A direct sequel-you get what you expect. Mostly all the same pluses and minuses of the first.
Old Stuff:
-Basic-but-works Combat, edit 4 hotkeys for some quick access spells/and/or/items, auto-target toggling, mixed with lots of button mashing. Slightly clumsy camera-but it does it's job too.
-Gummi ships! lot more blueprints in this one and more building stuff. Hold down fire for some homing shots.
-Your not alone, everywhere you go you have 2 friendly AI units assisting you. You can edit their fighting strategies and abilities a bit too.
New Stuff:
-Action Commands, hit triangle at certain times to que special actions (heavily used in bossfights)
-Player Forms, Sora gets a new ability to transform with his limit gauge (wich makes u choose to either use a form or a summon, since they both use same gauge). Forms are powerful, fun, and each is unique.
Pros:
-Story
The story is still great. (hopefully not to spoil anything but...) It felt like the 2nd half of the first. 'duh it's a sequel' you're probably saying-but i dunno, it felt more like the first games 2nd half then 'just a continutation'. I'll say it was a bit more conclusive then the first-but that's all I'll say ; ) *cough*it's good*cough*
-Characters
New and old, disney or not, all the characters were done well. They fit well in their environments and portrayed their memorable personalities. The diverse cast of characters you interact with is probably what I'd call the staple of this series.
-Final Fantasy!!!
sorry cant help it...my hands down favorite parts in this fame and the first were those involving the characters from the FF games. If you know me then you understand, if not-deal with it.
-graphics,sound, art, etc
I'm a big fan of most anything Tetsuya Numora touches. Utada's 'sanctuary' single to the opening (and ending) gets stuck in my head all the time. Sound and Visual effects were good-soundtracks you'll find familiar and in their rightful places.
Cons:
-Button Masheer
This one made my thumb hurt way more then the last. A new element to the combo system they call 'action commands' or something where you hit triangle at key moments...is basically you take a break from mashing x, and start mashing triangle or both. Timing has nothing to do with it-and if you cant react fast enough the first time it happens, you can just start mashing triangle and you'll get it on the next and everytime after. Not to mention that every boss fight banks on the triangle button mashing 'action command'-wich usually give you openings to hammer the x button in between them.
-Too Easy
The button mash fest + the ally and enemy AI = very VERY simple battles. It's still fun though since most enemies have their own gimmick for easy...err...quicker kills, and they all have different attacks and mannerisms. Still comes down to button mashing in the end though (least it usually feels that way). I played through on the normal mode-and it felt like any other game's easy mode. It was fun, but very easy. I played a little on hard mode and it only makes things hit a bit harder and have more hit pionts themselves. Didnt seem to change AI at all or anything else.
-Game Level Curve
One of the big gameplay mechanics in RPGs are their lvling system. This game was full of nothing but lvl 50 and under enemies (short of a few unlockable tournamants and a special fight-both seperate from and unneccesary tot he story). This made grinding to unlock or be able to participate in some of the extra content very lame. The creatures dont lvl up with you after 50 and neither do their xp rewards. The upside is you lvl quicker then most RPGs, but still going 50-100 on lvl 50 and under enemies-fun, does not make. My patience only got me to 75, wich ended up bieng enough for what (who) i wanted. *wink wink*
-Special moves
There was little to no usefulenss to Sora's forms and summons. They were mostly just fun ways of destorying random enemies-since boss fights often lived of the action command and rendered both forms and summons useless often when u que'd them. Most the summons were pretty weak in comparison to your usual team mates that are traded off for the summons' duration. (Though if you use your forms enough you'll learn some extra abilities from them. the actual forms themselves, while fun to use-not very useful)
-Content
There wasnt a whole lot to do aside from the main story. Once you beat it there's a few mini games (most all repeats of ones you did in main story), unlockable tournaments (prolly most fun and difficult parts of the game if you like ta fight). Oh and uh, a special someone, that you can face off with, who you may have before, was my fav part and ultimate goal of the game...but yea that's all there is outside of the main story.
All-in-all it's a good game. There shouldnt be any aimless wondering what to do next, but you can easily take some time to stray from the story and enjoy yourself a bit more. The story wasnt too short or too long. Solid gameplay not straying too far from the original (not borke, didnt need fixin).
For the average gamer I'd say rent it, worth playing.
For fans of the last game, disney and/or squeenix-it's something for your collection.