Better than the original in so many ways.
The inclusion of geoms, little green things you pick up to increase your multiplier, change the strategy a lot if you're shooting for a high score. And the change of not losing your multiplier when you die makes scores skyrocket compared to the previous games. Or you could choose to play like you played in the previous games and still have a good time, just not as high a score as if you went after the little geoms. A couple nice changes over all though that compliment rather than detract from the experience.
The six game play modes all feel like G.W. and fit in perfectly with the controls and idea behind the game. Deadline is the perfect short fast paced shot, King tests your steering and shooting abilities to the max as you hop from safe spot to safe spot, Pacifism is a great take on the old achievement where you try to not get trapped by the hordes of blue diamond lemmings without a gun, Waves is a fun new mode to go with a fun new enemy, and Sequence takes the level mode from almost every other arcade game in existence and fits the G.W. formula seamlessly. Evolved is still good ol' Evolved, but it gets harder much faster, and the strategies required change with the addition of new enemies.
The semi-3D graphical overhaul can be a bit much at first, especially after a couple years of the 2D G.W. and G.W. Retro Evolved, but you quickly become accustomed to the new flashiness and seizure inducing beauty of plowing through waves upon waves of enemies. The small sparkles that go everywhere when you kill an enemy can cause you to lose your ship in the middle of a crucial time, causing you to die more often than one would like due to graphics, but it is a minor thing.
The music in the game is awesome and fits perfectly with each respective mode. Deadline's starts out quiet and simple and gradually gets more frantic and intense as the clock ticks down. King's has the muffled beat while you're outside the safe zone and then becomes a clear and pumping beat track as you try to maneuver from one zone to another. Evolved's old tune from G.W.R.E. has been remixed and now is more techno than it already was. Pacifism's music lends an air of being pursued and builds as more and more enemies start coming to kill and trap you. Wave's tune is just pumping as more and more orange rockets come to slowly trap you, and reminiscent of Paul Oakenfold's Ready Steady Go. Sequence's music does the DJ slooooow dooooown when you die, then winds back up to full speed once you respawn. Every song compliments the mode perfectly.
The multiplayer is fun, with lots of different ways to play with your friends. The only thing is that it could have been over Xbox Live instead of just local. And the difficulty seems to max out at a fairly low level. I don't know if they intentionally did this, or whether the algorithm they use to up the difficulty doesn't apply, or what, but it is a little annoying having a good player keep the game going for 10 minutes after everyone else has died off because the difficulty doesn't increase as fast as normal, if at all. Still, it is fun flying little ships around with your friends trying to stave off the shape horde.
All in all, Geometry Wars 2 is a fun game. If you liked the previous games at all, there is much more to be found in the latest installment of the arcade series.