Crackdown 2 had a lot of potential, but does not do much to further the series.
At the beginning of the game, you are treated to an interesting cutscene filling in what has happened to Pacific City since the end of the first game. After that, you are dumped right into the gameplay and set loose to take down the Freaks and Cell members that run rampant in the city streets. Apart from the story orbs and the final cutscene, there is no more story, just like the original game.
Also like the original game is the gameplay. If you played Crackdown, you'll be familiar with how things work in the sequel. Save the addition of a few new toys, such as the wing suit, your abilities remain largely the same. You still target specific body parts, drive through the city (which is even worse now that the streets are littered with rubble), and collect orbs. The gameplay itself is solid, and the orb collecting is still highly addictive. They taunt you with their humming, urging you on to get that orb. Once you start orb hunting, you can't stop. You may be traveling from one spot to another in order to complete a mission, when suddenly, you see an orb. Immediately, you set the mission aside and move to get that orb. That is the power they have, and you won't be satisfied until you have all of them.
Moving away from gameplay, the visuals of the game feel old. There is no improvement over the original games graphics, which worked at the time. Now, we expect much more out of graphics, especially after seeing other games do some amazing things. Another area one would expect to improve is the environment. The environment is exactly the same as the first game, save being torn apart by years of violence by the Freaks. While this may look interesting, the effect it has on gameplay can be detrimental. While on foot, it is not a big issue moving through the rubble. While driving, it will annoy you to no end. The debris strewn across the road will cause your car to lift off the ground and potentially flip or at least lose momentum.
As far as sound goes, the game is not terribly remarkable. The Voice of the Agency still delivers helpful hints, witty remarks, and angry yells at civilian deaths. It can get annoying, but at least it has been fixed so the Voice doesn't say, "I can see my house from here," when you are at street level. Plus, he also has several rather humorous lines throughout the game, some of which may only be funny to those who played the original.
One thing that I almost forgot to talk about is multiplayer. All you really need to worry about is that there are a few gametypes and co-op. If you can find friends who have Crackdown 2 or some random people online, it can lead to some rather interesting moments when you get people working together. Outside of that, multiplayer is nothing truly remarkable.
Overall, Crackdown 2 is a solid game. While it doesn't do much to improve on the original game, it does deliver a decent gameplay experience that's worth at least renting. This game will not blow your socks off, but it is a game that everyone should at least try. Hopefully, Crackdown 3 will be much better, but only time will tell.