Honestly, this is kind of a hot take, but I think the only reason this game series didn't get more attention is mainly due to being perceived as "furry" on the outside, but trust me is pretty good. But yeah, this sequel is amazing, it does distance itself a lot from being a 'Sonic fangame' even if the first game had already lots of influence from other Sega Genesis/Megadrive vidya.

This game pushes a bit more the beat'em'up feel, adding even a dodge button, and slowing just a tiny bit the gameplay sometimes. Speaking of it, many stages are way larger, sometimes levels not being as straightforward as in the first game, but I think this is actually a right step (one of many) in comparison to the first game, giving room for more complex elements and enemies.

Overall this game has so much more content and the OST is amazing even if you'll miss a couple of the iconic songs from FP1. You're likely to finish your first playthrough in around 15-20 hours or so (including beating every level, battle-sphere, boss rematch, etc... but not 100% completion) and it does not feel draggy at all. If you played the first game, basically you'll be missing our lil' alien guy, Torque, and a continuation to the previous villain's whereabouts, which (spoilers from FP2) has a high chance of being subject of a continuation in a third game, since Brevon appears as an Hologram in a secret ending , but to be honest, I think they did good with changing the subject of an otherwise predictable sequel, and giving us in exchange a pretty deep story and lore about almost anything that was rather unanswered in the first game and tons of new characters, including a new antagonist.

TLDR; buy it, it's sooo worth and I love this game, there are very minor caveats but nothing is really stopping the fun.