Long story short; this reminds me of a Halo 4 situation where they tried to add Call of Duty elements into the game not realizing people loved the series because it was an alternative to all the shoot em up, bang bang.

They've added a shitload here in the positive column; more unlockables, more titan abilities...looks like they are also implementing a robust clan system, etc. The grappling hook is god tier (so god tier making it tied to loadout as opposed to default for everyone seems like a bad design decision).

But if the first game was 50% human combat 50%robot combat, the number is more like 75% to 25% now. The robots are weaker (no shields) and their guns do less damage to humans. The AI squads that were around you that you could kill for XP/accelerate the Titan timer are gone and now as opposed to getting a robot ever 3 minutes they are now tied to killstreaks Those changes from the first make the atmosphere of the game feel less like a futuristic war you're a part of then COD, the Pacific Rim addition.

The only two problems the first game had were no singleplayer and being xbox only...by tweaking it to get more of the COD crowd they forget what made the game great was glorious robot on robot action. The core of the game is still phenomenal and I found myself trying to get time in a busy weekend to sneak in a game, but those mofos better walk some of that shit back. Theres one more open beta weekend on the 26th...give it a try.