRB2, and still hasn't been taken care of.
EXAMPLES:
THZ1 - Walk off the bridge with the first checkpoint and try to fix your viewpoint and dash to the spring or even collect rings before the slime kills you.
Mystic Realm PAZ1- get to the first checkpoint and die, when you respawn the camera is underneath the platform your on.
1.09.4 Last special - try and drop into the center column and take the spring back out. The camera likes to drop down and away so you can't see yourself on top of the column till you move, most likely falling off the column and losing the level.
BIG WHITE BAR AT THE BOTTOM OF MY SCREEN WHEN I TRY TO PLAY IN A RESOLUTION THAT ISN'T 320 or 640 = WTF! seriously. If it was at least a big black bar it would be sort of acceptable.
OVERALL = pretty much the dopest game on PS2