It's fairly epic and fun but does not quite live up to the first.
Megaman X2 doesn't exactly evolve the series but rather pushes it further by adding in some new challenges, otherwise it's the same.
Story: 6 months have passed since Sigma's defeat; X was assigned commander of the maverick hunters due to his achievement.
Along with new generation maverick hunters X set out to destroy the remaining mavericks in order to end the war.
However a group of mavericks calling themselves the X-hunters contacted HQ and told them that they gathered the remains of Zero and repaired him, if X were to see his friend again he must confront the X-hunters and retrieve Zero's parts.
Now X sets out to stop the mavericks and save his believed to be lost friend.
Game design: The game starts out with an energetic but short intro stage, once that's done you will be taken to the 8 stage select screen.
As you progress the X-hunters will arrive and will set themselves in different stages at random, the X-hunters can be found in hidden rooms in stages, once you defeat an X-hunter you get a part of Zero, there are 3 parts to collect and you will only have 3 tries to get them all, if you fail then you will fight Zero at the last stage, if you succeed Zero will come to your aid.
Graphics are at the same scale so don't expect much of a visual improvement and you will again use the password system to save progress.
Game play: As Megaman X You will get the X-buster, you can jump and this time you also get the dash function at default.
This time you will gather parts for the Giga Armor, which has a few different functions than the last armor.
There are 4 armor parts to collect, The leg module will allow X to perform Air-Dash, The chest module will increase defense by 50% and you will also get the Giga blast (an attack that destroys everything on screen but consumes all energy, energy can be charged by taking damage) the arm module will upgrade the X-buster and will allow X to shoot 2 charged shots at once and can also be used to charge other weapons, and the head module will give X a radar which can be used to find hidden paths in stages.
Sound: Much better music than the last game and sound affects are the same.
Megaman X2 is easier than the last game.
The X-hunter challenges also increased the time scale a bit and can make stages a lot more challenging and there are many hidden items and hidden routes in stages so there is some replay value to it.
Fans should have no problem getting into the game since it relatively offers the same challenge as the last, but due to its easy difficulty it won't feel as epic as the last game. Never the less it's a fun game and a welcome addition to the Megaman franchise.